Whats going on, i hear all members of the show have left newstalk, quality show, hope not.

xxx (Mayo) - Posts: 1275 - 04/03/2013 17:50:59    1342663

Just heard that myself. Hope its not a permanent move. Its the best sports show by far.

donegaldouble (Donegal) - Posts: 318 - 04/03/2013 17:53:29    1342669

See Below best show on radio. Presume they have something lined up ? though can't imagine RTE rocking the boat. Almost any other radio station that
might host them is owned by same owner as Newstalk so that doesn't seem an option either

Best Guess something On line / Streamed



Newstalk.Newstalk Radio's award-winning Off the Ball team have resigned from the station today with immediate effect.

The show is set to continue this evening but it will be hosted by sports editor and original host Ger Gilroy, who will be joined by remaining members of staff Cian Murtagh, David McIntyre and Joe Molloy.

"Newstalk has confirmed that Eoin McDevitt, Simon Hick, Ken Early, Ciaran Murphy and Mark Horgan have resigned from its sports department," a statement read this afternoon.


"Ger Gilroy, Newstalk sports editor, who devised Off the Ball in 2002, will be joined by mainstays of the Newstalk sports team - Cian Murtagh, David McIntyre and Joe Molloy - in taking over the running of the show, starting tonight.

"Newstalk would like to thank Eoin, Simon, Ken, Ciaran and Mark for their contributions to the station and wish them luck in their future endeavours."

The reason for the split is not yet clear, but it will shock and disappoint loyal listeners who tuned in to the three-hour show on weekdays between 7pm and 10pm for its irreverent but insightful coverage of national and international sport.

Already fans and contributors have taken to social media to express their disbelief. Irish Times Football Correspondent Emmet Malone, tweeted: "Am hoping the lads from Off the Ball have been poached en masse by a rival that writes much bigger cheques. Otherwise, it's terrible news."

ruanua (Donegal) - Posts: 4966 - 04/03/2013 18:00:24    1342674

Yep its true, Newstalk chiefs want OTB to be moved to an earlier slot, obviously the staff didn't concur, damn shame, best radio sports show ever!

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8756 - 04/03/2013 18:03:51    1342677

Gutted. That show will never be the same again. Best of luck to the lads in the future. Lets hope we hear from them again in some form. This article pretty much covers everything. link

MarkMyWords (Meath) - Posts: 522 - 04/03/2013 18:10:58    1342686

Really enjoyable show. The best sports show on the radio defo.

Hopefully they'll be back in another guise soon.

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13802 - 04/03/2013 18:28:43    1342706

Great show. They won't be off the airwaves for too long.

TheFlaker (Mayo) - Posts: 8399 - 04/03/2013 18:45:55    1342726

Yeah, very disappointing isn't it? Surely another station will come in and take it over.

doublehop (Kildare) - Posts: 4172 - 04/03/2013 18:49:11    1342729

McDevitt was an excellent presenter. Felt for the last while that the show needed freshening up. You'd get a bit sick of Murph and Ken after a while, same old jokes. Having a full hour every night dedicated to premiership soccer was a bit much too. Still, I hope the regular contributors like American Murph, the GAA lads, the rugby lads all stay on. By the sounds of it they bluffed and had their bluff called. Hopefully Today FM or someone will snap them up.

icehonesty (Wexford) - Posts: 2575 - 04/03/2013 18:57:04    1342738

icehonesty
County: Wexford
Posts: 1135

1342738
McDevitt was an excellent presenter. Felt for the last while that the show needed freshening up. You'd get a bit sick of Murph and Ken after a while, same old jokes. Having a full hour every night dedicated to premiership soccer was a bit much too. Still, I hope the regular contributors like American Murph, the GAA lads, the rugby lads all stay on. By the sounds of it they bluffed and had their bluff called. Hopefully Today FM or someone will snap them up.

Newstalk and Today FM are sister stations- owned by Denis O'Brien and both broadcast from the same building. Think 98fm is the same.

roundball (Tipperary) - Posts: 2514 - 04/03/2013 19:52:20    1342785

Yeah very disappointing. Ger Gilroy and weekend team are good but not a patch on Eoin McDevitt and crew. From article it looks like they wanted to work out their 8 weeks notice but station left them go straight away. They knew there would be a deafing clamour to keep the guys on so pulled the rug straight away.

Newstalk is a very good station but have made a major error here. The lads will be back on another station and Newstalk will lose thousands of listeners.

county man (Limerick) - Posts: 1145 - 04/03/2013 20:10:18    1342809

I never listended to it myself although I do like McDevitt when he is on Setanta.

Is 3 hours of sports chat a night not a bit much?

uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 04/03/2013 21:04:04    1342866

A pity to see them go.it was an entertaining programme.

marita (None) - Posts: 469 - 04/03/2013 21:11:13    1342870

04/03/2013 21:04:04
uibhfhaili1986
I never listended to it myself although I do like McDevitt when he is on Setanta.

Is 3 hours of sports chat a night not a bit much?
Doing a course with Joe Molloy of Newstalk at the moment and he said that it may seem a lot but when you take in breaks for the news, 4/5 ad breaks an hour etc it isnt that much but at the same time doing 3 hours a night meant they didnt do a show on friday nights.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 04/03/2013 21:18:23    1342882

great programme enjoyed murph and mcdevitt although didnt listen to it for too long after 9 because earley was pretty hard to listen to waffling on about soccer.

johnsee (Meath) - Posts: 389 - 04/03/2013 21:25:15    1342892

The lads filling in, Gilroy, McIntyre and Molloy will still hold a good show. The same chemistry wont be there, but it will still be very enjoyable.
What I would worry about now is what will happen the weekend show
Ger Joe and Dave were the weekend hosts and did a fine job, and their GAA coverage in the summer with Murph on the sideline was excellent. I hope this wont suffer as a result but I cant help worry that it will
Would not be atall susprised to see Colm Parkinson and David Brady step in full time at weekends with one of the 3 lads (joe, dave, ger) leave the weekday show to concentrate on the weekend.
Brady has done an apprenticeship of sorts on Ballbusters, which by the way has also mysteriously disappeared off the airs in the last 2 weeks??

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8166 - 05/03/2013 08:59:23    1342947

county man
County: Limerick

Newstalk is a very good station but have made a major error here. The lads will be back on another station and Newstalk will lose thousands of listeners.

Newstalk have dealt with this decisively and brilliantly. Presenters tryin to dictate what time the show will be on at? Ive never heard the likes. They've already stopped going live on a friday night which is the most important night of the week with all the sport coming up at the weekend, so they can have a night off. And now they wanted to finish earlier on the week nights? Brilliant by newstalk to not even let them work out their notice! Good luck lads

whiterbannnas (Mayo) - Posts: 2441 - 05/03/2013 09:16:41    1342959

Liamwalkinstown
County: Dublin

Brady has done an apprenticeship of sorts on Ballbusters, which by the way has also mysteriously disappeared off the airs in the last 2 weeks??

I presume that ballbusters tripe has disappeared because of rte's new weekday sports show, which they will now hope will benefit from off the ball's revamp. Please God they wont let Fiona "i know nothing about sport and im not even slightly funny" Looney anywhere near a sports show ever again, that would be a plus anyway. As for brady, Go Bhfoire Dia Orainnn

whiterbannnas (Mayo) - Posts: 2441 - 05/03/2013 09:58:01    1342976

A sad day for sports fans in Ireland. Hopefully it wont be to long before they reappear on our airwaves.

mon (Galway) - Posts: 675 - 05/03/2013 09:59:22    1342978

whiterbannnas
County: Mayo
Posts: 2213

1342959
county man
County: Limerick

Newstalk is a very good station but have made a major error here. The lads will be back on another station and Newstalk will lose thousands of listeners.

Newstalk have dealt with this decisively and brilliantly. Presenters tryin to dictate what time the show will be on at? Ive never heard the likes. They've already stopped going live on a friday night which is the most important night of the week with all the sport coming up at the weekend, so they can have a night off. And now they wanted to finish earlier on the week nights? Brilliant by newstalk to not even let them work out their notice! Good luck lads

Bananas where as we don't know the ins and outs of what went on your comment on the Friday night slot is 100 per cent incorrect. The Friday evening post drive time is the least popular slot across the board. Post 7pm on a Friday, listenership drops for every station in the country. Friday and Saturday night are the least important night of the week for radio listenership.

TheFlaker (Mayo) - Posts: 8399 - 05/03/2013 10:04:12    1342981