Monaghan v Derry was pretty awful as a spectacle especially for a neutral..... I watched it on RTE and thought the pundits would go to war before the game even started. They were all very nasty today to each other and I was wondering was it anything to do with winning the audience who were also able to view it on BBC. In fact Spillane seemed perfectly reasonable at times compared to Brolly and O'Rourke. Was it all a set-up? Are they trying to imitate their soccer panel and hoping to gain a bigger audience with inter-panel rowing? I am also wondering what other people think of RTE's commentators? They seem to spend a lot of time describing everything and anything bar what is actually happening. The station seems to have much better commentators for the rugby.

BIG SACKS (Tyrone) - Posts: 1681 - 24/05/2009 20:23:11    292303

In my opinion,the degree of commentating in this country is awful. Bar the great Michael or even the man who does the minors in Irish everyone else is awful. That includes both RTE and BBC. Mark Sidebottom Martin Carney and Darragh Maloney. However BBC pundits are excellent, Rory gallagher being paticularly insightful. Kevin McStay is good as is the reserved Anthony Tohill. Apart form Brolly's contributions I can sometimes find RTE analysis pretty one dimensional. I mean they just state what happened instead of giving an past players determination of it.

trileacman (Tyrone) - Posts: 759 - 24/05/2009 21:41:14    292435

RTE does need to review its coverage , They gave the least amount of the time to the only half daycent game which was the Limerick V Tipp game on the sunday game, which was disappointing . I agree big sacks the Derry V Monaghan game was poor , I thought dey would have filled Celtic park after it was redeveloped but i suppose if its ulster football ur goin watchin den why go. I think the RTE commentary definetly needs lookin at. Next weeks games shud see a major improvement in de games with de hurlin startin up .

ranglerrothar (Limerick) - Posts: 72 - 24/05/2009 23:57:20    292601

The coverage was sub-standard very poor editing on the live program this afternoon on Rte, The Camera's seemed all over the place.
The commentary is so boring on both Rte & BBC. I reckon BBC should bring back Jimmy Smith and Peter McGinity, at least they will get excited even if the game itself is a bore. As for Rte, Marty Morressy should stick to the sideline reporting I am afraid! The pundits on Rte today were a disgrace, Brolly and Spillaine over stepped the mark in terms of their comments, Despite what you might really think or feel you should remain imparcial as a pundit. Both Spillaine and Brolly expressed personal feelings and I think Rte need to act and ensure they dont do this again. Mr Brollys comments referijng to ''Dick Clerkin'' as nasty, were out of order, as for his reference to Monaghan been a dirty team, well I think his own county won that battle today! The game was a disgrace, there is no argument about that, but Mr Spillaine and Brolly in my opinion should not be representing Rte on the Sunday game with that attitude.

As for the Sunday game tonight, the coverage was very poor, who does the editing? I like Des Cahill but he is made look very silly when he announces a game only to find the card comes up as something else. again very sub-standard. Hate to say it but the Likes of BBC AND TV3 are well ahead with there coverage of sports.

CluainEoisAbu (None) - Posts: 273 - 25/05/2009 00:54:15    292639

Why go ranglerother ?

Are you kidding ?

Was good crowd at Celtic park considering it was live on two channels !

The silly comment if it's Ulster football why go is riduculous especially when there was about 350 people in Thurles to see d Munster football also rans play.......

PearseBro (Monaghan) - Posts: 459 - 25/05/2009 01:38:35    292649

Firstly I think Celtic Park wasn't packed due to the ridiculous price of tickets. They were £13 or £20 with no concessions. Therefore minimum £65 for a family of five before you get in the car or have a cup of tea.

The commentating is getting worse. Especially on RTE. Yes some of the games are bad but even when the odd good game comes along they still seem to wine and moan. They are almost putting up a case for not playing or watching the sport. There are very few commentators out there who trully advocate our national sport!

Overhaul of coverage required

oakleaf1993 (Derry) - Posts: 17 - 25/05/2009 09:42:48    292697

I assume that BBC were in charge of the coverage in Derry yesterday. Very poor camerawork plus directing. Replays and close ups while the game was in progress was disgraceful. They seemed novices as regards covering the game.

Real Kerry Fan (None) - Posts: 2957 - 25/05/2009 10:27:53    292736

I was annoyed that the RTE camera managed to miss 2 points from play. They showed the replays but I felt a little cheated that on live game I had to rely on replays. In terms of the Panel:

Lyster (10/10 as always)
O Rourke (8/10, balanced as always)
Brolly (6/10, allowed himself to be dragged into a childish squabble with spillane, otherwise entertaining)
Spillane (3.5, soundbytes and no analysis)

I missed thee BBCs commentry - I forgot they were also showing the game. Would like to have heard Martin McHughs commentry who is usually the most accurate/fair in terms of his analysis.

John Boss (Tyrone) - Posts: 865 - 25/05/2009 10:36:21    292741

ranglerrothar
County: Limerick
Posts: 29

292601
RTE does need to review its coverage , They gave the least amount of the time to the only half daycent game which was the Limerick V Tipp game on the sunday game, which was disappointing

Did you not see Longford v Wicklow?? I thought it was a cracking game of football and much better than what happened in Munster..... sorry to burst your bubble

yearofthelily (Kildare) - Posts: 279 - 25/05/2009 10:45:17    292746

What do the HS posters think of Tony Davis's lack of basic knowledge. When giving a brief comment on the Leitrim v Roscommon game next week he felt that Roscommon are getting back into their stride and that the U21 all ireland success a couple of years ago was begining to pay dividends. As far as I am aware Roscommon won the All Ireland MINOR title. Why would anybody say something on national TV when he obviously does not know what he is talking about!

Leitrim Lad (Leitrim) - Posts: 264 - 25/05/2009 10:57:01    292756

Actually Real Kerry Fan, you are probably right in that it would have been the BBC doing the footage. It was poor, the editing as much as the footage. I think that RTE on their flagship sports program would not have made those mistakes.

John Boss (Tyrone) - Posts: 865 - 25/05/2009 11:02:21    292759

The outcry that met yesterdays brutal scenes in Celtic Park is justified, but the hysteria, hypocrisy and bias displayed by alleged experts is most certainly not. There is a serious absence of cold and abjective media analysis of GAA in general, and football in particular. Most of what is served up on our screens is partisan, cliche-ridden and self-serving of the pundit's personal agenda/vendetta. This trend began in earnest when Pat Spillane moved from analyst to presenter, and in my opinion brought serious editorial bias to the position. The views expressed on Sunday evenings may be viewed as trivial, but when they begin to influence the decisons of match officials and administrators it becomes more serious. The classic example of this was Spillanes campaign to have Tyrone tactics branded as negative and dirty. This constant tirade of criticism had clear effects on referees, most notably in the drawn Q/F between Dublin and Tyrone in '05, when Tyrone suddenly found themselves constantly penalised when legitimately tackling in groups. On the contrary, certain players of stature within the game, notably DoSe and Whelan, are routinely excused of their more cynical acts on the field of play. A major weakness in GAA coverage is that in most cases, the former players called on to cast an expert eye on proceedings, do not seem to study their subject with any more nous than the average bar stool punter. The land of lazy assumptions. It's the classic approach- 'So what do you think with Kildare Offaly? - Well Matt/George/Eoin, you know John Doyle gets the scores for Kildare so Offaly will have to mark him, but they have their own talisman in Ciaran McManus'. At least the giddy cliches of Daly and Cyril are entertaining for their enthusiasm. With most experts, there's just No insight, no knowledge of aces up the sleeve, no take on who might even mark John Doyle. Notable exceptions are Martin McHugh (who systematically destroys Jarlath burns every time), Martin Kearney, and peter Canavan The other principal, and more serious, problem with the structure of panels is having partisan vested interests commenting on games. Brolly's pantomime performance yesterday was mischievous at best and disgraceful at worst. Fergal Doherty cannot be excused from 'making contact with the eye area' or kicking out at opponents, even if Dick Clerkin was engaged in foull play of his own. Brolly largely succeeded in laying all balme at Monaghan's door, even though the worst incident that could be picked out was Freeman's rash tackle in the 2nd half. Anthony Tohill, to be fair gave a much more balanced account of proceedings later on, which says much about the true character of both men, reminicent of their different approaches when playing. All of which will lead to more lazy assumptions for the summer to come.

Eddie the Exile (Monaghan) - Posts: 1259 - 25/05/2009 11:37:05    292797

Agree with John Boss... O Rourke (8/10, balanced as always) Brolly (6/10, allowed himself to be dragged into a childish squabble with spillane, otherwise entertaining) Spillane (3.5, soundbytes and no analysis) ...even though 3.5 for Spillane is kind...I would run him out of the Sunday Game, he was barely tolerable presenting the programme but now hes back the other side hes deplorable in my opinion. Loved Brolly and O Rourke cutting him down to size with " we all know you were a good player Pat'' and on the subject of poor kicking O Rourke pointed out that the TG4 footage of 30 yrs ago showed the standard of kicking then was worse. When he spun out the auld babble about players these days never going to the field on their own with a bag of balls to practice, O Rourke rightly pointed out that who was Spillane to say who did or didnt do this, which shut him up for a second or so... As Brolly said to him , ''all I can hear is soundbites with you Pat.. He is so obviously trying to become the Dunphy/Hook of Gaa punditry.. Hes like the old uncle in the corner shouting that ..''footballs not like it used to be in my day''!

sam57 (Louth) - Posts: 1502 - 25/05/2009 11:58:35    292822

I rarely see the pundits these days but Spillane and O'Rourke were top notch, and Brolly was quite good.

Then we have Tohill and O'Cinneade for those who prefer the bland, not my cup of tea, but some like that sort of thing.

At the end of the day however the PRODUCT is the FOOTBALL, and if the football is awful, well the pundits are in trouble.

patrique (Antrim) - Posts: 13709 - 25/05/2009 12:13:42    292838

Lads, ye maon about everything and everyone on the sunday game.Look,they are there to give their views and to be honest in their asessment of what they see and believe.For the most part they get things right and of course we wont always agree with what they say but thats the way things are in all walks of life. I would like to see some of yere analysis lads.

stranded (UK) - Posts: 408 - 25/05/2009 12:25:43    292858

trileacman
County: Tyrone
Posts: 476

The man who does the Irish commentary on the minors is Mícheál ó Sé. Hes from Kerry and works for Raidió na Gaeltachta

The_Defender (Kerry) - Posts: 48 - 25/05/2009 12:49:04    292899

I watched the live programme and have to say some of the build up analysis was good. The Derry style of play was analized in great detail.and like Skysports do for soccer and rugby, they broke down how the Derry machine works. This is good for young footballers to start to understand how football teams play, different styles and tactic, and necesscary if football is going to improve. Our kids need a better understanding of the intricacies of football. Hopefully they turned the box off before the gam started as it was 7o mins of the worst advertisement possible. When you look at the team sheet there were more than 10 of the best footballers in the land in different position on show in Derry yesterday, an absolute classic on paper, a disgusting disgraceful showing in reality.
Looked at the Sunday Game last night, how can Anthony Tohill give an unbiased view on it. As well, the graphics were all wrong for the Man of the Match with the same photos showing all the time

CommitteeeeMan (Meath) - Posts: 153 - 25/05/2009 12:55:37    292908

Leitrim Ladd You are right about Tony Davis. his voice irritates me as well as his lack of basic knowledge.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 25/05/2009 15:28:46    293117

In my opinion the bbc should do the proper thing and get a new proper gaa commentator! What do you think?

safeplayer (Tyrone) - Posts: 39 - 25/05/2009 19:02:00    293406

I forgot about the two points the tv missed while showing replays.

It is probably a case of the producers trying to copy SKY sports rugby coverage where they show replays at every break in play to the extent that you often dont know whether you are watching live action or replay.

BIG SACKS (Tyrone) - Posts: 1681 - 25/05/2009 19:23:30    293437