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Dream Team Of Pundits

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Replying To wexico15: "Wouldn't be exposed much too the Sky pundits but Tomas O'Se up there in terms of RTE football pundits in my view. For hurling probably Dalo, TJ Ryan off his podcast is gas while i think the recently retired Shane Dowling and Paul Murphy both could make a good go of the media. Enjoy Shane Stapleton and Michael Verney too." TJ Ryan Stapleton and Verney ...... the combined amount of All-Ireland medals they have is staggering ......! johnocarroll17 (Limerick) - Posts: 408 - 29/04/2021 14:51:38 2339338 Link
Replying To johnocarroll17: "TJ Ryan Stapleton and Verney ...... the combined amount of All-Ireland medals they have is staggering ......!" Bit like moving into management a good or bad playing career doesn't define your punditry skills. bostonredsox (Wexford) - Posts: 4368 - 29/04/2021 14:57:38 2339344 Link
Replying To wexico15: "Wouldn't be exposed much too the Sky pundits but Tomas O'Se up there in terms of RTE football pundits in my view. For hurling probably Dalo, TJ Ryan off his podcast is gas while i think the recently retired Shane Dowling and Paul Murphy both could make a good go of the media. Enjoy Shane Stapleton and Michael Verney too." I think Shane Stapleton would be a very good Sunday Game presenter for 2021. Could keep the conversation lively an interesting, something that seems to be lacking amongst RTE TV GAA presenters. GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7335 - 29/04/2021 15:20:04 2339349 Link
Replying To johnocarroll17: "TJ Ryan Stapleton and Verney ...... the combined amount of All-Ireland medals they have is staggering ......!" Indeed! Not up there with the johnocarroll's of this world at all, at all! foreveryoung (USA) - Posts: 1903 - 29/04/2021 16:06:36 2339360 Link
I tend to be selective about pundits. Ignore some completely. Totally dislike some. Will listen to others. It is a person opinion I guess. Have seen some start off great and then go to s--t. This can be by being totally repetitive or spouting utter b.s. to try and get noticed and hold their ground. Like was said ex-players are not a shoe in to be good. Some are but others can not take off their tinted glasses which may be understandable but not in the role of a pundit or analysts. Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 2655 - 02/05/2021 16:40:02 2339704 Link
Replying To thegadfly: "Oisin McConville, Peter Canavan and Joe Brolly. Anyone but the RTE panel. Sean Cavanagh, Pat Spillane, Tomas o Se are particularly poor especially on the highlights programme." I thought the BBC coverage of the Ulster championship last year was the best GAA programming in years. McConville, Canavan and Mickey Harte were excellent with Marty Clarke also involved. It really showed how poor the Sunday Game currently is. I also like the Sky coverage but that BBC offering was a standard above anything currently available. Depending on how Louth do in the championship; I'd like to see that team of pundits back together. The only pundits I'd add to that is Brolly, McGuinness and Tomas O'Se. sam1884 (UK) - Posts: 999 - 02/05/2021 19:51:19 2339716 Link
Replying To sam1884: "I thought the BBC coverage of the Ulster championship last year was the best GAA programming in years. McConville, Canavan and Mickey Harte were excellent with Marty Clarke also involved. It really showed how poor the Sunday Game currently is. I also like the Sky coverage but that BBC offering was a standard above anything currently available. Depending on how Louth do in the championship; I'd like to see that team of pundits back together. The only pundits I'd add to that is Brolly, McGuinness and Tomas O'Se." It appears the Sunday Game is an old boys club when it comes to punditry. Very like MOTD on the BBC. johnocarroll17 (Limerick) - Posts: 408 - 02/05/2021 21:59:21 2339722 Link
Replying To wexico15: "Bit like moving into management a good or bad playing career doesn't define your punditry skills." Correct. Just like someone with a PhD can be a poor teacher essmac (Tyrone) - Posts: 1141 - 03/05/2021 09:59:20 2339752 Link
Replying To tonguey: "I agree with you but you are missing the point of the arguement. The issue is why do RTE Pundits not point out the hold on to the ball tactics they engage in, the amount of times they have 12 men behind the ball etc etc. It does happen and it happened several times against Mayo in last year's final- how is the setting up of another team dictating that Dublin need to bring so many people behind the ball??" The narrative is that Dublin only play negatively as a reaction to other teams playing negatively. That is, it's all the other teams' fault. Not Dublin's fault. Ever. If you can't see that, you may still be suffering from independent thought syndrome lol essmac (Tyrone) - Posts: 1141 - 03/05/2021 10:08:33 2339754 Link
Replying To GreenandRed: "It mightn't be great to watch at times but 6 All Ireland's in a row means it's giving them positive results. It's up to the other teams to counteract it and try and beat them. We've done it ourselves too, though it's bad for a supporters heart! I'm 52, could be age thing, but I'm fascinated by tactics and don't think a game has to be end-to-end to be good." Exactly. I've always thought that. I've seen compelling blood and honour hold the bridge type club matches that ended 4 points to 2, and that live in my memory forever. Every thunderous hit in the full back line was a tribal victory; every clearance under pressure better than an All Ireland. Conversely, I've seen high scoring "thrillers" that everyone raves about, but to me they were just a mess of bad defending and cheap scores, like watching a college basketball game. I enjoy good passages of play and watching a good team working out how to break down a defence. I also like boxing. Again, I like watching the footwork and the defence work, and the intelligence required to unpick the other guy's defence. But most people watching a fight just want to see a wild brawl, boys swinging at each other toe to toe like 2 drunks on a Saturday night. So it is with football. The people in their wisdom roar for cheap scores, adrenalin, mistakes and mayhem and get bored if they have to, God forbid, watch actual football or intelligent passages of play that don't end in scores. In soccer, Pirlo's midfield play fascinated me. Ronaldo's endless goals to me are less interesting. Each to his own, I suppose; but I'd certainly agree with you. essmac (Tyrone) - Posts: 1141 - 03/05/2021 10:25:06 2339756 Link
To get another perspective on the game I'd have voices from different sports too. Dreamteam for me, Ted Walsh, Roy keane, Joe Brolly and Dalo. CaogaCuig (Dublin) - Posts: 63 - 03/05/2021 12:33:12 2339778 Link
Replying To essmac: "Exactly. I've always thought that. I've seen compelling blood and honour hold the bridge type club matches that ended 4 points to 2, and that live in my memory forever. Every thunderous hit in the full back line was a tribal victory; every clearance under pressure better than an All Ireland. Conversely, I've seen high scoring "thrillers" that everyone raves about, but to me they were just a mess of bad defending and cheap scores, like watching a college basketball game. I enjoy good passages of play and watching a good team working out how to break down a defence. I also like boxing. Again, I like watching the footwork and the defence work, and the intelligence required to unpick the other guy's defence. But most people watching a fight just want to see a wild brawl, boys swinging at each other toe to toe like 2 drunks on a Saturday night. So it is with football. The people in their wisdom roar for cheap scores, adrenalin, mistakes and mayhem and get bored if they have to, God forbid, watch actual football or intelligent passages of play that don't end in scores. In soccer, Pirlo's midfield play fascinated me. Ronaldo's endless goals to me are less interesting. Each to his own, I suppose; but I'd certainly agree with you." If you like that aspect of the sports ,, god knows how much you must love chess :) Also, teams/fighters tactics oftentimes become apparent quite early in the contest, and rarely deviate much throughout the rest, so if the tactical side of the game /fight fascinates you, well then the last, say, 2/3 of the contest becomes a bit redundant. I agree re your first point, that low scoring games can be fascinating, and it can be interesting watching a team trying to get through a blanket defence, but sport is all about entertainment imo. Some of those kilkenny /tipp games of the 2010s, or, say, the kerry Dublin semi in 2013 were just spectacular events and an absolute joy to watch,and, not for one second would I ever have given out about any perceived defensive shortcomings (I say perceived, because sometimes the defences in question can be quite good but on the day they just came up against great attackers on form ) Same with boxing, taylors fight with Jonas on sat night was just a better spectacle for having turned into a brawl imo. Galway9801 (Galway) - Posts: 1698 - 03/05/2021 12:37:56 2339780 Link
Replying To Galway9801: "If you like that aspect of the sports ,, god knows how much you must love chess :) Also, teams/fighters tactics oftentimes become apparent quite early in the contest, and rarely deviate much throughout the rest, so if the tactical side of the game /fight fascinates you, well then the last, say, 2/3 of the contest becomes a bit redundant. I agree re your first point, that low scoring games can be fascinating, and it can be interesting watching a team trying to get through a blanket defence, but sport is all about entertainment imo. Some of those kilkenny /tipp games of the 2010s, or, say, the kerry Dublin semi in 2013 were just spectacular events and an absolute joy to watch,and, not for one second would I ever have given out about any perceived defensive shortcomings (I say perceived, because sometimes the defences in question can be quite good but on the day they just came up against great attackers on form ) Same with boxing, taylors fight with Jonas on sat night was just a better spectacle for having turned into a brawl imo." A defence that has shortcomings against great attackers on form is a bad defence. An attack that has shortcomings against great defenders on form is a bad attack. It's usually late into competitions when that's revealed and mental strength is key in bigger games. Great teams find ways to win games, good, bad or ugly and they'll play to their strengths, be it in attack, packing the defence, winning handy scoreable frees, they'll get it done. They're not bothered if it's a good spectacle for those watching. Winning is all that matters. GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7335 - 03/05/2021 15:20:59 2339794 Link
Replying To GreenandRed: "A defence that has shortcomings against great attackers on form is a bad defence. An attack that has shortcomings against great defenders on form is a bad attack. It's usually late into competitions when that's revealed and mental strength is key in bigger games. Great teams find ways to win games, good, bad or ugly and they'll play to their strengths, be it in attack, packing the defence, winning handy scoreable frees, they'll get it done. They're not bothered if it's a good spectacle for those watching. Winning is all that matters." Not really,, whenever two teams play one another, one of them has to win eventually,, that doesn't automatically follow that the losing team performed badly, it could just mean that both performed well, but one performed that little but better. Same with attack v defence. Say a ball goes into a forward 10 times, the defender wins it 7 times, the forward wins it 3,but scores a hat trick with those 3 times. Did the defender thus perform badly? Not in my opinion anyway. Your second paragraph is completely redundant, as myself and essmac were discussing contests from a spectators pov, not a participants. Your final sentence is toxic. Winning is NOT everything. Integrity, common sense, and fair play must be observed. The despicable "winning is everything" crap has created a culture of steroid abuse, diving, feigning injury, sledging, player exploitation and over training often resulting in longterm injuries , and County board bankruptcy and indebtedness, and its usually just a catchphrase employed by losers who can't win anything fairly. Galway9801 (Galway) - Posts: 1698 - 03/05/2021 16:15:52 2339801 Link
Replying To Galway9801: "Not really,, whenever two teams play one another, one of them has to win eventually,, that doesn't automatically follow that the losing team performed badly, it could just mean that both performed well, but one performed that little but better. Same with attack v defence. Say a ball goes into a forward 10 times, the defender wins it 7 times, the forward wins it 3,but scores a hat trick with those 3 times. Did the defender thus perform badly? Not in my opinion anyway. Your second paragraph is completely redundant, as myself and essmac were discussing contests from a spectators pov, not a participants. Your final sentence is toxic. Winning is NOT everything. Integrity, common sense, and fair play must be observed. The despicable "winning is everything" crap has created a culture of steroid abuse, diving, feigning injury, sledging, player exploitation and over training often resulting in longterm injuries , and County board bankruptcy and indebtedness, and its usually just a catchphrase employed by losers who can't win anything fairly." The top teams play games to win them. Winning play doesn't have to be entertaining. You're making a mountain over a molehill in your response there. It's a forum. Would be a boring one if we all have the same opinions on everything. GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7335 - 03/05/2021 18:10:12 2339824 Link
RTE usually have whingers, who spend more time moaning then analysing. I think TG4 should be given the games really. galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2517 - 03/05/2021 19:36:50 2339843 Link
Replying To CaogaCuig: "To get another perspective on the game I'd have voices from different sports too. Dreamteam for me, Ted Walsh, Roy keane, Joe Brolly and Dalo." My dream combo would be Dalo, Brian Kerr, Gary Neville and Ronan O'Gara. bostonredsox (Wexford) - Posts: 4368 - 03/05/2021 21:18:17 2339861 Link
So much of the game is learning about your opponent who you don't get to see much more than once year. I often wonder if competitions knock out stage were a three or a five games series would it be a better reflection on who was the best team. I also know the logistic difficulty of making that happen in an amateur sport but the money spin off would probable be great. Canuck (Waterford) - Posts: 2655 - 04/05/2021 20:57:12 2340001 Link
I'd love to see Dara o Cinnede get the anchor job for live games.. Belclare (Galway) - Posts: 904 - 05/05/2021 08:33:52 2340043 Link
Replying To Belclare: "I'd love to see Dara o Cinnede get the anchor job for live games.." Too politically correct. johnocarroll17 (Limerick) - Posts: 408 - 05/05/2021 15:25:30 2340120 Link