Mark Sidebottom

[TacadoirArdMhacha]

I agree with Take Your POints. Jimmy Smyth was infinitely better commentator than Sidebottom. I presume the change was made because Sidebottom is an employee but they were having to pay a fee for Jimmy Symth?

I think the BBC need to have a look at their format. Either show the match live or just have a highlights show in the evenings. Personally I'd have little enough appetite for the full 70 minutes when I already know the result of the match.

[whitegoodman]

I agree, very hard to sit down and watch a full match having already known the result.

Much prefer if they went back to the old days when they had a highlights programme at 10pm for 1 hr with 40 mins of the match and 20 mins of interviews and analysis after it.  Ya could even bring Jimmy Smyth and Houllie back if ya wanted to.

[Tony Baloney]

These are very unfair and cutting comments about good, decent people trying to do a job. In any case it's alll down to interpretation of what a commentator is for. Lay off Mark.

Harsh comments a out a professional journalist getting paid to do a job. You can argue the players shouldn't get some slack because they are amateurs but that on Sunday from an experienced and last year competent commentator wasn't acceptable

If I was a football fan I'd be more concerned about the quality of the dross on the pitch. Unwatchable shite.

Fair point. When the standard is shite it  would be natural to fill the gaps with tangential conversations. Like some of the others a roundup programme with decent highlights (or lowlights this year) would be preferable to showing a full match that finished hours earlier.

[SHEEDY]

highlight of a terrible 1st half was sideys classic comment about paddy mcbrearty; '' he's as ravenous for the ball as a newborn is for the bottle''. 

[Tubberman]

I tuned into BBC there cos Marty Morrissey sickens my hole.
But Sidebottom is worse I'd say. The shite he comes out with - you'd feel sorry for Oisín McConville having to sit beside him and answer some of daft questions he comes out with.

[screenmachine]

Did I hear it right during the match today that Sidebottom said just as a 45 was being hit, ' Choosing to hit this 45 from the ground...'

I initially used to laugh at Sidebottom's silly sayings and quips but the BBC commentary is turning into a comedy of errors and an embarrassment.  Every time McConville speaks he sort of laughs, I think it's due to the ridiculous statement that Sidebottom has just came out with beforehand...

[5 Sams]

Leave him alone lads...every broadcaster needs someone who comes out with outrageous shite every week...so that the punters will come back the following week to hear what new dung they have to say. RTE have Pat the Bollix and Scáth Fearthainne for the football, Gorgeous George for the egg chasin and Eamo for the ground ball...typical BBC...all they can come up with is Sidey!

[NaomhBridAbú]

thats as bad a commentary that i can remember, made worse by Cavanagh 'erm, eh, erm ehing' his way through - somebody get that man some media training....or get somebody better...

BBC coverage is shocking - feel sorry for Oisin Mc...by far the best insight into gaa on that channel

[Saffrongael]

Yeah I thought Cavanagh was rubbish, added nothing to proceedings.

[Tony Baloney]

Yeah I thought Cavanagh was rubbish, added nothing to proceedings.

Couldn't give a direct answer regardless of how inane the question from his colleagues.

Oisin is a major step above all of the rest at the BBC, very articulate and puts the 'professional media' people to shame.

McConville's accent/tone takes away from what he is actually saying. Deathly.

[Farrandeelin]

Did I hear it right during the match today that Sidebottom said just as a 45 was being hit, ' Choosing to hit this 45 from the ground...'

I initially used to laugh at Sidebottom's silly sayings and quips but the BBC commentary is turning into a comedy of errors and an embarrassment.  Every time McConville speaks he sort of laughs, I think it's due to the ridiculous statement that Sidebottom has just came out with beforehand...

You did, but he followed on by saying it was the only optiin for a 45. Never tuned in before, but that thing he said about McBrearty made me smile. Is it just me or does he mutter a fair bit too?

[Denn Forever]

McConville's accent/tone takes away from what he is actually saying. Deathly.

versus Martin Carney. 

Time for RTE to poach?

[ONeill]

Yeah I thought Cavanagh was rubbish, added nothing to proceedings.

Couldn't give a direct answer regardless of how inane the question from his colleagues.

Oisin is a major step above all of the rest at the BBC, very articulate and puts the 'professional media' people to shame.

Funny (maybe not says you), I thought Cavanagh did well for a debut. He was obviously nervous (given his age) but I thought the conversation at HT about beating the Donegal system was much more interesting than the normal replaying stuff. Obviously he cannot say too much regarding individual players and perhaps their frailties as he'll be on the pitch himself before long but he managed to steer clear of that well enough. For a first appearance on live TV in that format it was a decent showing, much better than most 28-year-olds could manage.

Agree about McConville.

[ONeill]

Who has an issue with McConville?

At what age does a person develop a level of fluency in a pressure situation discussing a subject in which he should have some expertise?

I would have thought a 29 year old accountant who would be required to have some degree of presentational skills and the ability to communicate succinctly and clearly to clients and who has spoken in public at GAA presentations would have been able to express himself fluently and provide an opinion on a game of football. Maybe I'm expecting too much.

If he didn't want to be giving opinions on possible future opponents or teams or even team-mates then being a pundit on The Championship is not the place to be.

What did he do wrong? What opinions did he not offer? What exactly annoyed you? He himmed and hawed a few times as expected with first time nerves but you're being extremely unfair and I also believe biased for some mad reason.

I'd call it if I think he was atrocious.

[Agent Orange]

I thought Cavanagh was ok, he is certainly a lot easier on the ear than Oisin. You would feel it is a role that Cavanagh could grow in to with a bit of coaching. Oisin provides great analysis, but his droll delivery is very, very hard to listen to.