Excellent news for the league generally but especially for those of us who are abroad. It beats having to watch TG4 in the Sudbury Inn with the sound down!
I wonder how often Rovers will be on it though... :eek:
RTÉ Sport announces eircom League coverage
Friday, 29 February 2008 12:33
RTÉ Sport has confirmed its increased commitment to Irish soccer for the coming season.
RTÉ Television will broadcast 10 live games from the FAI eircom League of Ireland, beginning with League Champions Drogheda United playing host to Shamrock Rovers on Saturday, 8 March, at 5.25pm on RTÉ Two.
RTÉ Television will also broadcast both FAI Ford Cup semi-finals, plus the final itself.
In addition to broadcasting 13 of the biggest games of the season, RTÉ Television will also introduce a brand new hour-long dedicated Irish soccer programme: Monday Night Soccer (MNS).
MNS will feature highlights of every top-flight FAI eircom League of Ireland match throughout the season so fans will get the opportunity to watch every crucial goal, tackle, shot and save.
The programme will be broadcast each week on RTÉ Two at 8pm beginning on Monday, 10 March.
Big Names
Presenter Con Murphy will be joined by some of the biggest names in Irish soccer, including former Cork City manager Damien Richardson, newly retired St Patrick's Athletic defender Colm Foley, former Bohemians manager Sean Connor, former Irish international and Millwall striker Richard Sadlier, former UCD midfielder Tony McDonnell, renowned former Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians manager Roddy Collins, Cork City legend Dave Barry and former Cork City striker Pat Morley.
In a further commitment to Irish soccer, RTÉ Television is to increase the coverage of live eircom League of Ireland matches as agreed in the new contract extension announced recently by the FAI.
Beginning in 2010, the number of live matches shown by RTÉ will grow each season, culminating with 33 live matches (one per week) in the final year of the term - the 2013 season.
Radio
RTÉ Radio 1's Friday Sportsnight will keep fans up to date with all the action every Friday throughout the season.
At 7pm from Friday 7 March the show will be broadcast on LW 252 and RTÉ Digital Radio (DAB).
The programme will feature commentary and reports from all the games with the in-house expert team of Gabriel Egan, Eoin Hand, John Kenny, Adrian Eames, Pat McAuliffe, Damien O'Meara and Siobhan Madigan.
RTÉ Radio 1's reporters will provide live updates from all of the Premier Division matches throughout the programme, as well as match previews, post-match reaction and updates from First Division games.
Presented by Con Murphy and Gavin Jennings, Friday Sportsnight will also feature more studio guests and innovations this season.
RTÉ.ie
RTÉ.ie will stream all RTÉ Television and RTÉ Radio eircom League coverage live worldwide on www.rte.ie/sport.
MNS and live match programmes will also be made available on-demand around the world so, regardless of location, fans in Bray, Berlin or Bangkok will be able to keep up to date and see all the goals from their favourite teams in the eircom League.
This in-depth audio and video coverage will be enhanced further by regular expert analysis from RTÉ panellists, while there will be comprehensive pre-match and post-match coverage.
RTÉ.ie will also host a regular Goal of the Month competition in conjunction with MNS, while RTÉ.ie and RTÉ Aertel will provide the quickest and most reliable latest scores and results services over the coming season.
'Expertise'
Glen Killane, RTÉ's Group Head of Sport, said: 'The quality of our coverage of Irish soccer is unparalleled. We greatly look forward to bringing that expertise to bear on increasing volumes of eircom League in the years to come.
'This year's innovations - a new television highlights show for Monday evenings and the on-demand web enhancements in particular - will enable fans to enjoy comprehensive eircom League coverage when they want, where they want.
'It's both a privilege and a pleasure for RTÉ Sport to be in the position to not only enhance the experience of Ireland's eircom league fans throughout the country - and indeed worldwide in the case of web enhancements - this season, but also build its appeal using all RTÉ platforms, to create the broad audience of the future.'
Tune into RTÉ Radio 1's Friday Sportsnight every Friday at 7pm on LW 252 and RTÉ Digital Radio (DAB)
RTÉ Two live broadcasts include:
Saturday, 8 March - Drogheda Utd v Shamrock Rovers live from United Park at 5.25pm
Friday, 14 March - Bohemians v St Patrick's Athletic live from Dalymount Park at 7.30pm
Friday, 21 March - Cork City v Derry City live from Turners Cross at 7.30pm
