I’ve been a subscriber since 2017. Price of a pint ffs, for nathin
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I’ll bite, cant stand the forced banter etc of these sort of shows. Hence i do not subscribe.
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Murph is a great sort, the understated star, the Ringo
What was the score anyway, they wanted extra hours, from 6pm? Why the beef with Gilroy, had he committed to going with them?
I think he ratted out their plans and prospective ultimatums to the bosses.
Well he’s their buddy on this thread anyway?
He’s the reason I gave it up. And the moral crusades. Was there from the start but he’s an insufferable bell sniffer.
I miss Ken, though. Super broadcaster. Like Horgan too.
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Murph is it? Think he is woeful.
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They always struck me as harmless but they had blood on their hands giving Hermitage Green any sort of spotlight on their shortlived RTE escapades.
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Put up with him at the beginning but an awful wanker as time as gone on. The least important piece of the jigsaw.
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Ken’s drunken report from the Oasis bar in Qatar during the World Cup was box office (as was his story of running into a glass door in the hotel)
“Murphs” overuse of “ya know” is irrational
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“He med that goal”
“Mayo med hard work of that” ad infitium.
Jumped up country boy who never knew his place…etc.etc.
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I would say the use of the term “what I find interesting” or the word “interesting” in general grinds my gears, Murph being the chief culprit, but he’s an alright sort, harmless. Knows his Gah tbf.
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Gilroy has descended into a parody of himself occasionally at this point but I do reckon that the overall OTB thing, of which he was the driver, utterly changed sports broadcasting in Ireland and he should get credit for that.
It’s hard to remember but when OTB came along it was a complete level above anything that RTE had done in 50 odd years. 3 hours a night of sports analysis and deep deep dives into games etc.
Now we’re lucky in that there are a load of good podcasts and shows out there - before or after a big game you can binge for hours on that style
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Without Ken Early it would be hamlet without the prince.
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I hate Gilroy but this is is true. He does seem to have the grudging respect of a lot of them
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He’s one of the greatest minds in sport.
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Gilroy and OTB changed the game. TBF Newstalk changed the game. Ergo, Denis O’Brien changed the game.
When Off The Ball started it was Gilroy and Early with a guy called Eamon Carey. It was two hours at the start and went up to three after about a year I’d guess. The first time they experimented with a three hour show was the night of Saipan.
The show featured plenty of Declan Drake going mental on association football commentary and Will Downing commentating on Leinster rugby and Dublin GAA.
McDevitt and Murphy were phased in from about 2004/05 around the time Carey left. From the start McDevitt played the genial Jack The Lad Dubs supporter pissed after Coppers the night before character. Murphy played the lippy country bumpkin pissed after Coppers the night before character. Where McDevitt struck gold was how he initially portrayed himself as a bit thick when he so clearly wasn’t. That built up a connection to the type of listener they were aiming at.
Gilroy’s problem was always that he fell on the wrong side of the smugness line and always came across as if he wanted to show off how very smart he was, though he was smart. Early fell on the right side of that line. It was obvious he was smart and he couldn’t hide it but there was always a more of a self deprecation to it and a sort of a charming world weary cynicism about him, just the right amount of cynicism, which is a difficult thing to pull off.
Gilroy did ParkLive a GAA show which was modelled on Soccer AM which flopped. Then he went to the World Cup in 2006 to do some “offbeat” segment interviewing fans and that flopped too. The most memorable thing about it was Apres Match taking the piss out of it. Gilroy by this stage was beginning to pigeonhole himself as an Irish Tim Lovejoy, and you don’t want to be that.
That really fucked Gilroy and he ended up being shunted around at Newstalk out of sport and into current affairs which didn’t really suit him, and sort of pushed him out of the very thing he had created. By the time he came back to sport he sort of had his tail between his legs a bit and had been usurped by the new lads, especially Murphy, who was able to play the smug, lippy character but do it better.
Gilroy being pushed out of the fold was a bit like the guy who founded Oasis being shunted aside.
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