There were reports that goals were scored and football was played.
On Sunday afternoon, inside a snow-covered Oriel Park, Cork City staged a stunning fightback, recovering from two goals down to beat Dundalk 4-2 in the President’s Cup.
At least, I’m led to believe it was stunning. Unfortunately for League of Ireland fans across the country, there was no television coverage, either live, deferred or a highlights package.
Dundalk and Cork fans braved a bitterly cold winter’s day in County Louth to see the curtain-raiser to the new League of Ireland season. And fair play to them. But some couldn’t make the trip to Oriel Park – myself included.
With GAA and soccer assignments to tackle on a busy Sunday shift, I was foolishly hoping to catch Cork’s win over Dundalk later in the evening, either on the TV, Twitter or YouTube.
Foolish indeed.
Inexcusable from the FAI that there is no TV coverage of the Presidents’ Cup. Meanwhile on RTÉ2 we have a movie about a US sports agent travelling to India to recruit cricketers for baseball.
— Dermot Looney (@dlooney) February 11, 2018
The best form of coverage I could find was the live updates on Cork City’s Twitter account. There was obviously coverage from those who were able to attend, but the lack of a broadcast struck me, as a recent League of Ireland convert, as a sign that league football is fighting an uphill battle to stay relevant in this country.
With excitement building nicely ahead of the launch of the new season on Friday, it was disappointing that a clash between the two best sides was not available to view. The President’s Cup is not the FAI Cup final but it would have been a good opportunity to kick-off the new season. It seems ridiculous that, in 2018, there was no form of a broadcast, less than a week after the FAI live-streamed the Collingwood Cup final between UCD and Queen’s University in Belfast.
According to Cork fan David Turtle on Twitter, the FAI had intended to do the same for the President’s Cup clash only for their plans to be scuppered by poor WiFi coverage in Oriel Park. However, the supposed lack of interest from RTÉ is damning and only furthers the feeling of resentment towards the national broadcaster over its unpopular League of Ireland coverage. The consensus is that, while eirSport’s coverage is impressive, RTÉ’s leaves much to be desired.
🙌⚽️🇮🇪📺
We are delighted to reveal our first 3 televised fixtures for the 2018 @SSEAirtricityLg season! #LOI https://t.co/0o7l6p80MQ— eir Sport (@eirSport) February 12, 2018
Indeed, it seems at odds with the cinematic 30-second clip previewing the start of the League of Ireland season they released on Monday.
I’m not going to rattle on. I’ve made my point – and so have several slightly miffed LOI fans on Twitter. Ireland’s two best football teams going head-to-head and not a second of coverage coming from it speaks volumes of both the sense of neglect from the FAI towards club football in this country.
The league starts on Friday. Thankfully, RTÉ are broadcasting the Dublin derby between Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers from a sold-out Dalymount Park. What’s pleasing, too, is that while I’m glad this game is getting coverage, I won’t have to rely on the television coverage for it. I’ll be in attendance at Dalymount and, with a season-opener under the floodlights for my first taste of the fixture, I have to say I’m rather excited for it.
