With no live sport to enjoy we've all been satisfying our appetites by watching endless amounts of Dennis Bergkamp YouTube compilations old matches etc. with many TV stations broadcasting great occasions from years gone by.
We can now add "RTÉ Sport Classics" to that list, a new programme that will air every Thursday at 9:30pm on RTÉ 2 and reshow some of the greatest matches in the history of Irish sport. It begins this Thursday night with the 1995 All-Ireland hurling final between Clare and Offaly, which saw The Banner lift Liam McCarthy for the first time in 81 years (spoiler alert!).
On Thursday 23 April it will be the 2004 Munster hurling final betweeen Cork and Waterford before switching codes to Gaelic football with the Kerry v Offaly 1982 All=Ireland final. The series will run for ten weeks and includes three Ireland rugby matches, three soccer matches, three GAA matches and one hockey game.
Full RTÉ Sport Classics Schedule
- 16th April: GAA - Clare v Offaly All-Ireland Hurling Final 1995
- 23nd April: GAA - Cork v Waterford, Munster Hurling Final, 2004
- 30th April: GAA - Offaly v Kerry All- Ireland Football Final, 1982
- 7th May: Rugby - Italy v Ireland, Women's Six Nations, 2013 (17.03.13)
- 14th May : Soccer - Qualifiers from 1974 & 2015 - Rep. of Ireland 3-0 USSR ON 30TH Oct 1974 + Rep. of Ireland 1-0 Germany on 8th Oct 2015
- 21st May: Rugby - Ireland v New Zealand, 2013 (24.11.13)
- 28th May : Soccer –Qualifiers from 1981 & 2017 - 14/10/1981 WCQ Rep. of Ireland 3-2 France + 09/10/2017 WCQ Wales 0-1 Rep. of Ireland.
- 4th June : Soccer - Qualifier: Republic of Ireland v Netherlands, 2001 (01/09/2001)
- 11th June: Hockey - Spain v Ireland, Hockey World Cup Semi-Final, 2018 (04.08.18)
- 18th June: Rugby - Ireland v New Zealand, 2018
Aside from RTÉ Sport Classics on Thursday nights, RTÉ 2 will also be reliving some of the classic Champions League matches from years gone by, starting tonight on RTÉ 2 at 8pm. On Sundays they will continue their lookback at major international soccer tournaments, while three of the greatest Irish Grand National races ever are available to watch on RTÉ Player right now.
Starting this Friday 17 April, GAA fans will be treated to an "All-Ireland Finals Series" on RTÉ Player as they reshow every All-Ireland football, hurling and camogie final from the last decade. Not only that but in the coming weeks The Sunday Game will return to our screens with classic matches from the men's and women's archives.
Looking ahead to June and July, RTÉ will be filling the void left by the absence of Euro 2020 by reliving Euro 88 and Italia 90, with further details of their coverage to be announced in the coming weeks.
So all in all, between this and everything else that's already on, we're not going to be found wanting for classic sports moments on TV over the next couple of months.
