With the League campaigns complete and inter-county championships in full swing, it’s a busy time for Wexford GAA’s ‘Live Updates’ team – and this year, they’re being supported in their work by leading antivirus and cyber security company, ESET.
ESET operates in more than 200 countries, protecting millions of users and hundreds of thousands of companies worldwide. ESET Ireland is based in Westgate, here in Wexford and works with hundreds of partners across the country, ensuring computers and devices of businesses and home users stay safe and secure.
Cyber security is central to computer systems in much the same way as gaelic games are central to many people’s lives, and so the new partnership is a fitting one.
Live updates on Twitter from inter-county matches are long established as one of the most popular elements of Wexford GAA’s output on social media. All championship matches in hurling and football from minor level up, as well as League matches and pre-season tournaments, get the ‘Live Updates’ treatment.
Pictured: Michael Hennessy Cullen & Aoife Parle
Doing live match updates involves needing somebody present at every match played and, in fact, it is usually a job for two people – one takes charge tweeting after each score or other notable event, the second person acts as an extra pair of eyes on the game to help ensure nothing is missed. The second person also compiles the match statistics for use in graphics that are published at half time and full time.
The ‘Live Updates’ are done by a team of volunteers, which includes:
- Colm Lambert (Ferns St. Aidans) – County PRO, and former PRO for his club each year from 2008 to 2022. Colm is the one who ensures there is someone present at each match to perform tweeting duties, and more often than not, he’s on duty himself.
- Michael Hennessy Cullen (Gusserane O’Rahilly’s) – our County Secretary, who has also held a variety of officer roles in his club. Michael has a particular interest in football and covers most of Wexford’s away matches in the League.
- PJ Howlin (Duffry Rovers) – former County PRO, former club PRO, and our current ‘de facto’ County Coiste na nÓg PRO, in that PJ is mainly responsible for tweeting from minor championship matches. PJ is also an accomplished photographer and regularly takes action shots at the matches he attends.
- Aoife Parle (Naomh Éanna) – a very active PRO with her club, and also the current County Coiste na Óg Secretary. Aoife also brings another dimension to matchday coverage of some of the biggest occasions, by posting videos to Instagram of some behind-the-scenes events, faces in the crowd, and more.
- Kieron Duffin (St. Mary’s Maudlintown) – another active club PRO, who came on board during 2022. Kieron regularly helps out with the important role of compiling match stats.
- Pat O’Toole (Ferns St. Aidans)– another Ferns man, who joined the team this year and who has already been on duty at a number of fixtures.
Overall, live updates of matches can be demanding, in that it takes from your ability to actually sit back and watch the match as a supporter. But it’s an essential service in the GAA world of today, and according to County PRO Colm Lambert, it’s an enjoyable experience too.
‘It’s like a form of matchday action, in that you’re caught up in the play at all times,’ he says. ‘For someone like me, who was never going to be good enough to represent Wexford on the pitch, it’s great to be involved in some other way! We’re very conscious of the wide following that our matchday updates have, and we’re grateful that ESET have recognised that too, by coming on board to support the service we bring to supporters everywhere.’
Pictured: (back row) Eoghan Nolan, Conor Hearne, John Tubritt, Gavin O’Donovan
(front row) Eva Evans Foley, George Foley, Lois Doyle, Emma Larkin
Micheál Martin, chairperson of Wexford GAA added, “One of the key goals in our strategic plan is to communicate effectively with our members, officers, supporters and the community at large. This partnership with ESET improves our ability to communicate through all mediums and drives our use of the latest technologies to do so. “
“I would also like to thank our ‘Live Updates Team’. It’s great to have so many good people willing to help, and I know we can always depend on them. They provide an invaluable service during matches for our supporters across the world that may not be able to watch or listen to the game.”
For further details on Wexford GAA’s Live Updates, contact Colm Lambert, PRO of Wexford GAA ([email protected])
Fur further details on ESET, contact ESET Ireland at [email protected] or follow them on Facebook www.facebook.com/eset.antivirus.ireland or Twitter twitter.com/eset_ireland
