Newstalk: Off The Ball

Turned on Newstalk on my way home from the beach yesterday - during the 1st half - and no live commentary on Arsenal v United. But then I turned the radio on later and there was commentary? Must have been technical issues or something

Yeah, that's it for me too. I guess if it works out for them great, but I don't see it happening.

I subbed for the first month just to see was it worth it...I've cancelled it for next month.

Has anyone listened to the ronan o gara segments? Usually it's adrian barry interviewing him and my god it is honestly the most boring bit of radio you will ever listen to. If I have to hear him being asked about his rivalry with JS one more time. He was on last week chatting about having one of the o donovan brothers down in la rochelle and straight away someone was in saying oh the rivalry between the brothers would be a bit like yourself and johnny...i think o gara himself does be a bit embarrassed answering the same questions over and over again. O gara isn't great over the radio anyways and there's absolutely no need to have him on once a week.

Since they've gone behind the paywall i don't miss it at all. I listened to the Saturday football show last week. And John Giles Thu evening segment couple weeks back. That's about it really. I don't miss any of them. Not Molloy. Not Gilroy. Certainly not the scutter lads banter at 19.00. And it's refreshing not to have heard the annoying Nathan doing live premier league or any other radio either. Out of sight out of mind. Plenty more of my favourite sports coverage out there. I won't be going back to otb that's for sure.

Haven't been following closely.... I used to listen to OTB quite a lot live but not so much these days. So is the show still live, and the regular slots can be listened to on air, and its only the listen back thats behind the paywall, or have they dropped lots of slots from the broadcast entirely and moved them behind the paywall??

It just popped up on my Youtube feed an interview with Alan Quinlan about yesterdays match where according to the video description

Jonny Sextons standout performance after more than 6 months without a game astonished Alan Quinlan

Ireland won 82-8 against a bunch of almost amateur players anyone who reads anything into that game is talking complete guff.They could have played me at fly half and they'd have won.

Rugby honestly seems to attract the greatest bunch of bullshit merchants analyzing the games where they seem to see everything as being so important , it's like they work for the IRFU's PR team.Why couldn't we get some honest analysis and him just say "Yesterdays game was a complete waste of time and there is no point reading anything into it".This patronizing guff you get is tedious as anyone with half a brain can see right through it.

Your last line summed up how I saw the game, at half time I decided life and fine weather was too short to sit inside when it was 24 degrees looking at Ireland beating a team who would have been trounced by a AIL team.

You could read nothing in to it, but I guess OTB have a 20 minute slot to fill with Alan Quinlan and they need to get him to say something!

Are they still championing Stephen Kenny on OTB?

I had the radio on Wednesday night around 9 and Dan McDonnell was on with Nathan I think but they didn't really speak about the manager.

Turned on the radio yesterday and Johnny said we've no midfield that's the problem.

TBF the media have so someway appease the governing bodies in all sports if they want acccess to players. Pundits across all platforms were lauding Sexton yesterday not just OTB.

Not just Kenny though. Proper investment in Irish soccer needed in order to produce high level players. That irish team reflects that lack of investment

I turned on the radio there earlier today (Sunday before the Ireland v Holland) for my own amusement really - 'the football show'I think it was?. To see what spin they would be putting on Kenny's tenure, their expectations of the game etc. Knowing full well they would have a job to put a spin on things.

It did not disappoint, it was the funniest thing I heard on the radio for a while. First they considered Lee Carsley for the Ireland job. Which was funny in itself as it is not likely.

But then one of them said Carsley did not have the senior international experience (I assume it was one of the '42' young lads?). I was shouting at the radio that Kenny's only real experience was u21 International level. Which is all Carsley has

Then a texter pointed that out - but the counter from the presenter was that Kenny got the job for the work he did in European club football! And bluffed away the rest of question, by saying people can 'pick and chose' for an argument.

All I could think of was how many games did Kenny manage in Europe? It could not have been many.

But then the debate got even funnier, they seriously started talking about the need for someone with a long throw in the Ireland squad!

Couldn’t agree more, on the occasions that I have tuned in, they all seem “up themselves” molloy in particular. The fake sincerity with the Qatar World Cup last year and the wringing of their hands on how could this happen etc….

Talksport here in the UK offers far more insightful and entertaining coverage for soccer.

....and about as insightful as reading the daily mail.

Joe Molloy often talks about how he listens to Talksport daily. Simon Jordan one of his favourites. I wonder would he still listen if it went behind a paywall.

Jordan is box office. If you want to go pay wall you need a big personality like that.