The GAA confirmed yesterday that a portion of their media rights packages for the next three years has been sold to Sky Sports, with the upshot being that 14 of this year's championship matches will be available to subscribers only.

There was significant criticism of the decision last night. Minister of State for Sport Michael Ring said: "I understand why the GAA is doing it to raise the international profile, especially abroad. But I would be in favour of having all GAA games free-to-air for the people. It's our national game."

"We don't need the money," Joe Brolly said. "There is no doubt that there is an increasing disconnect between the people and the hierarchy. We are now doing different things. The GAA is about nothing if it is not about an ideal and this goes against that ideal."

The matches concerned include two All-Ireland football quarter-finals – those featuring the Leinster and Ulster champions. The first match will be Kilkenny v Offaly in the Leinster Hurling Championship on June 7th. Sky Sports will also show the All-Ireland semi-finals and finals in both codes, making 20 games available in the UK.

Channel 7 in Australia will have the rights to 45 championship matches. “Making our games more widely available to Irish people abroad was a critical factor in our approach to these negotiations,” said GAA president Liam O’Neill.

“We felt an obligation to them not to neglect their legitimate appeals to be able to watch live TV coverage of our games”.