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Best / Worst TV/Radio Commentators?

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Marty is definitely the best now and love listening to him for hurling he does great intros especially before big matches .himself and mullane are brilliant on the radio really capture the excitement. Canning isn't bad but was better in the 80 and 90s. But unfairness no one can beat Mícheál. Maloney no good for hurling IMO.

ecad123 (Galway) - Posts: 272 - 11/09/2020 00:59:41    2291498

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Replying To wexico15:  "He's now got 4 points, 2 from frees and 2 from placed balls.

Spratt is comedic value but not the best if you want an accurate picture of the game."
thats the understatement of the year

Stmunnsriver (Wexford) - Posts: 2840 - 11/09/2020 16:34:57    2291576

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Darragh Maloney and Dave McIntyre are probably the two best around. You'd know they have their research done and accurately at that.
As for the worst I'd have to say Gerry Russell on Midlands 103 Radio. Anybody that has heard will know why

mintyfresh (Westmeath) - Posts: 211 - 20/09/2020 20:22:37    2293253

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Replying To mintyfresh:  "Darragh Maloney and Dave McIntyre are probably the two best around. You'd know they have their research done and accurately at that.
As for the worst I'd have to say Gerry Russell on Midlands 103 Radio. Anybody that has heard will know why"
Agree about Russell. He regularly mixes up names of players and even team names. It's often a nightmare trying to figure out what's going on.

midlands (Westmeath) - Posts: 541 - 20/09/2020 20:58:40    2293265

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Replying To mintyfresh:  "Darragh Maloney and Dave McIntyre are probably the two best around. You'd know they have their research done and accurately at that.
As for the worst I'd have to say Gerry Russell on Midlands 103 Radio. Anybody that has heard will know why"
I'll have to check him out so (you can get Midlands 103 in parts of Galway). Hopefully he's in the "so bad it's good" category like Marty and not in the Brian Carthy "so bad it's painful" category

eoghan6688 (Galway) - Posts: 154 - 20/09/2020 21:11:31    2293274

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Replying To eoghan6688:  "I'll have to check him out so (you can get Midlands 103 in parts of Galway). Hopefully he's in the "so bad it's good" category like Marty and not in the Brian Carthy "so bad it's painful" category"
Neither. It's worse. He's in the "so bad I have to keep listening because I've no other platform to listen or watch this match so I'll just suffer through it"

mintyfresh (Westmeath) - Posts: 211 - 20/09/2020 22:03:01    2293296

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There's a Dublin lad presenting the sports on Shannonside FM which covers Longford, Leitrim and Roscommon. It's amusing to hear him attempt some of the local place names. In the interest of fairness I heard one of the local newsreaders on it try to pronounce 'Mulhuddart'. It didn't go well.

republicofcloone (Leitrim) - Posts: 375 - 21/09/2020 08:55:00    2293338

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Replying To DL_Man:  "Damian Ó Dónaill on Raidió na Gaeltachta is excellent. I believe he won a commentary competition to land the role, which is a great way to recruit new commentators. He's recently been doing bilingual commentary on Donegal GAA official streams and he's been very good. Would love to see him on TG4 or possibly on RTÉ radio 1 in the future."
His twitter account appears to be most reliable for latest fixtures, scores , results and updated league tables during group stages. He is so up to date that your I've noticed your county board (official gas Twitter) simply retweet Damien's latest update on busy championship Sunday's.

Curlew66 (Roscommon) - Posts: 504 - 27/09/2020 11:18:27    2294267

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Replying To midlands:  "Agree about Russell. He regularly mixes up names of players and even team names. It's often a nightmare trying to figure out what's going on."
Gerry is doing commentary on Westmeath games presently, what annoyed me when he covered Offaly games, was he never updated the score, even if a team had just scored in a game. He can get mispronounce players names, and team names occasionally, but he is committed to the job.
Jack Nolan does the Laois games, he uses players nicknames, in commentary, like 'Picky Maher', or 'Dicey Reilly'. Can be annoying at times.
All commentators are entertaining/frustrating, in their own way. Joe Troy does the Offaly club matches presently, he does a good job.

MicktheMiller (Offaly) - Posts: 421 - 27/09/2020 12:43:35    2294278

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Replying To bloodyban:  "RTE are following the BBC down the rabbit hole of left wing wokeism. Both organisations are supoosed to be impartial but they arent and its a shame. They are supposed to report news not push an agenda. It ll all come to a head like it is in the UK where people have had enough. RTE just have to make all the same mistakes first..all of them like pandering to all left wing causes ect
I must be the only one here who thinks Ger Canning is good. He can commentate on most sports whereas Marty Morrissey couldn't be let near a soccer match . Actually martys monologue Essays before the game would be funny before an Irish International game.
Joanne Cantwell is top class. I think she does a good job in a tricky environment"
I don't understand how you could consider RTE or BBC left wing.

bugsie (Leitrim) - Posts: 199 - 27/09/2020 21:20:26    2294386

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Replying To midlands:  "Agree about Russell. He regularly mixes up names of players and even team names. It's often a nightmare trying to figure out what's going on."
In fairness, it's more difficult for commentators nowadays - players all have the same short back n sides haircut and the same lean physique. Unlike the 70s when there was a variety of haircuts and physiques ...

essmac (Tyrone) - Posts: 1141 - 27/09/2020 23:52:36    2294414

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Replying To bugsie:  "I don't understand how you could consider RTE or BBC left wing."
He is telling the truth on that, any so called celebrities figures with a left/woke message/view is given a platform by RTE to express it. If you have a right/conservative view they bring you on alright,but to demonize you. Prime example of this was Peter Casey during the presidential election who had the bravery to speak out on an issue that needs talking about and the lefties got their knickers in a twist and RTE and other media outlets tried to blacken him for it.

DUALSUPPORT (Limerick) - Posts: 1038 - 28/09/2020 09:25:31    2294431

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Replying To bugsie:  "I don't understand how you could consider RTE or BBC left wing."
This left wing right wing makes me cringe. The left wants to take your money (taxes) put it into schemes that employ more civil servants and does not matter if the programs work or not. Just come back to you and take more. The right wants to take your money (taxes) and give it to the rich while making and up holding policy that ensure they pay little or nothing at all. (In the U.S. Trump paid $750). The right are probably more dangerous around the world at present as they continue to chip away at your rights and driving fast toward tyranny. We deserve what we get because we are a dumb electorate who believe the sh-t told.

Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 2655 - 28/09/2020 13:51:23    2294517

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I always loved Tony O Donoghue ( not the reporter ) who did the athletics commentary for RTE at the Olympics. Super voice and never wasted a word .

Malonemagic (Laois) - Posts: 765 - 28/09/2020 15:03:49    2294542

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Replying To MicktheMiller:  "Gerry is doing commentary on Westmeath games presently, what annoyed me when he covered Offaly games, was he never updated the score, even if a team had just scored in a game. He can get mispronounce players names, and team names occasionally, but he is committed to the job.
Jack Nolan does the Laois games, he uses players nicknames, in commentary, like 'Picky Maher', or 'Dicey Reilly'. Can be annoying at times.
All commentators are entertaining/frustrating, in their own way. Joe Troy does the Offaly club matches presently, he does a good job."
Agree about Joe Troy. He has genuine knowledge of what he's saying and has been improving as the last few years have gone on. He is still young as far as commentators go. Jack Nolan is an improvement on Russell. There is obviously a reason they took him off Laois matches years ago and replaced him with Nolan. It's a pity Midlands 103 wouldn't source a Westmeath man to commentate on our games. You'd imagine there is one hidden in the county somewhere.

mintyfresh (Westmeath) - Posts: 211 - 28/09/2020 21:34:05    2294639

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Replying To DUALSUPPORT:  "He is telling the truth on that, any so called celebrities figures with a left/woke message/view is given a platform by RTE to express it. If you have a right/conservative view they bring you on alright,but to demonize you. Prime example of this was Peter Casey during the presidential election who had the bravery to speak out on an issue that needs talking about and the lefties got their knickers in a twist and RTE and other media outlets tried to blacken him for it."
Too many presenters in RTÉ have their own agenda which comes across when they interview somebody who doesn't share their views. The job of an interviewer should be to tease out the views of the person they are interviewing. As the add used to say, questions answered, answers questioned. At the end of the interview you need to know the opinions of the lad or lady being interviewed not the views of the interviewer. Gay Byrne at his best was brilliant at it. He made the interviewee feeel as if they were the most important person in the studio and let them give their views. At the end you knew their views but you hadn't a clue what Gays view was. I remember the Peter Casey interview when the presenter and a section of the audience talked across him and over him and prevented him from elaborating on his views. At the very least it was unprofessional on the presenters part, bordering on the disgraceful. The same night Mary Robinson was on and she got a free ride as the presenter hung on her every word in what resembled a case of hero worship. It was as If all the presenters outrage was used up on the unfortunate Casey. At one stage Mary made a statement on the lines that the world would be a safer place if more leaders of countries were female. Now this was obviously Mary's own opinion, and may well be true, but it begged a follow up question as to whether or not she had any proof or statistics to back this up. Especially so since it was the time that Myanmar were carrying out all sorts of atrocities against the Rohingya Muslims under the watchful eye of a female leader. However the presenter was in full toy show mode at this stage and Mary's musings were allowed to go unchallenged.

Llaw_Gyffes (Mayo) - Posts: 1113 - 28/09/2020 21:37:50    2294642

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Replying To DUALSUPPORT:  "He is telling the truth on that, any so called celebrities figures with a left/woke message/view is given a platform by RTE to express it. If you have a right/conservative view they bring you on alright,but to demonize you. Prime example of this was Peter Casey during the presidential election who had the bravery to speak out on an issue that needs talking about and the lefties got their knickers in a twist and RTE and other media outlets tried to blacken him for it."
I agree with you on the pro-wokeism in RTÉ though not sure how left the woke crowd are. Plenty of narcissists involved there and good at complaining about issues without ever proposing a solution. Not sure how genuine Casey's thoughts on travellers were. More of a self publicity stunt from who has proven time and again how unelectable he is.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7337 - 28/09/2020 22:55:43    2294657

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Nobody can ever surpass Michael O' Hehir. He generated excitement in an Ireland without TV, where people were glued to the radio! Who could forget commentary like this " long ball in toward Christy Ring, he's got it! It's a goalllll!!!!!

Rockies (Cork) - Posts: 947 - 10/10/2020 17:18:23    2296707

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Ger Canning was once a personal favourite of mine for nostalgic purposes but he totally turned on wexford in recent years. Same as Michael Duignan.

Local radio is Liam spratt. There's no chance of following a game with him but has some great one liners.

"Jays Billy the traffic was bad coming up. How about you?" about the same Liam, I was in your car.....

Doylerwex (Wexford) - Posts: 2629 - 28/10/2020 13:42:58    2302480

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Replying To DUALSUPPORT:  "He is telling the truth on that, any so called celebrities figures with a left/woke message/view is given a platform by RTE to express it. If you have a right/conservative view they bring you on alright,but to demonize you. Prime example of this was Peter Casey during the presidential election who had the bravery to speak out on an issue that needs talking about and the lefties got their knickers in a twist and RTE and other media outlets tried to blacken him for it."
Let's get something straight here. I have had a couple of run ins with the same people Peter Casey was talking about and there is an issue there. But anyone who thinks Peter Casey was looking for anything else bar attention then you need your head examined.

He might be a successful businessman but he has embarrassed himself more than once on multiple issues since he tried to join public office. It's embarrassing how much traction he gained for one comment and his lack of knowledge on a heap of other issues were ignored. The politics of Trump and Boris, he is in that gang.

TheFlaker (Mayo) - Posts: 7885 - 28/10/2020 13:57:56    2302486

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