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RTE pundits

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I don't agree with the constant criticism of rte. There are areas where they certainly can improve. There are some great pundits and some terrible pundits. Joe Brolly is the only pundit worth listening to in football. I do like Oisin McConville also. I think he's been on a number of different channels. In hurling I like the panel of Ger Loughnane, Cyril 'bang over the bar' Farrell and Tomas Mulcahy for the live match panel. However I don't think Ger is good on the nighttime programme. I like Eddie Brennan and Liam Sheedy on the nighttime panel. Commentators and especially co-commentators are where rte fall down. I much prefer listening to Brian Tyers and Pat Fleury as gaeilge on tg4 - I think they're great commentators. I don't think Darragh Maloney, Martin Carney or Tom Carr should be let near a microphone.

HurlingSnob (Dublin) - Posts: 220 - 29/05/2017 02:02:34    1991691

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I much prefer the BBC coverage & Spillane is just a caricature at this stage.

One small issue was when BBC reported that Michael Murphy had come off injured in a club game & a comment was made that it was a change to see county players playing for their clubs in Donegal. That simply isn't true. County players play for their clubs all summer except for the Sunday before a county game when fixtures carry on without them.

A small point I know but at the same time.........

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 29/05/2017 08:00:22    1991700

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spillane brolly and loughnanne are the eamonn dunphys of gaa punditry. not to be taken seriously,sensationalist and really only there for fun michael duignan eddie bennan liam sheedy in hurling,tomas o se and ciaran whelan in football are the real analysts..

kavvie (Clare) - Posts: 505 - 29/05/2017 10:50:25    1991746

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RTE are surely monitoring the Morgan Freeman situation closely. Excellent pundit !

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GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7360 - 29/05/2017 11:01:18    1991754

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With regards analysis and punditry Sky and BBC are miles ahead of RTE, as they focus on analysis and punditry.

Brolly is tiresome at this stage...he is there to promote himself.

And last night Ger showed he has no clue about what is really going on in the counties when you hear what he had to say about Dublin hurling. Eddie Brennan knew there was more behind the scenes etc.

Yet we still have people saying RTE should have a monopoly in coverage!!

witnof (Dublin) - Posts: 1604 - 29/05/2017 11:20:43    1991764

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Replying To IrishGael3:  "Is that tongue in cheek ref Whelan - . Like Tomas O'Shea and Dolan. Not sure about Gooch yet but willing to give a chance."
No, not at all. I think Whelan is very good.

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 29/05/2017 13:05:20    1991797

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Pay per view issues aside the sky analysis is my favorite by a long way. It actually analyses the game, tactics, set ups, how to out do the tactics, what the tactic is trying to achieve etc.

RTE focus on if they like the tactic or not. I have no problem with negativity. Its just the generalizations that drive me crazy. "They wanted it more" "They are not working hard enough"

Jamesie O'Connor and Peter Canavan are top notch. Great insight into the game. RTE seem to only talk about the aesthetic beauty of a game, which deserves comment, but there are other aspects to discuss.

Mayonman (Galway) - Posts: 1835 - 29/05/2017 14:14:59    1991827

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I wouldnt mind seeing tv3 getting the gaa rights rather than rte, i know there is more breaks, but i think they do a great coverage of the champions league and last years rugby world cup. Rather then have spillane and brolly fighting each other

PyatPree (Cork) - Posts: 376 - 29/05/2017 14:17:10    1991828

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Loughnane was very condescending to Offaly and Westmeath last night

valley84 (Westmeath) - Posts: 1890 - 29/05/2017 14:43:52    1991839

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Replying To witnof:  "With regards analysis and punditry Sky and BBC are miles ahead of RTE, as they focus on analysis and punditry.

Brolly is tiresome at this stage...he is there to promote himself.

And last night Ger showed he has no clue about what is really going on in the counties when you hear what he had to say about Dublin hurling. Eddie Brennan knew there was more behind the scenes etc.

Yet we still have people saying RTE should have a monopoly in coverage!!"
Who says RTÉ should have a monopoly on coverage?

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4238 - 29/05/2017 15:02:20    1991847

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Replying To valley84:  "Loughnane was very condescending to Offaly and Westmeath last night"
Yeah, calling it a 'lovely game' wasn't great. He was well able to turn an innocent self-deprecating smile by Nicky English on how much his powers as an inter-county hurler had faded into the greatest insult ever dished out to the people of Clare.

It's an awful pity Westmeath couldn't close that game out. Ye need a new goalkeeper he was poor for the 3rd goal and directly at fault for the other three goals. Offaly got out of jail big time.

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 29/05/2017 15:11:27    1991852

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Replying To Killarney.87:  "Yeah, calling it a 'lovely game' wasn't great. He was well able to turn an innocent self-deprecating smile by Nicky English on how much his powers as an inter-county hurler had faded into the greatest insult ever dished out to the people of Clare.

It's an awful pity Westmeath couldn't close that game out. Ye need a new goalkeeper he was poor for the 3rd goal and directly at fault for the other three goals. Offaly got out of jail big time."
They tried hard not to laugh when discussing Offaly's chances against Galway. I thought that was fairly condescending from two men who would have faced The Faithful when they had better hurling fortunes.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7360 - 29/05/2017 17:05:02    1991893

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Replying To GreenandRed:  "They tried hard not to laugh when discussing Offaly's chances against Galway. I thought that was fairly condescending from two men who would have faced The Faithful when they had better hurling fortunes."
Yeah, Offaly had a brilliant team when Loughnane faced them in the 90s.

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 29/05/2017 18:48:43    1991921

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Replying To Wally:  "I don't think anyone is disputing that it was a bad game.

That's does not excuse the horrible analysis that we have to sit through year after year.

When will RTE so something. Like if you just compare BBC to RTE it is so embarrassing. It is so amateurish and cringe worthy."
Here's and idea lad, if you don't like it don't watch it, I don't like BBC or Sky so I just don't watch them, I find it works far better than coming on here moaning and bitching about it 24/7.

Richieq (Meath) - Posts: 3734 - 29/05/2017 20:35:29    1991947

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Replying To Killarney.87:  "No, not at all. I think Whelan is very good."
That's your view but think he is very biased. I predicted on another forum (at about 5pm) which HS seems to have removed now that on SG Whelan would highlight the Mattie donnelly incident while he keeps his lips well and truly shut when his own native county players do far worse. And guess what - he didn't let me down - enough said for me.

IrishGael3 (USA) - Posts: 1092 - 30/05/2017 08:05:34    1992020

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Replying To Killarney.87:  "No, not at all. I think Whelan is very good."
Whelan one of the few pundits on RTE that actually analysis team/tactics whether their a Division 1 or 4 team. He can be biased towards his own county but sure hasn't Spillane done that for last 20+ years?

Gael85 (Dublin) - Posts: 1433 - 30/05/2017 09:20:52    1992039

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Replying To IrishGael3:  "That's your view but think he is very biased. I predicted on another forum (at about 5pm) which HS seems to have removed now that on SG Whelan would highlight the Mattie donnelly incident while he keeps his lips well and truly shut when his own native county players do far worse. And guess what - he didn't let me down - enough said for me."
Yep, most Dubs in my experience are very fair-minded as they don't have near the same amounts of chips on their shoulders as the generality of the culchies; but Whelan fir some reason always has the knife in Tyrone. Ironic from a man who never played a game without getting a sneaky "softening up" punch in, especially as he lost the speed in his last couple of years. McKaigue set out to be 100% negative on Sunday. A fine footballer but sadly all he did was half-foul, claw, niggle and body-check Donnelly constantly from the start. I doubt if a class footballer like McKaigue would have adopted that approach without being asked to do it in the dressing room. After 45 minutes of being half-fouled, Donnelly flapped at him, mainly to get him out of the way, but it certainly was no punch. Donnelly is a keen boxer in his spare time; he hits hard and if he'd been taking a proper pop at him, McKaigue wouldn't have got up again unaided. Even though he still made a huge meal of it.

Same old rubbish that used to happen to Stevie O'Neill and that still happens to Michael Murphy and Kieran Donaghy and a few others. GAA referee mentality mainly is that you can niggle and claw at a man for an hour, especially if he's big and/or strong and has a tendency to stay on his feet even when being fouled and impeded, for an hour and if eventually, goaded beyond endurance, he retaliates, it's red card for him and he's the "bad guy" and the fella that spent the previous hour ignoring the game in favour of committing sneaky fouls and half fouls is ignored and exonerated. I remember S O'Neill's jersey in tatters at the end of a game; a game that he didn't get a single free in. Presumably the ref felt he spent half the game tearing his own jersey for the crack. Pathetic stuff; and something the GAA seemingly has no wish ever to address.

essmac (Tyrone) - Posts: 1141 - 30/05/2017 09:35:56    1992048

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Ciaran Whelan is a very good analyst. Calm and measured and makes his points well.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7360 - 30/05/2017 10:11:22    1992059

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I like the hurling lads but it seems very easy to analyse hurling. The only thing they ever talk about is whether there's a sweeper or not. If its a close game ie 5/6 points in it then it's a classic for the ages, the best game in the world. If it's not then just talk about the last close game instead. Show a few points from player x - "He'll do that all day, off he's left, off he's right".

I know there's a lot more going on than that but they never go into it.

Breffni40 (Cavan) - Posts: 12121 - 30/05/2017 10:58:47    1992080

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People seem to like Brolly because he is a smart guy and makes witty comments. He the same as the rest just not as boring. I prefer Sky Sports.

TheFlaker (Mayo) - Posts: 7907 - 30/05/2017 11:40:39    1992100

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