Pundit Arena and the GAA have announced a partnership which will see the innovative Irish sports media house broadcast the upcoming Bank of Ireland Celtic Challenge Finals.

The Bank of Ireland Celtic Challenge Finals take place on June 30th in Bord na Móna O'Connor Park, Tullamore, Co. Offaly and GAA fans will able to watch the event via the GAANOW platform and also on Pundit Arena TV (punditarena.com/tv).

The announcement of the broadcasting of the Bank of Ireland Celtic Challenge is a boost to the burgeoning tournament, which is the national hurling development competition for 16 and 17-year-old hurlers.

In 2018, 41 teams from all 32 counties have taken part, with the finals set for June 30th.

Pundit Arena co-founder and Editor-In-Chief, Richard Barrett, spoke about the upcoming broadcast: “We are delighted to partner with the GAA for the Bank of Ireland Celtic Challenge Finals. Becoming a GAA broadcasting partner has always been a major goal for us and we are excited about the future of this developing relationship. It is just the beginning as we continue to expand our broadcasting wing and our goal is clear; we want to continue to deliver unique and innovative content to Irish sports fans.”

Noel Quinn, GAA Senior Marketing & Media Rights Manager said: "We are pleased to confirm the broadcast partnership with Pundit Arena for the Bank of Ireland Celtic Challenge Finals. Live streaming is an important and innovative platform that allows us to promote and profile Gaelic Games to a wider audience – an approach that we have successfully introduced and grown to a greater extent in recent seasons via GAAGO and GAANOW in an international and domestic context respectively. It is particularly suited to the Bank of Ireland Celtic Challenge, which is a unique competition that involves 1,200 players and 41 teams from 32 Counties. With 5 Finals taking place in Bord na Móna O'Connor Park and ten teams travelling from all corners of Ireland to play on the day, the collaboration with Pundit Arena means that the players' clubmates, schoolmates and families can share their experience of the day both at the Stadium and around the country.” 

Liam Sheedy, Director, Bank of Ireland, Munster added: “As Ireland’s leading bank for students, we are very proud to sponsor the Bank of Ireland Celtic Challenge competition once again this year. We are striving to build on the success of last year, where over 1,000 young players took part in what is the largest all-county hurling competition. It is fantastic that the Finals will be brought to a larger audience and broadcast on Pundit Arena.”

Matt Steerman, Pundit Arena Head of Commercial, added: “The opportunity to work with the GAA and Bank of Ireland around the Celtic Challenge is something we're extremely excited about.  Through live streaming, we are becoming known for helping brands activate their sponsorships utilising a number of innovative concepts, and look forward to the chance to further explore new and unique ways specific to this event.”