TV view: RTÉ's prescient heads prevail as BBC bring celeb smarts from Rachael and Paul

Irish Examiner

21 hours ago

It was shortly before throw-in when Liam Sheedy stood on the Croke Park pitch, RTÉ mic in hand, and offered one of the most prescient lines of the day. 'The hype train is going to turn into a pressure cooker here,' he said, and so it proved. Because an hour or so later, that hype train had fully derailed.
But Sheedy had company in the prescience stakes. Because long before John McGrath had popped up for his two goals, RTÉ's co-commentator Michael Duignan had flagged up the danger in the first half. 'That's the ball,' said Duignan over a replay of McGrath unleashing havoc. 'Get it in front of him diagonally.' Things might have looked grim for Tipp at half-time, but anyone in blue would have been wise to remember the words of a bearded Tipp fan who told us on RTÉ before the game: 'We always believe. We're Tipperary, sure.' Hard to argue with that.
The build-up to the match had its usual mix of ready-for-war montages, insightful interviews and talking heads telling us that Tipp had a chance if they could just do X, Y and Z. Cork, it seemed, just had to turn up and be Cork.
The RTÉ panel opened the show standing outside the Croke Park museum, just in case you weren't aware this was no ordinary game but something seismic, something historic. Before the game, Sheedy warned us that when Cork are 'in flow state, it's very, very hard to defend against them', while Anthony Daly said they were 'lethal at the start.' Though as Dónal Óg noted, 'Tipp like goals as much as everybody else.' Brendan Cummins and Henry Shefflin flagged up two different periods of concern for Tipp. For Cummins the danger zone was the first 15 minutes. For Shefflin it was the last 15 minutes of the first half.
Dónal Óg brought his performance-driven mentality to the pre-match pageantry, telling us players would have 'no interest in the President of Ireland' or any such distractions. Though as the parade made its way towards 'Muhammad Ali corner' in Croke Park and turned towards Hill 16, he did inform us that sight is something players would 'never forget.' Marty Morrissey then gave hurling's prize fight its showpiece billing. 'Think Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, Kerry and Dublin footballers. Think Cork and Tipperary hurlers.' Marty then made us and the Cork hurlers feel old, reminding us that the last time they won the All Ireland, Mary McAleese was still president, Bertie Ahern was Taoiseach and, curiously, the M50 had just been completed.
Over on the BBC, we got a cringey, diddly-I intro feature that overlayed hurling footage with drone shots of lush, green countryside, Séamus Flanagan narrating through (probably) gritted teeth that hurling was 'fast, raw, beautiful' with 'no contracts, no transfers, just pride.' Flanagan continued to elevate the sartorial splendour of the BBC panel, rejecting the jeans-and-polo approach in favour of a leather jacket that gave him a come-and-have-a-go-if-you-think-you're-hard-enough vibe.
Sarah Mulkerrins, the enthusiastic and likeable host from Athenry, suggested a break in analysis as sliotars fizzed around above their heads, the BBC taking us up to the celeb box where retired jockey Rachael Blackmore, actor Paul Mescal and singer Tom Grennan were all in situ. Mescal described the final as the 'pinnacle of Irish sport', while confessing some guilt that he and his father had probably taken the tickets of two more deserving people – but where are their Oscar nominations?
Grennan, a Bedford native of Irish heritage, said Croke Park was 'magical', recounting with fondness a visit to a Dublin pub earlier in the day where they were like 'sardines'. Rather you than me, mate. At half-time, he was even more enthusiastic. 'It's a battle, man, it's like watching The Hunger Games.' Staying on that theme, Blackmore said the Cork goal was 'bit of a killer' but added that 'it's never over 'til it's over in this sport.' Working for the BBC, Shane O'Donnell looked as comfortable on the Croke Park turf with a microphone as he is with a hurley and he still saw light for Tipp. 'They're getting more opportunities, they're getting the one-v-ones in front of the Cork goal and that could really pay for them in the second half.' Flanagan also struck an optimistic tone, noting the Cork full-forward line had been kept quiet.
When John McGrath hit the net in the 46th minute, Marty said he was 'coolness personified, he was so cool,' which would make a great epitaph. Marty announced that the 'Cork cage is rattled', and it kept on rattling all the way to the finish, Duignan adding that 'maybe the scars of last year are telling.' As they headed down the stretch on the BBC, Jamesie O'Connor highlighted how impressive an achievement it was for Tipp given their 15 wides, a level of inefficiency that was usually 'curtains' in an All Ireland, while their lead commentator Thomas Niblock went full GAA mode in the closing minutes, claiming 'nobody' gave Tipp a chance of winning this match. Nobody at all?
It wasn't long before Darragh McCarthy, one of those who probably did give them a chance, was in front of the camera, trying to make sense of going from almost-villain to permanent hero in the Premier County this summer. 'It's unbelievable,' he said. 'Some scenes. I've no other words for it than that.'
Sometimes, no other words are needed.