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Go behind the scenes of the All Ireland final with Jacqui Hurley

Go behind the scenes of the All Ireland final with Jacqui Hurley
Go behind the scenes of the All Ireland final with Jacqui Hurley

Live from The Croke Park Hotel, The Dressing Room hosted by RTÉ's Jacqui Hurley and Darren Frehill, along with their guests, will preview the All Ireland Senior and Minor hurling finals on the morning of the Hurling All Ireland Championship finale. We caught up with Jacqui to find out more.

"We decided to do something different this year for the All Ireland, I suppose every year we're trying to enhance our coverage a little bit more so it's called The Dressing Room and it's exclusive for the RTÉ Player which is brilliant," said Jacqui.

"We're trying to use people who are already working at the All Ireland Final but chatting about different things that we don't necessarily get to talk to them about on the radio so some of their own All Ireland Final moments, their own favourite memories of when they might have played and, naturally, they'll be a bit of craic on air once we're up and running," she explained.

Jacqui Hurley
Jacqui Hurley

According to Jacqui, The Dressing Room plans to have a more relaxed and laid back interview style where guests can speak freely about their passion for the game. So, who can we expect to hear from?

"I definitely know for sure that we will have Tomás Mulcahy, John Mullane and Shane McGrath and Anthony Daly. I'd say we might have a few other special guests on the day but I don't know for definite yet," she said.

She continued: "The one thing that I find, when you're talking to anybody in Ireland, is that everybody has a moment that they remember from an All Ireland Final.

"These lads have actually played in All Ireland finals so you sort of just want to get into the dressing room with them and hear what they felt," she said.

The Game
Watch The Game on RTÉ Player now

This has been an incredible year for sport in Ireland from the Irish women's hockey team winning silver in the  World Cup Final to RTÉ's mesmerising hurling documentary, The Game

"It's very hard to describe whether it's just been a brilliant summer or whether it's been the stories that have been so good," said Jacqui.

"The hockey was just amazing and the medal rush that has just continued for Ireland this Summer and then you had a brilliant World Cup which maybe we weren't expecting - France won it, which was just a fairytale story - and then the GAA, I mean hurling this year... it feels to me like I'm a child again.

"I was a child of the nineties when hurling was going through its magic period when everyone just lived for it, it was knockout, it was incredible, it was just such an intense atmosphere. I just feel like this year feels like it could be '95, '96, '97, '98  all over again.

"I kind of don't want it to end, I'm a little bit sad that Sunday is the last of it because we have to go a whole Winter without this magic game that has really encapsulated our lives," she said. 


RTÉ Radio 1 Sunday Sport brings you all of the early action on All Ireland final day in The Dressing Room on RTÉ Player. 

The show will be streaming live on RTÉ Player, RTÉ Player International and on RTÉ News Now from 11.30am

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