Last weekend was a joyous one for the hurlers of Westmeath as they finally secured promotion from Division 2 with victory over Kerry. Yet, in the reaction to this result, some bemoaned the fact that the game was not shown on RTE's Allianz League Sunday show.
On this week's Three Man Weave GAA podcast, we discussed the Offaly shambles, the new age of top players and caught up with Westmeath's Tommy Doyle and Wicklow's Warren Kavanagh. When discussing Westmeath, the lads got into a strong debate about how weaker counties should be covered on the highlights programme.
LISTEN (17.00)
Mick: Not one minute of the most important game of the weekend, probably outside of Offaly versus Carlow. Wexford had a very, very good win against Kilkenny. Cork will be very worried about what happened against Tipperary. Tipp' will be delighted to be back to full strength. Waterford finally getting that win against Galway at Walsh Park is great, but none of those things are really big deals.
They don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. They are building to something bigger. This actually mattered.
Aaron: If TG4 are not showing Division 2 hurling, outside of seeing Wexford, Kilkenny, Limerick. Outside of those counties who else gets any coverage what-so-ever? It all rolls back to the same problem.
Maurice: On this right, there were 700 people at that game. Less than a thousand. Highlights were shown, it was shown on TG4. I'd be interested in those viewing figures. I think it comes back to the fact not enough people in hurling care about it...
I'm sure Leitrim fans last week were devastated them getting promoted out of Division 4 wasn't given more, Carlow last year those games as well. This is the problem with the format of the show. There is a reason if you listen to any other show this week, or their coverage, nobody is talking about that great Warwickshire story. They don't have time to fit that in. They would love to, it's an amazing story. We did on this show. But we do it because everyone else is talking about Divison One anyway.
I don't know, from the Sunday Game's perspective, what they are supposed to do. I think there should be a just highlights show and a separate discussion show. Otherwise, it'll be four hours long!
To listen to the full podcast, which includes interviews with Westmeath's Tommy Doyle and Wicklow's Warren Kavanagh as well as a preview of all the game's action, search 'Balls.ie' on all good podcast platforms.
