RTE completely miss the point in 2010 ‘debate’
WE’VE a new Labrador pup in the house since Saturday and her sudden arrival has thrown the whole place into chaos.
The fun and games and interaction with the kids has been great craic over the last few days but the late night/ early morning toilet visits to the garden will take some adjusting to.
One such episode interrupted my viewing of The Sunday Game show on Sunday evening therefore I didn’t get the chance to see the piece with Peter Fitzpatrick and Joe Sheridan live.
I’d been eagerly awaiting the programme which was to discuss the events surrounding the 2010 Leinster Final in 2010. But as I cavorted around the back garden with nine week old Coco my phone began to hop with messages.
I’ve never been a great fan of Joanne Cantwell’s presenting style or interviewing technique and was a little disappointed when she was announced as Michael Lyster’s replacement on the show in 2018.
I don’t find her easy to listen to and feel she has to try much too hard to make an interview work. In my opinion the whole thing just doesn’t come naturally to her with her confrontational style alienating her from many of her interviewees.
She also feels the need to give her opinion on the issue at hand which is seldom of interest to the viewer, something her predecessor Lyster avoided with great effect for nearly 40 years.
Anyway back to the short-handed shovel and the new dog …… Sunday evening’s episode took over an hour to complete so I had to settle for delayed coverage of the programme. In the meantime, however, as I followed Coco around the garden, I scanned through some of the messages on my phone so I’d a fair idea what was coming.
Dog settled, hands washed, feet up and ready for the show. To say I was disappointed with Joanne Cantwell’s approach to the incident is putting it mildly.
As I expected, she was her usual confrontational self but appeared to be only so with Peter Fitzpatrick.
She honed in on the relatively minor point Fitzer raised about the officials being from Ulster and completely failed to tackle the real issues.
It was very uncomfortable to watch. Her approach with Joe Sheridan and references to the referee were altogether different with her tone and manner now sympathetic.
Again she neglected to ask Joe the pertinent questions choosing instead to concentrate on the two letters received, Sean Boylan’s alleged assault and the jostling of referee Sludden by Louth supporters.
The handling of the 2010 debacle by Leinster Council and the GAA was an absolute disgrace and was a major blot on the presidency of Christy Cooney.
Ms Cantwell failed miserably to really get to the heart of the debate and it’s questionable whether a similar favourable opportunity will arise in the future.
I doubt very much if Peter
Fitzpatrick nor any other Louth player would be queuing up to take part again following this fiasco.
It’s now just two weeks to the long awaited restart of the GAA season and again my compliments must go to Sean McClean and his County Board colleagues who’ve put the revised fixtures schedule in place.
For many years our club fixtures calendar has been shambolic but fair play to the newly appointed CCC chairman and his team for their foresight and diligence in such a timely manner.
What they’ve devised is not ideal and won’t please everybody but the new format is probably the best that could be salvaged in the circumstances for what remains of the season.