It may be early days yet for the championship season but GAAGO is already making an impression on fans of the sport. Despite some teething issues, some new features we quite like have been added. It is only its second week of having live presentation with pundits but the future looks promising. Here Balls.ie takes a look at five things we've liked so far about the streaming platform.
Pre-match interview with referee
This really did catch our eye before the Ulster senior football championship semi-final between Derry and Monaghan in Omagh yesterday. Aisling O'Reilly who was making her GAAGO presenting debut having been on pitchside interview duty the weekend before caught up with the man in the middle Sean Hurson from Tyrone before throw-in.
"It all ramps up come championship time," Hurson said when asked about his preparations for the encounter.
"We were in Abbottstown on Wednesday night, where the championship panel all met and we went through a fitness session with Dr. Aidan Brady.
"Then we went in and had a two and a half hour session watching clips, analysis and different things with Donal Smyth and Croke Park.
"Everyday is a learning day, we learned plenty the other night. It's about reviewing what we are doing and making sure we are on top of our game."
This is something we would certainly love to hear more of in the future.
Interviews with the groundsmen
The groundsmen play a vital role in getting the pitches up to standard so it was fantastic to see the Pitch Manager at Croke Park, Stuart Wilson, talk through his preparations prior to the Louth and Offaly game today.
He joined presenter Gráinne McElwain and pundits Cian Ward and Marc O'Sé on the Croke Park pitch.
"Playability is probably the biggest part for us," he revealed.
"We want to ensure that the pitch plays well and the players are key to that.
"We do a huge amount of performance testing on the pitch; firmness, traction testing, moisture levels, ball bounce. There's loads of different tests.
"We carried one out this morning before the games."
Interesting insight from someone we wouldn't have heard from before.
Stylish GAAGO replays
The way GAAGO have been showing us replays means we haven't been missing out on key pieces of action.
Somehow successfully avoided the score until I watched the game back. Haven't done that since the Premier Soccer Saturday glory days.
Cracker. John Conlon is some warrior. Separately, GAAGO has been great when they go full bore. Replays like this are a must now IMO pic.twitter.com/03mQpY1KWZ— Maurice Brosnan (@m_brosnan) April 29, 2023
The screen splits in two with more space being devoted to the live action that what we've just witnessed.
It ensures that we don't miss any key action on the pitch and as GAA writer Maurice Brosnan says they are a "must" going forward.
Tommy Walsh GAAGO co-commentary
Tommy Walsh has made a name for himself as a pundit since he retired from playing inter-county hurling.
Viewers certainly welcomed his co-commentary alongside Liam Ahearne for the Munster championship clash between Limerick and Clare on Saturday night.
Really enjoying Tommy Walsh as a co commentator, refreshing #GAA
— Conor Heaphy (@heaph93) April 29, 2023
Tommy Walsh on co comms on GAA Go is a breath of fresh air!!
— Shane Gavin (@shanegav) April 30, 2023
Best part of GAA Go is the Tommy Walsh commentary
— Richard O'Keeffe (@RJOKeeffe) April 29, 2023
Walsh proved a hit with viewers. Hopefully we'll be hearing more of him in the weeks to come.
Walk-and-talk on the way into the grounds
Something we don't seem to see much of is a nice walk-and-talk on the way into grounds.
You could nearly feel the atmosphere building around you as Gráinne McElwain, Seamus Hickey and Eoin Cadagon walked down the streets of Ennis on the way to Cusack Park last weekend for the meeting of Clare and Tipperary.
McElwain then hands over to the match commentator in the stadium who talks through the team line-ups before coverage is handed back to them pitchside.
A nice little addition.
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