Cantwell is perfect for Sunday Game overhaul

JOANNE Cantwell was the obvious choice to replace Michael Lyster.

She is, along with Darragh Maloney, the outstanding talent in RTÉ’s sports coverage. Whereas the latter is established as an understated anchor of the soccer coverage, Cantwell can transform the live edition of The Sunday Game in a similar manner.

It badly needs it. In its current format it is tired and predictable, with pundits outdoing each other to get attention and the possibility of coherent, informative analysis, free of agendas, practically an impossibility.

RTÉ should use the retirement of Lyster as the opportunity to overhaul the entire programme, with Ciarán Whelan an obvious addition were he to become a mainstay of the live programme.

Cantwell’s appointment is celebrated in part because she is a woman. It is impossible to ignore the significance of this, but it is only a minor part of the story.

Her selection is mostly important because she is excellent at her job. She is incisive, curious and unafraid of challenging the views of panellists. It is hard to see her tolerating the Punch and Judy guff that too often consumes the programme. Viewers expect more now. Audiences for soccer output know, thanks to Richie Sadlier and Dietmar Hamann, that there is an alternative to grandstanding. Maloney facilitates this, and Cantwell (left) can do the same for Gaelic games.