Former Cork All-Ireland medal winner Tomás Mulcahy said there was "shock" on Leeside at the announcement that three of their 2024 Munster SHC had been placed behind a paywall and also expressed his misgivings about the condensed inter-county season.
The GAAGO streaming platform unveiled its programme of games for 2024 on Monday, one of the headline takeaways being that three of Cork's four Munster SHC games would be shown on the platform.
Cork's Munster round robin games against Clare, Waterford and Limerick would be screened exclusively on GAAGO, while the potential Cork-Kerry clash in the Munster SFC semi-final - should the former overcome Limerick - would also be broadcast on the platform.
It was the screening of Cork's home Munster SHC game against Tipperary on the platform that generated a storm of controversy last May, with Tánaiste Micheál Martin arguing in the aftermath that all matches should be free-to-air.
Speaking ahead of Saturday's Páirc Uí Chaoimh double header honouring his late team-mate Teddy McCarthy, Mulcahy said the GAAGO arrangement did not sit right with him.
"The initial reaction is one of shock," the three-time All-Ireland winner told RTÉ GAA correspondent Marty Morrissey.
"We're a proud hurling county. The Munster championship campaign has been unbelievable in the last number of years - all in a very compacted couple of weeks.
"Now, you have games that are going to be behind a paywall. Particularly, with Cork having three (games behind a paywall). Which is massive. You'd maybe understand one. Two at most. But three.
"And there's a chance that if the Cork footballers are successful in their preliminary round against Limerick that you then will have Cork-Kerry behind a paywall as well.
"There's something not right about this for me.
"Ordinary folk sitting at home on a Saturday and a Sunday wanting to watch the best on our national broadcaster - which is RTÉ - to cover the games and to cover the games live.
"I'd like to hear somebody come out and explain the reason behind it."
Mulcahy said the situation was perhaps exacerbated by the condensed nature of the inter-county season, which he argued was making life difficult for broadcasters and, more significantly, was not in the interests of player welfare.
"I think everyone is saying that finishing the All-Ireland series in July is too early.
"You still have a club season going on and we're into December. The most important thing - and I've had a lot of debates on this - is player welfare.
"You're playing a match, you've a couple of days to recover. You're playing on a Sunday and you might be out again the following Saturday. I think player welfare has to come into the equation.
"I watch most of what's going on around the world in sport and everyone is talking about recovery, recovery, recovery. Give your body a chance. The Munster championship isn't like that."
Mulcahy has been busy promoting Saturday's double header in honour of McCarthy, who died in June at the age of 57 and alongside whom he won All-Ireland titles in 1986 and 1990.
It was in the latter year that McCarthy famously wrote his name in the annals of GAA history by becoming the first - and still only - player to win All-Ireland senior hurling and football medals in the same year on the field of play.
And Saturday's double bill gives a nod to that landmark achievement, with the current Cork inter-county sides facing Meath (in football, 3pm) and Galway (in hurling, 5pm) in a repeat of the two deciders from the double campaign. All proceeds are going to the Teddy McCarthy Memorial Fund (details here).
While members from the 1990 panels would be attending and were available for interview, he was anxious to stress they would not be togging themselves.
"We've a great day on Saturday, honouring the man. It's a couple of months since his passing. A lot of thought has gone into it.
"Only Teddy would have two big inter-county games in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. He was a fantastic hurler, a fantastic footballer. The tribute is about the games, I know there's other things going to happen in time, in terms of getting a statue or monument in his memory.
"Just for the record, it isn't the 1990 teams that are togging out. That wouldn't be pretty viewing I must say! It's actually the current day squad.
"When Pat Ryan and John Cleary, the two Cork inter-county managers, came together and said we'd like to help out here, contact was then made with Colm O'Rourke (in Meath) and Henry Shefflin in Galway. It's a repeat of 1990, which Teddy is now famous for.
"Hopefully we're going to get big crowds and it'll be a great experience in Páirc Uí Chaoimh."
