Would this lot compare favourably with the holy trinity of Spillane, Brolly and O’Rourke? Would they ever…
With Niall Quinn linked with a role yesterday and reports today that Paul Galvin and Peter Canavan were being lined-up, the rumour mill about who will front Sky’s GAA coverage this summer has been cranking up significantly of late.
Time is running out before their highly anticipated GAA debut so Sky will have to reveal their line-up fairly soon, but before the names are confirmed, we decided to speculate as to who we’d like to see in the Sky studio. Having covered the contenders for host yesterday, today we move onto the personalities whose fearless, radical and controversial opinions will be causing debate at watercoolers up and down the country on Monday mornings throughout the summer: the pundits.
Realistic:
Paul Galvin
As soon as people began speculating as to who Sky might sign up for their GAA coverage, Paul Galvin was the first man on everyone’s lips. To be completely honest, we would be surprised if an agreement isn’t already done (reports today suggest that it’s in the works) and if it isn’t, we doubt it was from a lack of trying on Sky’s behalf.
Galvin retired from inter-county football earlier this year but he still has a huge profile within the game, he’s media savvy, he’s a very snappy dresser, he has experience as a pundit with TG4 and is exactly the sort of character that Sky would want to launch their GAA coverage with a bang. It’s a no-brainer really.
Peter Canavan
The easiest place for Sky to look for their pundits is to those who recently worked with TV3 and Canavan seems the most likely candidate to make the switch.
Few players of the modern era enjoy the reputation in the game that Canavan does, he has a wealth of experience with TV3 and with Today FM and having used an iPad in his TV3 days, he’ll be well able to handle himself if Sky incorporate the type of technological gizmos you see Gary Neville and Will Greenwood use on a regular basis.
Jason Sherlock
Even when they’re not successful the Dublin footballers are the biggest show in town as far as the GAA is concerned and with Jim Gavin’s side having firmly established themselves at the top of the big ball ladder they’re even more relevant at present.
With that in mind, Sky will be conscious of the need to have a face familiar to all Dubs in the studio and recruiting Sherlock would appear to make sense. From our experience of his dealings with the media in recent times, Sherlock is a very articulate speaker and, having only hung up his boots last year, he’s well in touch with the modern game. And, in fairness, he’s not so bad to look at either.
Like the two men above, Sherlock also has plenty of broadcasting experience, even if it’s a long time since his Rapid days.
Dream Team:
Oisin McConville
We love McConville’s laidback style when he appears on the Second Captains pod to talk football. He has the experience to speak authoritatively and enough wit to do it with a bit of style and panache. He’s not afraid to speak about former team-mates, often a problem with pundits across all sports, and he rarely if ever drops a cliche or trite comment.
We’d miss him off the pods but McConville is a class act in the analysis game.
Kevin Cassidy
If RTE have taught us anything, it’s that GAA fans like their pundits controversial and outspoken, if only so we can disagree with them and yell things like that ‘that Spillane bollix’ at the TV every weekend.
Cassidy, of course, was removed from the Donegal panel in 2012 for shedding light on life behind the scenes in the Donegal camp and has already dipped his toes in punditry waters with stints on both Newstalk and TG4, where one of the most awkward interviews in recent GAA history was conducted only last year…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUDZJC29l5c
Shane Curran
Easily one of the most entertaining players over the last decade or more, Curran is your stereotypical mad goalkeeper. He’s seen it and done it all so nothing would faze him and he could bring some humour to what could be a serious enough panel.
Goalkeepers rarely make great pundits (Packie Bonner and Peter Schmeichel to name just two) but Curran’s TV work so far has displayed a great ease in front of the camera and he has a deep passion for the game too. He’d be a gamble, but a bloody good one to watch.
Long shots:
Owen Mulligan
If you happened to read Owen Mulligan’s book ‘Mugsy – My Story’ then you will know that he is man full to the gills of crazy stories. How many of them may be suitable for broadcast on a Sunday afternoon is questionable but the potential is there to be a great panellist.
Having seen the highs and lows of the game in his time there has to be no situation he couldn’t speak on and if he brings half the swagger he displayed on the pitch to analysing the game, he could be TV gold.
Ciaran McDonald
You can get odds of 11/1 with Paddy Power that McDonald will feature on Sky’s GAA coverage this season, but they might as well have priced him at 11,000/1 because there is virtually no chance that one of the biggest cult heroes in the GAA will grace our screens this summer.
Notoriously media-shy throughout his inter-county career, the Crossmolina man preferred to let his football do the talking and was so reticent that even hardened Mayo GAA followers would barely recognise the sound of his voice.
If Sky would be willing to part with a large percentage of their budget for just one McDonald masterclass in how to strike the ball with the outside of the left boot, however, then it would be money very well spent.
Xabi Alonso
There isn’t a TV studio in the world that wouldn’t instantly look more classy and sophisticated when graced with Alonso’s presence, even if it would certainly invoke beard jealously from Galvin if the two men were sat side by side.
His involvement in the World Cup will almost certainly prevent him from a shock switch to GAA punditry this summer, but don’t rule out a Sky Sports Four mini-series called ‘Alonso: The Kells Years’ where one of the most cultured footballers around discusses the impact that his brief experience of Meath GAA in his teenage years had on his rise to the very top of the beautiful game.
