Brian Carthy demoted

[Buckass]

Interesting piece in GAA supplement in today's Racing Post about Brian Carthy getting demoted to sideline reporter by Rte and his legal team pursuing the matter.
''And Pat Gilroy is getting ready to bring in a sub..a sub...by Pat Gilroy, Pat who won a club medal with Vincents...and that sub is Alan Brogan, Alan, son of Bernard, Brother of Bernard, Brogan, Alan is the sub being made by Pat...''

[orangeman]

Who is taking over the microphone ?

[Buckass]

O'Muircheartaigh as radio number one, with either Ger Canning, Darragh Maloney and Marty Morrissey as number 2 if not required by the Sunday game.

[Blue and Navy]

[
''And Pat Gilroy is getting ready to bring in a sub..a sub...by Pat Gilroy, Pat who won a club medal with Vincents...and that sub is Alan Brogan, Alan, son of Bernard, Brother of Bernard, Brogan, Alan is the sub being made by Pat...''

Ha ha, spot on. Always thought he was a good commentator, if he wasn't always the best with giving out the score that much.

[ross4life]

Jimmy McGee did the Louth v Longford game & at 75 he's better than most RTE commentators! Ger Canning & Maloney are terrible to listen to while Brian Carthy was pretty decent

[magickingdom]

why? hes good, its marty morrissey who drives me spare

[Farrandeelin]

Am I the only one who thinks Jimmy Magee is annoying? He is living off a reputation I think.

[Down South]

Is he a catholic? Does he have a case? Will Jerome represent him foc?

[Farrandeelin]

[
''And Pat Gilroy is getting ready to bring in a sub..a sub...by Pat Gilroy, Pat who won a club medal with Vincents...and that sub is Alan Brogan, Alan, son of Bernard, Brother of Bernard, Brogan, Alan is the sub being made by Pat...''

Ha ha, spot on. Always thought he was a good commentator, if he wasn't always the best with giving out the score that much.

And the voice would change with every word!

[mylestheslasher]

I thought he was good enough, at least he put a bit of heart into it.

[gorm agus bui]

Am I the only one who thinks Jimmy Magee is annoying? He is living off a reputation I think.

No you are not. I think he is shocking as a soccer commentator but 10 times worse with football.
Thought he was terrible for last weeks Leinster game.

[cornafean]

[
''And Pat Gilroy is getting ready to bring in a sub..a sub...by Pat Gilroy, Pat who won a club medal with Vincents...and that sub is Alan Brogan, Alan, son of Bernard, Brother of Bernard, Brogan, Alan is the sub being made by Pat...''

Ha ha, spot on. Always thought he was a good commentator, if he wasn't always the best with giving out the score that much.

Perhaps this explains why

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/letters/brian-carthys-good-name-508932.html

Brian Carthy's good name

Sunday June 24 2001
Sir I am at a loss to know why Tommy Conlon should denigrate the good name of RTÉ commentator Brian Carthy. I was amazed that a man with such a reputation nationally, one who is admired and respected so much for personal as well as professional qualities, had been criticise

Sir I am at a loss to know why Tommy Conlon should denigrate the good name of RTÉ commentator Brian Carthy. I was amazed that a man with such a reputation nationally, one who is admired and respected so much for personal as well as professional qualities, had been criticised in such a fashion.

The article was unbalanced in that it highlighted a handful of mistakes and did not credit Brian Carthy for capturing the excitement of the game and identifying scorers at speed. It is nonsensical to suggest that a commentator could take time to describe a score as Mr Conlon suggests. Clearly, if he did, listeners would not be kept informed of the flow of the game. The ability of the commentator to inform and to generate excitement would be impaired.

I found the "Alzheimer's" reference both cynical and offensive. People getting into their car after attending another game are always impatient to hear the score and the more often the commentator gives it the better.

Finally, the heading Error-strewn commentary leaves RTÉ's listeners in the dark was very inaccurate. There were no more than a few errors, understandable in a commentary delivered at breakneck speed, and certainly listeners were not "left in the dark". We are very fortunate in the GAA to have such highly qualified commentators who also have a wonderful knowledge of the games and a great passion for them.

Fr. Harry Bohan, Shannon.

Sir Delighted to read the comments on Brian Carthy. I have written to RTÉ to complain but received no acknowledgement.

Dermot Roche, Wexford.

Sir I am absolutely appalled at the very personal attack on Brian Carthy. Mr Conlon came up with just four once-off miscalls which any commentator will make in a game. Mr Conlon castigates Brian Carthy for repeatedly giving the scoreline and the time elapsed. Tommy Conlon further criticises Brian Carthy for not describing scores in detail. Surely his descriptive commentary leading up to the goal is more than enough. I listened spellbound to Brian Carthy's excellent commentary of the Limerick/Waterford game which was one of the most thrilling and dramatic to date, and that makes Mr Conlon's nit-picking all the more difficult to understand. His accusation that Brian Carthy cannot ad lib is laughable.

Patrick Boyle, D14

Sir It gave me a lift to read Tommy Conlon's criticism of Brian Carthy's commentary. I have heard enough of Mr Carthy to last me several lifetimes. There are many I'm sure who will criticise Tommy, especially those in the GAA who consider that their organisation represents all that's good in Ireland. Finally, Ger Canning, my fellow Corkonian, makes Brian Carthy look like Michael O'Hehir, Peter Alliss, Dan Maskell, and Peter O'Sullevan all rolled into one.

Liam Murphy, Cork.

Sir It is now more than thirty years (the Sixties) since I worked in a little town in Roscommon called Strokestown. On summer evenings, three of us used to go to the nearby Sliabh Bán mountain. Most evenings we used to see a young boy with dark curly hair in a field with either a hurley or football. What caught our attention initially was the fact that he was always doing a running commentary at the top of his voice. We often lingered listening to him as he ran up and down the field shouting about goals and points scored by Gerry O'Malley and Mick O'Connell.

Another striking feature about the young boy was the fact that he had a wonderfully bright and radiant smile. He was very friendly and often brought us a drink of water from the little thatched family house nearby. I recall too that his mother was a most generous woman and the three or four times we met, she insisted we have tea and scones. She once said to us "Brian óg's path in life will be different all he wants to be is a commentator like Michael O Hehir."

The years passed quickly since that idyllic summer of long ago. About nine years ago, a friend of mine, a GAA supporter, invited me to the launch of a book called Football Captains in Croke Park which was written by Brian Carthy. Brian gave a beautiful speech and his passion about the games and the players was so evident. Brian talked about his childhood dream to be a commentator and about doing "imaginary commentaries on imaginary games as a child at the foothills of Sliabh Bán near Strokestown". It was only then that I realised who he was that smiling boy of more than thirty years ago had realised his dream.

I met briefly with Brian in the course of the evening as he signed books and we recounted our experiences on that little mountain road of so many years before. He took my name and address and three weeks later, I received two signed copies of Football Captains.

I haven't met Brian since that evening in Croke Park but I always listen to him on RTÉ Radio and he brightens up my Sundays like no one else. I suppose I feel as if I played a little part in his great success as one of his first listeners. For me, Brian Carthy's crystal clear commentaries have clarity, speed, excitement, atmosphere and well-informed comment.

To the writer of that vicious article last Sunday, I say you have little to do.

Nuala Sheridan, Glasnevin.

The original article that sparked this reader feedback is not online - perhaps for this reason

http://spailpin.blogspot.com/2004_02_01_archive.html

In my memory, two RTÉ commentators have ever been criticised in the press, Ger Canning by Tom Humphries in the Irish Times in the early nineties, when Big Tom was just starting out, and Brian Carthy by Tommy Conlon in the Sunday Independent two years or eighteen months ago. Both Canning and Carthy sued for defamatory libel, claiming that their ability to earn an living had been unfairly impugned, and they wanted cash on the barrelhead fairly lively.

[Hardy]

Christ Almighty if Canning ever reads some of my posts here I'll be pauperised.

In the hope that he didn't, I must say Gerard Canning is the king of commentators. You'd never hear a tired cliche from him, or he'd never bore you or suck the life out of an exciting game with a bland commentary delivered in an unvelievably contrived accent. You certainly wouldn't hear him uttering meaningless platitudes like "holding up the point of the attack", or anything like that.

You can keep your Ted Walshes, and your Michel O Muircheartaighs, if it's not Ger that's on I just switch the yoke off.

[joemamas]

commentating on rte is generally bad. totally agree with the last post. I have listened to Brian Carthy, and there have been times when you wouldnt know if it was a fifty or a penalty. You would be luck to get the score every ten or fifteen minutes

[Cosmo Kramer]

why? hes good, its marty morrissey who drives me spare

In fairness to Marty, he's terrible on live commentary but his radio show on Saturday afternoons is very good - especially compared to the awful Jackie (Cork) Hurling on a Sunday who whispered her way through an entire show a few weeks ago because she had shouted herself hoarse at a Munster rugby game the day before, it was shocking stuff. She's generally hopeless anyway, scores read out the wrong way around, lack of knowledge of rules etc.

Carthy isn't the worst but he'd probably be a better post match reporter than a commentator, you can turn on a match half way through, listen for 10 minutes, know every player's family history but have no idea what the score is.