All 7 @MMurphySports Championship Games being Streamed this Weekend

All Michael Murphy Sports and Leisure Championship Games will be streamed this weekend. The links for the five PPV games are on DonegalGAA.ie while the Junior quarterfinals in Carndonagh and Moville will be streamed for free on their Facebook pages.

https://donegalgaa.ie/donegal-tv/

The free virtual programmes can also be downloaded from the “Adults” tab (links below) and shortly from the Donegal TV Page. You do not need to be purchasing a stream to get the programmes, of which there are two. One programme covers six of today’s knockout fixtures, the exception being the Relegation play-off. The Relegation play-off is a revamped version of last week’s programme but with the main focus on today’s Termon v Milford semi-final.

The Government’s decision to play all Gaelic Games behind closed doors is dis-appointing for all club members and other supporters. In response CLG Dhún na nGall are doing their utmost to look after the interests of supporters throughout the County by streaming all 33 Michael Murphy Sports and Leisure Senior, Intermediate and Junior Football Championships and Senior and Junior Hurling Championship ties.

Most games will be streamed by CLG Dhún na nGall on a PPV basis with the remainder being streamed on a free to air basis by host clubs. Kudos to Aodh Rua and Setanta who stepped up to the mark on the opening weekend to stream the Junior Hurling semi-finals on their own Facebook pages. This weekend Bun an Phobail and Carndomhnaigh will be streaming their Junior championship games – Moville v Urris and Carndonagh v Letterkenny Gaels – at no cost to viewers. These games will be on the Moville and Carndonagh Facebook pages.

This weekend CLG Dhún na nGall intend to stream two Senior and two Intermediate Championship quarterfinals and one Relegation play-off games as follows:

Sat Sept 12th 14.00 – An Tearmainn v Baile na Gallóglach in association with Highland Radio – Martin McHugh and Brendan Kilcoyne

Sat Sept 12th 17.30 – Cill Chartha v Gaoth Dobhair in association with Highland Radio – Oisin Kelly and Martin McHugh

Sun Sept 13th 13.00 – Aodh Ruadh v Naomh Columba in association with Ocean FM –  Paddy McGill, Hugh McFadden and Maurice McLoughlin

Sun Sept 13th 13.45 – Cloich Cheann Fhaola v Buncranncha in association with RnaG –  Damien O’Donnell agus Seosamh Mac Ceallbhuí

Sun Sept 13th 16.30 -Naomh Ádhamhnáin v Naomh Conaill in association with Highland Radio – Martin McHugh and Brendan Kilcoyne

Four of these games – the Senior and Intermediate Championship semi-finals – are available on a PPV basis at a cost of €5 per game via the Donegal GAA website. The fifth game – the Senior Relegation semifinal between Termon and Milford can similarly be streamed from the website but the cost is €3 rather than €5.

Official Donegal will also be tweeting, or re-tweeting, updates from all seven games. Club PROs for the teams involved will also be tweeting as well many of Donegal media. In addition to the commentary teams on our stream Radio na Gaeltachta will also provide live commentary with Ownie Mac Gairbheith & Danny O Donnell on the Termon-Milford game today followed by Damien Ó’Donaill with Danny for Gaoth Dobhair v Cill Charthá. Damien and Seosamh McKelvey will cover the Naomh Adhamhnáin v Naomh Conaill game on Sunday. Charlie Collins will be on duty with Manus Boyle for Ocean FM at today’s Senior semi-final in Letterkenny while Paddy McGill will be at the St Eunans-Kilcar game in Ballybofey tomorrow.

Next weekend the hurling semi-finals – Junior and Senior – the Junior football semi-finals and the two Relegation Finals will all be streamed. None of Donegal’s championship fixtures are being broadcast by national media, ie, neither TG4 nor RTE2 will be showing any of our games this year.  Thus, all finals will be streamed – the three football finals are scheduled for the weekend of September 26th and 27th and the hurling finals the following weekend.

Donegal is just one of 32 County Boards across Ireland working hard to bring GAA games to supporters. Many other counties have suffered major problems, serious enough to initiate mass refuds, and ridiculous abuse on social media directed at County Boards and their volunteers. This is unfair as everyone involved ls working hard to facilitate supporters. Here in Donegal we are but one game away from a similar faith. It has not happened yet but we did have significant problems with one fixture last weekend. While ten games streamed very well, the County Board apologizes for the disruption to coverage for some of the second half of the Gaoth Dobhair v Sean MacCumhaills game. All venues were checked for signal strength prior to the finalisation of fixtures. Machaire Gathlán had more than sufficient bandwidth. However, bordering a public road many spectators circumvented government restrictions by congregating there (outside the club ground’s boundaries). We can only speculate that many spectators used mobile devices for social media or calls at half-time diluting the signal to the extent our stream team at the venue – Ligid TV – through no fault of their own had limited signal strength for much of the third quarter.

The other ten games streamed relatively well although there were short intermittent problems with the video in Donegal town and Glencolmcille and with the audio in Letterkenny. Feedback was positive and negative in equal measure including some adverse comment for games where the streaming was perfect. Where subscribers experienced problems with games streaming well elsewhere this most likely reflects signal at their end. Where a premises has poor wifi, or there are other demands on it simultaneously such as Netflix, PS4 etc., it will affect download. The County Board sympathise completely where supporters have poor quality signal and while considerable effort goes into getting our product right there is no magic wand in our streams that will solve signal problems.

This weekend again all involved in our Stream Teams will be doing their utmost to bring the best possible service in terms of video quality, commentary and analysis. We are, however, operating in a fickle environment involving many variables some of which can go wrong. Please be patient as in the event of any issues arising subscribers can be assured that our teams will be working hard to minimise disruption and get coverage back up and running. Finally, for those having problems with their codes there is “live chat” on our site for dealing with this issue.