General GAA - AOB

What are posters views on Duignans comments on the Sunday Game ?..

Fck gimme brolly and Spillane ahead of gooch and Dolan.

I agree totally with Duignans comments, giving sky 14 games a year for themselves is a disgrace. If Kildare get 2 games after the leinster final they are on sky as well. I know plenty of older people who cant get to croke park that will have to listen to the radio as they don't have a sky. its a disgrace.

While I don't fully agree with the idea of exclusive rights being offered to sky, I must say the analysis and insight offered is far far superior.

Informed, insightful modern analysis using decent graphics. I really enjoyed watching the meath match back and listening to the pundits. McGuinness, Canavan far superior to the RTE offering which is lazy , clichéd and from a bygone era.

the GAA are riddled with Money. they don't need that Sky deal one bit.
This rubbish about the games being exposed to a wider audience and the money going to grassroots is total B.S.. very cash rich organisation .
it's shocking that they have forgot there roots , the older generation that helped put the organisation where it is today are being dis regarded .
At the least they should give the Sky service free to GAA clubs that are lucky enough to have bar facilities . at least that might generate some income for clubs and that is the real grassroots

Unfortunately the Sky deal doesn't expire until 2021.

they should give clubs at least a discount

Agree that the games should be available free to air, it will be interesting to see how Sky's restructuring of their sports packages pans out, hopefully it will reduce the price if you can just pay for the sports you're interested in. However I do find the commentating way superior on Sky, Ger Canning, Marty Morrissey, Tom Carr and Martin Carney send my blood pressure through the roof.

Yes not only is the punditry outdated, the commentary is chronic aswell... The football is worse than the hurling

I really like Michael Duignan – actually know him (very) slightly – but I thought he was just grandstanding tbh.

I just can't get up in a heap about the Sky deal. Also – and this is the big elephant in the room – on the football side (I like hurling, but I'm not really a "hurling man"), when it comes to the actual analysis of the games, Sky is vastly superior.

The Sunday Game has degenerated into a bad soap opera – Days Of Our Lives with occasional cutaways to GAA matches – while Sky have the likes of Jim McGuinness and James Horan, who have a brilliant (and to me unparalleled) understanding of how the game is currently played.

And as for the commentary... Okay, I'll admit I do genuinely find the likes of Dessie Dolan and Tommy Carr entertaining simply for how bad they are (Carr's stock phrase when a game is in the crunch stages: "Tactics have gone out the window"), but personally, I don't that's the standard the national standard broadcaster should have.

Funnily enough, on the face of it, you'd think it would be the other way around and Sky would be the bad tabloid version!

The funniest tweet about Duignan's melodramatic outburst was Dick Clerkin... He noted that Duignan regularly tweets about the Lions on Sky, and said, "You'd think he'd let the auld lad come over and watch the GAA!!"

Likewise, I think the ongoing decline in RTE's coverage is the greater scandal. Really frustrated by the coverage of Meath & Donegal. Only a point in it and yet the highlights made it look dull and no analysis of the differences between the side. Cahill came out with some weird question about Meath not being a good team to judge Donegal against. Westmeath v Armagh was apparently world war 3 but no sense of that from those limited highlights. TG4 do a better job covering the league with fewer resources than rte do with the championship.

The thing is it wouldn't cost much money to fix the problems that are there but there's no desire to change. They want The Sunday Game to be more an entertainment than a sports programme because its one of the few shows capable of drawing ratings in the summer so lets maximise ratings. Lets give the public more Des Cahill and Marty Morrisey! Croke Park don't care about supporters, if they did they wouldn't tolerate this.

Shergar you are bang on. Pat Spillane did an Irish Times interview a few years ago and said people were more interested in entertainment than serious analysis. I don't actually agree with that, but you'd at least give him a break if was actually entertaining – most of the time the "analysis" on RTE is just aimless, self-indulgent rubbish. As you say, if Croke Park really cared about supporters they wouldn't tolerate it.

This forum obviously has no 'genuine GAA fans' sold out by the Grab All Association judging by these comments...
I have no huge issue with Sky deal as their coverage will raise the bar. Also I am abroad now so I am behind a pay wall via GAA Go, which is a brilliant service I am happy to pay for. It also gives thousands abroad a chance to see the games.
This fuss annoys me in that we dont have the right to see games on TV. There are more than ever so where does it end...
Carlow had a huge day again and on Twitter a lad timed 62 seconds with no analysis. What about an 83 year old from Carlow?!
They were delighted to be on Sky v the Dubs and again this weekend.
The only outrage was that a HURLING man missed a great game. Who cares about football...
It also might shick the ordinary GAA fan missing out but its not about armchair fans.

There's no less games on RTÉ since the Sky deal so I'm not sure why all these armchair fans are moaning now. Go to the bloody game if you're so keen to watch it, we live in a small country, not Australia. Duignan gets paid very handsomely to go on national TV to judge lads who get paid nothing, that's the biggest travesty of all.

It's a pity RTÉ have exclusive radio rights to games. Newstalk were way ahead of them on that platform as well.

Very true Taibi - Newstalk were mauling them on radio as well. Having said that, there isn't an RTE Podcast or radio show as good as Colm Parkinson's.

If I can put my Kildare hat on for a moment, Jim McGuinness did an absolutely brilliant analysis of our match against Meath on Sky. I'm genuinely delighted RTÉ didn't get that game, there would have been zero analysis - just the panel spouting off the usual rubbish and going on about whatever their hobby-horse was that week. I honestly think it's a disgrace our national broadcaster's coverage is so abysmal.

Why oh why do we have to put up with these dinosaurs - will be the usual guff again next Sunday... Do RTÉ really despise their viewers that much...

As i said im on GAAGo now and was delighted to see an hour of build-up to the Meath match.
The irony of the people lambasting Skyare the armchair fans, something Sky sports invented.

Completely agree HG and Flamingo... Came home from tullamore and had a couple of beers watching the build up and the game etc. Far superior to anything the sunday game produce.

Some actual insight and tactical thought put into the analysis as opposed to the usual crap spouted.

Does anyone else think Darragh O'Se's columns can be a load of guff sometimes?

He has a thing today about Brian Cody, and it's like he just went on a riff about the first thing that came into his head.

Although there is one hilarious story about Paidi O'Se jumping fully-clothed into a pool.

What I didnt like about Michael Duignan piece was it was said on RTE, Were they having a go at Sky or the Gaa?. Look if people really want to see a game on the sky you would make arrangements they have a couple of weeks to find out where it can be watch this Bull about my granny or grand dad dont have Sky etc really annoys me its like they are trying to make up a sad story like the shite you see on the X Factor.

The analysis on sky is far better... really is top notch..very insightful.....but I 100% agree that it should be free to air...ive no problem with sky having it for people abroad but these games should be available to everyone in Ireland. My own father didn't get to see killkenny/waterford at the weekend.. I was actually sickened when he said hadn't got to watch it

HauntedGraffiti wrote:

Does anyone else think Darragh O'Se's columns can be a load of guff sometimes?

I really enjoyed his columns at the start but definitely the standard has dropped lately. Yesterday's effort smacked of "shite it's Tuesday and I haven't a clue what to write". He seems to have run out of ideas fairly quickly.

Yeah, he can be very good at giving the player's perspective but the last couple have been dire.

I actually enjoy Liam Hayes of a Saturday in the Mail (I know – the shame). Again, not a man for the tactical nitty-gritty but good on the psychological approach to games.

Hayes' memoir Out Of Our Skins a great read actually, one of the great GAA books.

Parcel your father had a week to decide where he could watch that game so I wouldnt feel sorry for your father for not getting to watch it.. Also who is to say that RTE would show these games that are on Sky they still have the same number of games that they always showed so in a way we are being well looked after with the games that are on Telly.

ffs that black card is an awful yoke.

Would it be a stretch to say Kildare gave Dublin their toughest test so far this Championship. We scored 1-17 and missed a sitter half way through the second half to bring the game to 3 points. I have kept an eye on their game with Tyrone and they never broke sweat. I makes our defeat to Armagh more galling because I reckon we would have really tested a defensive Tyrone.

Anyway apart from Dublin I think everyone else in Div 1 will be beatable in the league. Due to time of year and preparation levels