GAA president Jarlath Burns 'very surprised' by Government criticism of GAAGO

GAA president Jarlath Burns has said that he is "very surprised" by criticism of the GAAGO service from the Government, adding that "you would almost think there was an election coming up."

Amid criticism that Saturday's Munster Senior Hurling Championship game between Cork and All-Ireland champions Limerick was available only on GAAGO, Taoiseach Simon Harris last week said that the organisation have "gotten this wrong" on streaming service GAAGO.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin echoed the Taoiseach's comments. "I've huge concerns about it, I don't understand it, in terms of the promotion of the game of hurling," he told RTÉ News.

RTÉ was contractually obliged to show the two provincial football finals on Sunday, meaning the only outlet for the biggest hurling matches of the weekend was the GAAGO platform, which is jointly owned by the GAA and RTÉ.

However, Burns has come out in defence of the service, insisting that were it not for GAAGO, those hurling games would not have been available to screen anywhere.