By Niall Gartland

TYRONE GAA have adopted an online booking system for this year’s club championship matches, and Public Relations Officer Eugene McConnell hopes that patrons will quickly adapt to the new way of doing things.

It’s an exclusively digital enterprise and all tickets must be purchased online in advance of the games, which McConnell accepts may pose some complications for the less technologically minded members of our association.

The Junior Championship gets underway this evening with the meeting of Urney and Fintona, and tickets will be available online right up to the start of its 7.30pm throw-in.

No money will pass through the gates at the game’s venue, O’Neill’s Healy Park, and McConnell says there are a number of reasons behind the move to an online-only system.

“It’s the way the world’s going, you saw that with the Ulster Championship and All-Ireland championship this year. Passing money through gates is becoming a thing of the past, especially in these present circumstances where you want to minimise the risk of a Covid outbreak as much as possible.

“There is a fear factor among people who aren’t as tech-minded, but it’s a necessary evil and people will re-adapt and still find a way of getting their tickets. I think they’ll ultimately see it as a sensible way of doing things.”

He continued: “The pandemic is definitely one of the reasons behind this, but you also have to consider that there’s so many games in such a short space of time. There’s 46 matches, some within two hours of each other, and it’s difficult getting sufficient volunteers to man gates, and you also have issues with queuing. I think our new system will prove the best solution to the problem.”

It was also announced on Wednesday night that streaming service Tyrone TV are intent on covering all 46 matches across this year’s club championships.

It proved a particularly useful outlet for spectators last year as only 200 people were permitted into matches, but McConnell says there’s more at stake here than just financial considerations.

“There’s been a further easing of restrictions, so it’s a different scenario than last year, but we weighed everything up and appreciate that our supporters are important and that we want to bring them the action.

“You still have fans who are fearful of going back into crowds, there’s fans suffering ill-health, and you have our Diaspora across the world who have become accustomed to watching these games.”

The streaming service ran smoothly for the vast majority of last year’s championship after overcoming a few early hiccups, and McConnell says he’s excited by the challenge of bringing all the matches to our screens.

“It’s one of those things that’s nearly a permanent fixture in the GAA calender. When people can’t get to the games it’s the next best thing as they still have the ability to see their parish team in action.

“I’m glad that we got it across the line again, there was a bit of doubt at one stage but we’re back and we’re intending on showing all 46 games. It’s a big ask but we’ll give it a rattle and hope it works out. I think the fans have become accustomed to Tyrone TV and it’s got better as the years have gone on.”

“Most of the same guys are back on board again, like Joe McMahon, Peter Canavan and Enda McGinley. I think we used something like 34 co-commentators last year and most are signed up again to give us our expertise and opinions. There’ll be plenty of interesting games so we’re looking forward to it.”