The lads have the weekend off (well, the footballers do, the hurlers are playing London over in Ruislip) so it’s the turn of the county’s women footballers to take the limelight for a bit. Their National League campaign gets going on Saturday evening, with a home fixture in Division One against Westmeath in the Connacht GAA Air Dome (throw-in 7pm).
Tickets are available for this fixture and, if you’re planning on going, note that it is an all-ticket event, with everyone (kids included) needing to have a ticket to gain entry. Tickets also need to be bought in advance and won’t be available at the Dome on Saturday evening. You can purchase tickets here.
The match will also be streamed live, as part of the LGFA’s fantastic streaming service for 2022, details of which were announced earlier in the week (here). Over 100 matches in this year’s LGFA National Leagues, All-Ireland Championship and All-Ireland Club Championships will be streamed live on the service, unless they’re being broadcast live on TG4.
A season pass for this service costs just €50 and there are weekend passes (for €10), single match passes (€5) and watch-back single match passes (€3). Chalk me down for the season pass option – what great value that represents.
The LGFA’s move in this area also points clearly to the GAA what it needs to do in relation to streaming. The widespread frustration felt by many at not being able to watch Sunday’s match in Clones on TV or online shows that the streaming genie is now well and truly out of the bottle. Supporters now have the clear expectation of being able to see all competitive games and are willing to pay for this. The eye-popping €50k Connacht GAA raked in for the pre-season FBD kickabout between Mayo and Galway at the Dome last month proved that beyond doubt.
Broadcasting rights are, I know, a thorny problem but this is an issue that the GAA can’t afford to ignore, not least given the enormous financial opportunity it represents for them. The LGFA’s move is, then, timely and it provides an obvious template for the GAA to follow.
Anyway, back to Mayo’s LGFA League campaign, where, as well as Westmeath, Michael Moyles’ team is in a Division One group along with Galway and Donegal.
Mike Finnerty has a good preview piece in this year’s Mayo News (here), in which he speaks with the Mayo manager, who reveals that several of last year’s panel will not be available for this year’s spring campaign. This is for a variety of reasons, with a contingent of high-flyers from the county impressing greatly Down Under in the AFLW, while others are injured and some cannot play due to other commitments.
Details of the Mayo panel for the upcoming League campaign are here. One of the players listed there is Lisa Cafferky of Kilmovee Shamrocks and Mike caught up with her for the podcast yesterday. That episode will be available for club members on Patreon tomorrow. Joining the club on Patreon is easy and straightforward and you can do so here.
All the best to Michael Moyles and the Mayo LGFA team as they get set to embark on their Division One League campaign.
Best of luck to the Ladies for the season ahead, especially for the Castlebar contingent Kathryn Sullivan, Danielle Caldwell, new addition to the squad Grainne Flynn and coach Marita McDonald.
Best of luck to the Mayo ladies
Delighted for Grainne Flynn
Hope our girls have a winning start to the league on Saturday. After one season in charge, Moyles had a good idea of who he wanted on the panel but with 11 players not available, it’ll be like starting all over again. He’s very impressed with the underage structure so let’s hope some new talent emerges this year. Sad to see Carnacon going from providing the backbone of Mayo teams down the years to having only one player on the panel. Hope to see them back among the top clubs in the country once again.
Best of luck to the ladies this weekend. If players are missing then it gives others the chance to impress.
Fair play to the LGFA for launching their streaming service, and hopefully it will not be lost on GAA HQ. Mayo was probably one of the forerunners of this idea through streaming club matches on Mayo GAA TV.