DES Cahill joked “Jacqui is excited” while calling for Cork and Tipperary fans to fill out the Up for the Match audience.
They leaned into Hurley being a Corkwoman while promoting this year’s edition which will take place on Saturday July 19 – the night before Cork lock horns with Tipperary.
Cahill had some fun at his co-host’s expense as he teaser her over her natural bias[/caption]
Channelling old school Hollywood icon James Dean, she quipped that the Rebels certainly have a cause as they aim to end a two-decade wait to lift Liam MacCarthy.
The adjoining promotional caption read: “Applications for the #UpForTheMatch Hurling Special are now OPEN.
“Are you a Cork or Tipperary superfan heading to Croke Park on July 20 for the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final? Are you mad about your county, and mad for a bit of craic?
“Well then we want YOU in our audience, kitted out in your county colours. Apply now via this link.”
Tuesday saw the GAA announce that Liam Gordon will referee the July 20 showpiece. It will be the Galway native’s first time taking charge of a senior decider.
Yesterday also witnessed Premier boss Liam Cahill hailing Kilkenny for not kicking up a fuss over scoregate – and saying Tipperary have moved on from the saga.
Noel McGrath’s wide in Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final was waved wide by the umpire, but the Croke Park scoreboard registered the point.
GAA officials declared that the Premier had won 4-21 to 0-30 – but McGrath’s effort was subsequently chalked off, and the official scoreline was changed to 4-20 to 0-30.
Believing they were three points down, the Cats chased a goal in vain before the Premier advanced to the All-Ireland final against Cork.
And boss Cahill lauded the Cats for leaving it at that ahead of their July 20 showdown against the Rebels.
He said: “We know Kilkenny from the start of time are a huge hurling county and I said that afterwards.
“Like ourselves, if Kilkenny don’t win it on the field, they ain’t going to bring it to the boardroom, that’s for sure.
“For me, we were going on the scoreboard. Through Declan Laffan and the lads down the earpiece, there might have been a little query alright but for us we were playing what was in front of us.
“What can we say sure, it’s human error, that’s the bottom line. A mistake was made but it had no effect on us, on what we wanted to achieve at the end of the day, which was just to get the result.
“Everybody in the GAA, we do our best to try and do things voluntary and keep things as right as we can and unfortunately it was just human error. What can be done, only move on.
“It was out of our control, really. It is unfortunate. From the outset, these boys here were just concentrating on getting over the line.
“Look, you can go into all the ins and out of it, there were several other passages of play, decisions that work out throughout the 74-plus minutes.
“The reality is that’s what big matches like that are made of and you just roll with the punches and you take the hits.”
