The Road to Croker

The Road to Croker
RTÉ advertisement for the episode hosted by Bertie Ahern in August 2008
Genre	Sports magazine
Presented by	Des Cahill
Country of origin	Ireland
Original language(s)	English, Irish
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	RTÉ Two
First shown in	April 2007
Original release	April 2007 – September 2009
Chronology
Followed by	The Committee Room
External links
Website

The Road to Croker is a magazine style sports television programme broadcast on RTÉ Two during the Gaelic games season. The programme features input from clubs, players and managers or Banisteoirí. Retired Gaelic Athletic Association figures, such as Michael "Babs" Keating, have also made contributions. The "Croker" in the title refers to the stadium Croke Park where the season draws to a close in September with the finals in Gaelic football and hurling. The programme has been nominated at the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTAs).

The Road to Croker was produced by Loose Horse. Episodes have been recorded in GAA clubs around Ireland, including Clarinbridge GAA Club in County Galway. That episode was recorded on the day before it was broadcast. Episodes were originally broadcast on RTÉ Two on Thursday evenings but the programme was moved to a new slot on Friday evenings for the 2009 season. In September 2009 the programme was axed and disbanded. Two years later it was replaced by The Committee Room (later Championship Matters).

The Road to Croker was originally presented by Des Cahill. Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern presented one episode during August 2008 when Cahill was attending RTÉ Radio's coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Cahill commented at the time: "With Bertie's proven love and knowledge of GAA, I've no doubt that I'm leaving the show in safe hands". Miriam Lord, writing in The Irish Times after the episode, said Ahern "may have looked and sounded a bit wooden" but that he "didn't put a foot wrong". Two other episodes were presented by Brian Gleeson at this time also.Patrick Kielty took over as host when Cahill moved to present the television highlights package The Sunday Game to replace his predecessor Pat Spillane; Kielty used the show to speak about how GAA had influenced his early stand-up comedy.