Carlow Senior Hurling final to be shown live to the nation under lights
For the first time, the Carlow Senior Hurling Final will played on a Saturday evening under lights when champions Mount Leinster Rangers face St Mullins this weekend Photo: ©INPHO/Evan Treacy
In a sense, Carlow club hurling goes into the unknown as the senior final is played on a Saturday night in front of live television with TG 4 bringing Carlow hurling into homes all over Ireland.
Ace stats recorder, Leo McGough notes, the 2021 senior hurling finals in Wexford and Carlow went out live on TG 4 on Sunday September 21 with the Wexford final starting at 1.30pm. The Carlow decider, with Mount Leinster Rangers beating St Mullins 0-24 to 0-16, threw in at 3.40pm.
Richie Coady of Rangers and Jack Kavanagh of St Mullins have their reservations but they still don’t want an arrangement which they are not familiar with to interfere with their respective preparations or potential performance on the night.
“The fact that it is on television is not really any great difference. Obviously, under lights is going to bring up its own, I won’t say problems. I think both sets of players would have preferred if it was played in daylight but it is the same for both teams,” notes Coady.
“It isn’t that we haven’t played under lights before. We train under lights. It will create a few of its own issues but it is what it is now.”
Down the road, Coady’s first cousin and former intercounty team mate, Jack Kavanagh looks at the arrangement with a degree of trepidation.
“The lights in Dr Cullen? Are they good enough for hurling? Could it take from the game? We don’t know these things. We will only find these things out on the day. The team that wins will say nothing about it and the team that loses might use it as an excuse,” asserts the St Mullins man.
Yet if this is a misgiving he is quick to scotch any notions of negativity.
“It is definitely unique. It is definitely different. I don’t know how many finals have been played on a Saturday. It was always on a Sunday. Look, it doesn’t really matter. You play it in hail, rain or snow. County final is a county final whether it is 2pm in the day or 8pm at night.”
