When his hometown club Cork City played out a thrilling 4-4 draw at the home of the champions in early March, there wasn’t a peep out of Micheál Martin.
The only way to watch that one was either in person at Tallaght Stadium or on the LOITV streaming service.
Some of the goals also popped up on social media that night.
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No statement from the tánaiste. No remarks about how senior citizens “need to be able to watch these games.”
(For the record, my dad, who falls into that bracket, owned and could work a smart TV long before I had one)
This year, League of Ireland fans have been promised 18 live League of Ireland games, plus the men’s FAI Cup semi-finals and final.
The women’s FAI Cup final will also be broadcast on RTE, while TG4 are continuing their excellent coverage of the league.
And Virgin Media dipped their toe in the water recently by covering the derby between Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers.
But for the vast majority of matches, the only viewing options this year will be in-person or via LOITV, Irish football’s version of GAAGO.
When it comes to value for money, the League of Ireland’s version offers over 440 games for €120, compared to €79 for 38 GAA matches.
But that’s beside the point. We just want the tánaiste to speak up for us long-suffering League of Ireland fans.
After all, we’re not all young and tech-savvy, and we don’t all live in high speed broadband hotspots.
And that’s before we even get into television revenue.
The GAA pocketed around €13m per year from broadcasting rights up to recently, including Sky, TG4 and RTE Radio (the current figure isn’t known).
The League of Ireland receives a big, fat zero in telly cash - which is the source of revenue that sustains the game in other European countries.
This isn’t a dig at the GAA. Fair play to them for making an issue of free-to-air broadcasting.
As many games as possible should be available to as many people as possible, especially crackers like last weekend’s thrilling tie between Cork and Tipperary.
Equally, as many as Martin’s constituents as possible should be free to watch a belter like the 4-4 draw in Tallaght two months ago.
But football continues to struggle to find a voice in the corridors of power.
We saw that when political figures and the racing lobby attempted to quickly shut down any debate about betting revenue being redirected towards the 11-a-side game.
Once again, Irish football has been offered a masterclass in communications and lobbying at the highest level.
It’s about time we learned from the GAA and racing industries and developed some political muscle of our own.
Maybe then, the tánaiste and his Leinster House pals might come out fighting for the beautiful game.
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