With Nowlan Park providing the pool for Sky Sports to dip their toe into the Gaelic games market, the wonder is how much impact it will have on the hurlers of Kilkenny and Offaly come June 7th.
Jackie Tyrrell was asked this week if he would be oblivious to the inevitable hype that will follow.
“We will be come the time,” said Kilkenny’s incumbent centre back. “When the deal was announced everyone was talking about it.
"It will be interesting," Tyrrell continued. "You can say what you like about Sky but they do a very comprehensive package and it will be interesting to see the analysis and the sideshows but hopefully they don't go into too much detail."
A pundit
Paddy Power yesterday suspended betting on recently retired Kerry footballer Paul Galvin becoming a pundit for Sky's coverage of 20 live matches this year, 18 exclusive along with both All-Ireland finals. Tyrone legend Peter Canavan has also been mentioned, having already worked for TV3 while Niall Quinn, already contracted to Sky for their Premier League coverage, has been mentioned as a potential anchorman. He won an All-Ireland minor hurling medal with Dublin in 1983 before signing for Arsenal.
Offaly scored four goals in the corresponding championship fixture last year but Kilkenny prevailed after raining down 0-26 in response.
“It wasn’t like us, we would have always prided ourselves on being a mean defence and not giving away easy scores and that day we did,” said Tyrrell. “It wasn’t ideal and maybe we were papering over the cracks in the league, and that we won the league maybe we thought we were in a better place than we actually were. That could have been the start of it.”
By that he means the start of Kilkenny's worst season in recent times. Tyrrell, a four-time All Star in the corner, has been operating at centre back this year, usurping Brian Hogan from the number six jersey for the league final victory over Tipperary last Sunday in Thurles.
It’s a position he would like to retain for championship.
“I would hope so. Brian (Cody) has chopped and changed things but you would be hoping he would be trying to settle down on a team. But it’s very hard to predict what the selectors are actually thinking.
“They have tried a lot of things, a lot of different lads in different positions. Once I am playing, I don’t mind if it’s centre-back or corner-back or corner-forward. Literally, once I am playing I don’t care.”
The Kilkenny defence is particularly competitive at the moment with Hogan and Tommy Walsh struggling to find a role in the half back line.
“Kieran Joyce can play there, Tommy obviously. Conor Fogarty is going well. There is a lot of different players that can come in and Pádraig (Walsh) too. It is one of the most competitive lines going.
“Even Joey Holden was taken off at the weekend. It doesn’t matter who you are, Brian will just haul you off. You saw that with Brian Hogan and Tommy and it happened me a couple of years ago as well. It is just Brian being true to his word.
“ If you are not doing the business you are taken off and that is it. John Power played corner forward against Galway and I thought he did alright but he wasn’t even in the 26 the next day. When Brian says something he follows it through.
“It is part of the game and the evolution of the panel and the way the game is gone. You have to make sure you do everything in your power to be part of the panel and part of the team.”
