IrelandSports7 days ago

Time to standardise technology at inter-county grounds?

RTÉ News discusses whether it is time to standardise technology across inter-county GAA grounds following a controversial match between Louth and Armagh. The article highlights the lack of advanced equipment such as HawkEye and in-play clocks at some venues, which led to confusion during the game's final moments.

Sunday Game panel asks: Is it time to standardise technology at inter-county grounds?

Updated / Monday, 15 Jun 2026 08:12

The dramatic ending to Louth-Armagh drew attention to the paucity of equipment available at provincial grounds

As the GAA continues to further embrace the use of technology to help police their games, the time has come to ensure all inter-county grounds have their available equipment upgraded to the highest possible standard to ensure uniformity from one venue to the next.

That was the argument from our Sunday Game panel after a wild and wonderful finish to the All-Ireland series clash of Louth and Armagh at Inniskeen on Sunday.

Louth dragged victory from the jaws of defeat when Sam Mulroy's desperate late attempt to snaffle a two-pointer inadvertently found its way into the Armagh net after Orchard County keeper Ethan Rafferty failed to deal with the dropping ball.

Only three GAA grounds currently have HawkEye while Inishkeen had neither an in-play clock or hooter today... Is it time to standardise the technology available at all inter-county grounds? #RTEgaa #TheSundayGame pic.twitter.com/6wOZfOufhp

— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 14, 2026

Mulroy's kick left his boot a fraction of a second before the clock hit the 70-minute mark. Depending who you ask, the hooter either sounded and nobody could hear it - or it didn't sound at all. Either way, the Wee County turned a two-point deficit into an incredible one-point win, securing a quarter-final berth in the process.

However, the mad-cap ending to the game drew some focus on the basic standard of time-keeping equipment available at Inniskeen with some wondering if Armagh may have protected their lead differently if they had known for sure exactly how much time was left.

Speaking on The Sunday Game on RTÉ, former Kerry star Tómas Ó Sé reckoned it's high time smaller inter-county grounds were brought up to code to avoid such confusing and potentially controversial scenarios in the future.

"The bigger issue is there was no clock. There was a normal clock telling the normal time. There was no clock counting down from that 35 minutes," Ó Sé said in conversation with Jacqui Hurley and former Monaghan ace Conor McManus.

"Would [Armagh substitute] Aidan Forker have kicked or attempted to kick that shot late on if somebody was in his ear telling him 'there's a minute and a half left. Work it back out. Work it back out'?

"They were unaware, and there was players on the field pointing to the clock, 'what's left?', in the first half and the second half.

"The second thing, there was no hooter there. Now, it is either a competition with everything or it isn't. I know it was played in a field that isn't normally used, even though it is used for inter-county league games and all that.

"There should've been a hooter there. They had plenty of time to get that there."

— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 14, 2026

It was later clarified during the course of the programme that there is a clock in Inniskeen at one corner of the ground and that, although there was a hooter on the premises, it appears that it was not sufficiently powerful enough for the players - or TV viewers - to hear it.

Either way, Ó Sé stressed his point still stands.

" The information I had was that there was no clock, but I take it if there was a clock there, there was a clock there, and we were wrong on that," Ó Sé said.

"But I don't think there was a hooter. I didn't hear any hooter... I definitely saw players looking at the ref in the first half asking for a time. Maybe it was there. I didn't see it."

McManus agreed with his fellow panellist: "If there's a hooter, it should be heard. If it can't be heard, what's the point in it, you know? The problem is with technology and getting it out there to the provincial grounds and all the grounds.

"It's a big ask, but it's something that needs to be looked at."