Taylor Swift’s impact on sports broadcasting apparently goes well beyond American football. Indeed, unlike at many of the NFL games of her boyfriend Travis Kelce, it does not appear that Swift was in attendance for the Gaelic Athletic Association Football All-Ireland Senior Championship quarterfinal clash between Galway and Dublin at Croke Park in Dublin Saturday.
But Swift was playing at the nearby Aviva Stadium that night, night two of three shows there. And that led to the quarterfinal clash here, which saw a massive upset where Galway recorded their first championship game win (0-17 to 0-16) over Dublin since 1934 and knocked out the reigning All-Ireland champions, drew remarkable end-of-match commentary from GAA commentator Ollie Turner that namechecked Swift:
“It’s the greatest day that Galway football has seen in over two decades! And every man, woman, and child stands to applaud [manager] Pádraic Joyce and his gallant Galway men! Sweet mother of Jesus, they have pulled out the unthinkable! Forget about Taylor Swift, shake it off at the Aviva, and come over here to Croke Park, because you’re witnessing the west awake! Gaillimh Abu!”
That’s pretty legendary passion on display there. And while the Swift reference wouldn’t quite fit if there wasn’t a natural connection, it sure does with her playing in the same city that day. The events drew around the same number of fans as well; this clash was seen by 49,816 spectators, while Swift’s Aviva shows are seating around 50,000 (and proving much more in demand than her last visit to Dublin, which came six years ago at Croke Park). And, unlike other Swift references recently, at least this one wasn’t a random shot at her, but a celebration of something else happening in the same city.
So while Swift’s concerts obviously matter to many, the Galway upset here mattered to a lot of people as well. And it’s cool to see this level of passion for Gaelic football. And this was an incredible call from Turner.
[The Irish Sun, Galway Bay FM on X/Twitter]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.