Columnists you like to read

[Syferus]

Keith Duggan is the best sports journalist going and it's criminal none of ye mentioned him.

[trileacman]

Sweeney in non-pious mode is as rare as the dodo.

Often scan brollys piece to see who he's laying into this week. I've heard pretty much all his pieces before. Up Dublin, up da ra, up slaughtneil, up the club volunteer, down mayo, down Harte, down sky, down the suits in Croke Park. That's pretty much all he ever says. To be fair to Sweeney his pieces usually vary over a wide range of subjects and material.

I dislike kimmage as a man but like his writing. He's a snarky, cynical person but there's a quality to his writing you must appreciate.

Tommy tiernans short lived columns were a thing of beauty and easily my favourite column. A raw embodiment of emotion and wandering thought. It was as if he wrote down those long meandering thought trains you go through when you're on your own for a day, like when you climb a mountain or wander around a town or city.. I know it must have seemed like bullshit waffle to some but I've seen a lot of Tommy's stuff and it was a style of writing and subject matter most often avoided in favour of some banal bullshit that's been said a thousand times about mayo football or trump or the hse or Johnny sexton.

95% of all opinions put into the written word are merely affectations (99% on here I'd say, myself included) so I found a refreshing honesty in tiernans stuff.

[seafoid]

Keith Duggan
Nicky English
Neil Francis
Sid Lowe
Paul Kimmage
Barney Ronay

Paul Gillespie
Michael Harding
Manchán  Magan

Larry Elliott
John Harris
Paul Mason
Stewart Lee
Suzanne Moore
Brigid Delaney
Will Hutton

EJ Dionne
Norman Ornstein
The Daily Telegraph headcases

[johnnycool]

Charlie Brooker is normally a good old read.

Someone mentioned Kevin Cashman, I found quite alof as you'd get nuggets of greek mythology or something deep thrown into the mix but hurling wise and taking into account his Cork/Traditional three hat dothing bias he had some insightful things to say.

Newton Emerson is pretty decent normally when it comes to local politics even if I don't personally agree with his slant on local travails.

[Minder]

Gene Kerrigan is outstanding.
Charlie Brooker was imo the greatest and it's still worth readong books of his old articles.
Eamon Sweeney can be good when he's not being pious. That's rare though.
Kimmage does a good interview.

Vincent Hogan's interview with JC that was published on the weekend of the AI semi v Tipp was superb. A throwback to a time when players spoke to the media and it didn't do him any harm on the pitch.

I still miss Kevin Cashman.

Was a good interview but regards a "throwback", it was promoting a sponsorship Joe has.

[Orior]

Syferus - comedy gold

[Orchard park]

Kieran Shannon,

in fact most sports in the examiner well ahead of what passes for journalism in other papers

[seafoid]

Kieran Shannon,

in fact most sports in the examiner well ahead of what passes for journalism in other papers

John Fogarty is also very good

[longballin]

He's not even a journalist but it's Brolly for me.

[The Gs Man]

Reading is sooooo 2017.

Listen to the Blindboy Podcast.  It's great.

[Minder]

I like Enda McEvoy in Examiner/Times

[Hound]

Reading is sooooo 2017.

Listen to the Blindboy Podcast.  It's great.

What's that about?

I follow the Dunphy podcast The Stand, and while I wouldnt be bothered with him as a soccer analyst, I find his podcasts great.
He covers Trump (with Niall Stanage), the Disclosurues Tribunal (with Mick Clifford) and the Kinahan feud really well.
And the Giles/Brady/Dunphy threesome is very entertaining. They disagree with each other a lot more, and not afraid to show their prejudices (like a few weeks ago they were predicting their top 4, and Dunphy said to Brady - "you forgot Spurs", to which Liam replied "I didn't forget them Eamon, it's just wishful thinking!)

And on his back catalogue he has some really good interviews with the likes of Ken Doherty, Ronnie Whelan, Sean Boylan, Damien Duff, Robert Fisk and more.

One thing I'm confused about is how he makes any money out of it given they are all free and there's no advertising.

I've also started listening to Colm Parkinson's GAA hour and have been very pleasantly surprised with the quality. Good open interviews with McStay and the Clare football manager in recent weeks.

I read the Irish Times every day, as I wouldnt wipe my arse with the Indo. There's plenty of reasonably good journalists, but nobody who I'd miss if they were replaced.

[Denn Forever]

Is that Blindboy from the Rubberbandits?  Yes.  https://www.acast.com/blindboy

[The Gs Man]

The very Blindboy.

It's his random mutterings about daily life, "hot takes" on any subject under the sun and quite good advice on mental health based on his own experiences.

I'd advise listening to them from the very start, as common themes run throughout.

He has also recorded live podcasts around the country, including a really good one with a guy who does the Troubles walking tours in the north.

[Asal Mor]

Got the examiner for a change yesterday. Someone on here recommended its sports coverage and it is good. Enda McEvoy, Liam Mackey and Larry Ryan were all very interesting.

I liked McEvoy's thoughts on the 65m shoot-out as a way of deciding games....
"Too clinical as a spectacle, too straightforward and just plain too dull. Putting over a dead ball from 65 metres, with the same 10 players on duty indefinitely? "Aisy to do that with nobody marking you" etc. It's a wonder things didn't go on till closing time. A penalty shoot-out would be infinitely more engaging and dramatic."

He's right and it's sad that the much better option is being ignored for fear of copying soccer.

Best of all was Kieran Shannon's interview with Carlow manager Turlough O'Brien. Very funny and fascinating, I'll be rooting for Carlow after reading it.