Pat Spillane..

M three

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119004328#Comment_119004328

Spot on, fitzmaurice definitely isnt suited for commentating. Not sure if he is tactically up to speed either. When he commentated on the recent derry v tyrone game he didnt know what subs where brought on or off at half time never mind what tactical changes that would bring about.

Perhaps he should try his hand at writing articles.

Crash Bang Wall

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119051639#Comment_119051639

Would agree his voice is pretty droll, but Id take that over Dessie Dolan, McStay and the likes of Martin Carney any day. I avoid RTE football as much as possible, so Im not sure who else they use. BBC had McConville, who is in my opinion, the best of the lot

M three

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119089508#Comment_119089508

Not much of a standard you've set there is it. So we have to put up with fitmaurice's droll, boring chat and listen to his lack of tactical knowledge just because he might be a bit better than some of rte's other terrible hires?

You are correct in that bbc's pundits are MILES better than rte's. Which really does highlight how crap rte are: The british broadcasting corporation have better pundits for one of our national sports than the irish state broadcaster...

CornerForward10286

JB badly missed. always spoke his mind, nor afraid of saying anything.

spakman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119112133#Comment_119112133

Problem is, his mind is full of shite a lot of the time

CornerForward10286

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119112419#Comment_119112419

thats all opinion. very good and intelligent analyst.

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119112815#Comment_119112815

Ha Ha. Ignorant, useless, rude, troublemaker would be more accurate.

Deeming him to be an analyst is being way too complimentary. All he used to do was just sit there squinting, and scheming how he was going to throw a verbal missile at his colleagues.

CornerForward10286

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119121455#Comment_119121455

absolute horseshit. he spoke his mind 2 a tee and wasn't afraid to say a thing. one of the biggest reasons he was thrown off the Sunday game. current analysts are a pale shadow of him. very intelligent football man also and knows exactly what he's talking about.

Billy Ocean

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119121605#Comment_119121605

I'd disagree in fairness, everything JB said was get a extreme reaction.

CornerForward10286

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119123793#Comment_119123793

u could see that for anybody outspoken!. he knows his football inside out and loved how he spoke his mind.

Billy Ocean

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119124260#Comment_119124260

I wouldn't call him unspoken just an attention seeker, he changes his mind like the weather so wouldn't say he knows his football inside and out.

Strumms

Noelle Healy is excellent… no agenda whatsoever and the likes of herself, Ciaran Whelan, Sean Cavanagh I’m fans of…

shes working in Cork I believe now as an anesthesiologist I understand so it could be difficult for her to commit. But 5 all Irelands, 4 all stars and she retired at 30… great communicator, what you see is what you get.

CornerForward10286

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119124556#Comment_119124556

I wouldn't agree on changing his mind like the weather. some thought he was wrong the time he had a go at s cavanagh but thats what I mean by him speaking his mind, he wasn't afraid to say what he was thinking.

Coillte_Bhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119124613#Comment_119124613

Have look at his pieces over the years on Mayo, praising them to the hilt one minute, denigrating them the next. he's a decent analyst imo if he kept to that but as another poster said he always seems to be thinking up sarky or pseudo intellectual comments to throw at the other panelists, became tiresome very quickly.

robbiezero

I think Cantwell is pretty good and cuts through quite a bit of the bullshit.

A case in point is Davy Fitzgerald on the Sunday game. Clare have probably been the team of the hurling championship so far (certainly the most improved) and are playing great stuff, yet whenever Davy is asked to talk about them, there is not a single mention of Brian Lohan which is scandalous. Basically he is refusing to do his job properly because of some petty nonsense feud - RTE are worse to indulge that nonsense, if an analyst won't do their job, get rid post haste.

While Des lets him away with it, I do think Cantwell would pull him up and quiz him on Lohan and the job he has done so far this year.

thesultan

Would you see that Davy shouldn't be speaking on Clare considering his fued with Lohan..

Shane dowling very good..

zetecescort

need to put Dowling on a few games not involving Limerick to see what he has to offer. he might aswell wear his Limerick kit in studio when commenting on Limerick's games

Pussyhands

Great thread!

Agree with a lot of what's said.

Eamon Fitzmaurice...the content he comes out with is brilliant but his tone is sooooo boring. I can get over the boring voice so it's ok.

Pat Spillane. I like him as a pundit. You're not getting any great modern analysis but he's entertaining, got a good voice and synonymous with many great moments in punditry in the past. He's also not afraid to say something is bad or good. Others are very apologetic about it as if they're afraid to say what they think.

McStay, he's got a good voice and good diction and has a lot of good insight but some of the stuff he comes out with is rubbish. He was complaining about a few Derry lads lining up in front of a 45 on Sunday. Made no sense to me.

Martin Carney. He hasn't been on RTE in years. Great voice for co commentary. I think he does local live commentary now?

Tom Carr. Another not been on in years but I enjoyed his co commentary.

Dessie Dolan. Terrible. "They're going for the full court press Ger"

Sean Cavanagh. Looks like a choir boy but I find there's a real nasty edge about him. Would have no trouble stabbing you in the back I'd say. Would never let anyone say anything bad about Tyrone without sticking the knife in, in return.

Ger Canning. Best for hurling imo. Annoys me with pronouncing debut as "dayboo"

Marty Morrissey. Very annoying on comms. "Uh..that's astounding"..."It's exhilarating! It's breathtaking! It's the Munster Championship in Thurles!". The nicknames thing annoys me too, stop acting like you're best buddys with the players..."Brick lays it off to Dan the Man."...."The Bonnar Maher sends it in long and it's gathered by Bubbles"

Joanne Cantwell. Very wooden and clean cut. Like a school teacher. No match for Lyster. And what's with the standing with big spaces? Give the lads chairs and have them inside like they used to.

The hurling lads are terrible I think. I'm just distracted by the overdressing. They all look like they're making their communion with their sponsorships from Littlewoods and menswear shops.

TheRiverman

Try listening to John Mullane on Radio. Horrific.

Gusser09

I have an huge issue with the gender qoutas. I'm not sure why Urusla Jacob is on the Sunday Game. Shocking. Imagine herself and Fitzmaurice commentating on a game. The tele would be fucked out the window.

Cantwell isnt great to be honest. No presence like Lyster had. Cant stand her actually as a presenter.

McStay is the best of the pundits with Whelan following. Kavanagh and Cooper are poor. Boyle might be good if given more time

Spillane? Careful lads. Football is gone that poor we need a bit of entertainment.

Its criminal that orourke is still on the screens. The mind boggles. He loves the attention. Mind numbing crap he comes out with. Never tried his hand at too level management either. Too happy with the few quid in RTE.

One of the worst pundits was Marty McHugh. A bit nasty at times.

The hurling is a joke. Im sick of it. Donal og is dreadful. Jackie Tyrell looks like he wants to change his outfit during the ad breaks. At least cyril " they had a great u14 team in the 60s" farrell is gone.

Rte just cant get it right at all. You'd wonder who Orourke has dirt on.

The commentary is amateur at best. Marty " from sydney to tokyo, alaska to rio, chicago to madrid, in oneills bar in downtown mogadishu they're all tuned in today for this one" Morrisey. Appalling.

Its a pity Michael o'muirheartaigh had to get old.

The_Kew_Tour

Pat Spillane just makes up stuff now too which is funny.

Very bitter man. Kinda feel sorry for him in a way.

Rosita

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119141994#Comment_119141994

A small point on Dowling, he is irritating how he looks around to the other pundits for validation. There's already enough sense that's it just one-voice clinical output on the programme without body language actually making it more obvious.

Gael85

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pundit-pat-spillane-received-32-000-in-covid-support-nbdntlq7p

Pussyhands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119165793#Comment_119165793

Tip of the iceberg. Some money was stolen from the tax payers and handed to undeserving people during the pandemic.

Gael85

https://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/why-i-am-a-better-gaa-man-since-my-son-joined-sligo-41748947.html

dobman88

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119199252#Comment_119199252

Behind a paywall. Any chance you could PM me the piece?

Pussyhands

Davy Fitz and Anna Geary on punditry duty. The stuff of nightmares.

gigantic09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119199252#Comment_119199252

I suppose the more positive publicity this comp gets the better.It looks to be outperforming expectations so far and hopefully has a long future with maybe some tweaks along the way.

Coillte_Bhoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119222819#Comment_119222819

Well it's getting a pretty dramatic tweak next year

Gael85

Spillane stepping away from RTE.

Xander10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119313463#Comment_119313463

What woman will RTE replace him with?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119313463#Comment_119313463

I know a lot won't miss him, but it won't be the same without him. Colm O'Rourke won't follow suit I hope!

asdfg87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058238263/pat-spillane

I never watch analysis, just watch the game and decide for msyelf. Personally i they deliberately drop "clangers" and it mostly staged to create controversy/interesd as Brolly also and O'Rourke but he was more supple. I haven't watched in years so out of touch with recent comments.

TheRiverman

He will be missed.

rolling boh

Long overdue hope Colm takes the hint and clears off as well .

MacDanger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119313537#Comment_119313537

Agreed.

Delighted that Spillane is gone, he hasn't said a single original thing in years

Billy Ocean

Think it's best for everyone, Spillane's day has past, even today Keegan and Mcginley were alot better.

ruwithme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119314140#Comment_119314140

He's kept you watching all the while, so must have been saying something right.

MacDanger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119315357#Comment_119315357

Hi Pateen

hunter2000

Spilliane was like the first cousin you fancied.

Pussyhands

Another one of the original greats that will not be replaced.

Like bill, Brady, Dunphy, Cyril Farrell, loughnane, kamara, you're not just watching for analysis, you're watching for entertainment aswell. It wasn't just what they said, it was how they said it.

Pat has a great way with words.

Punditry is losing all these characters. He'll be replaced with some inoffensive pundit who'll play it safe every time making sure not to say anything that might offend anyone.

Tigerbaby

Spillane,

On the Night of the 1984 win, my brother-in-law and I went to the Cat and Cage pub in Drumcondra. We heard the Kerry team were there and decided to join the celebrations. Both of us from Wexford and Tipp, neither a Football collosus.

For some strange arrangement of the Stars, we spent the guts of two hours with Pat, chatting and drinking outside the pub. We had never met before. Just the Three of us. A more decent, and down to Earth man you could not meet. For a superstar ( which is what he was) to spend such time with total strangers showed to me the mark of the man.

And of course we were cordially invited to the official celebrations in the Grand, Malahide by Pat. Which we thoroughly enjoyed.

A Genius, a gentleman, with no notions about himself.

He will be sadly missed.

thank you Pat.

windy shepard henderson

🤣🤣🤣

https://youtu.be/h89S_px-JM0

no words needed , the greatest of all time 😂

Redsoxfan

Good riddance

Don't let the door hit your arse on the way out Pat.

Pussyhands

Michael Lyster was on off the ball today. Despite him not wanting to come across like "my day was better", he did reference that there has been changes in how its done the last few years. Came across to me that pat had told him he wasn't enjoying the new way of doing things as they used to.

The new format is very inoffensive. There's no bit of bite from any of them, all playing it safe.

megadodge

At long last!!!

I can't believe it took RTE this long to get rid of the most pathetic, immature, biased and juvenile 'analyst' to ever be forced down our throats.

I nearly always mute the TV when he comes on because he simply never says anything worth listening to.

His lack of knowledge on a game he's paid to analyse is shocking and he hides this ignorance behind a scatter of statistics and infantile insults.

The fact that the vast majority of people associate his 'analysis' with the childish 'puke football' says it all about the level he operates at.

Good riddance.

TITANIUM.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119318249#Comment_119318249

Unusual assessment of a man that is widely known as a walking encyclopedia of football. A character gone to be replaced with more beige,

On the puke football comment, I tent to agree with him. Its been a plight on the game. People try to dress it up with words like intensity and defensive systems! But really it is Puke football, in other words! A way of playing football for people who can't actually play football.

Enjoy retirement pat, And thank you, You'll be missed by football people.

WJL

Spillane's finest hour was here..

https://youtu.be/QpFFmlAPCek

WJL

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118817614#Comment_118817614

Fitzmaurice might have a droney voice but he's an excellent analyst.

Dessie has a droney voice and poor analyst.

TITANIUM.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119323296#Comment_119323296

Yes that was shear class. What a breakdown. What do we have now? "It's unfortunate, its not nice to see" more beige filler.