Latest news with #OfftheBall
Extra.ie
19-07-2025
- Sport
- Extra.ie
Pat Shortt only recently found out about dad's major achievement
Pat Shortt has revealed that his dad won an All-Ireland medal with Tipperary, with his son only finding out a few years before he died. Parents like to keep secrets for whatever reason; perhaps because they don't want to worry their kids, or perhaps because they need to wait until they're older to tell more sordid tales from their youth. But sometimes, if you won something as big as an All-Ireland, you'd want to scream it from the rooftops — unless if you're Pat Shortt's dad Christy, where end up keeping it under wraps for decades, with your sons only finding out that you won an All-Ireland minor hurling medal in the 1940s after a fella in the pub reveals his granddad played with your dad. Pat Shortt has revealed that his dad won an All-Ireland medal with Tipperary, with his son only finding out a few years before he died. Pic: RTÉ 'We only found out a few years before he died,' Pat told Off the Ball ahead of this Sunday's final between his beloved Tipp and Cork. 'He died last year and we found out about two years before he died! 'One of my brothers was on holiday in Wexford, and he met a fella at a bar, and he says 'where are you from yourself?' He said Thurles [and that his name was] Shortt,' with the lad in the pub saying ''oh yes, my grandfather's from Thurles, and he won an All Ireland with your father.'' Pat was relayed the information by his brother, with one of his other brothers — whom he referred to as 'the son who's usually closest with the dad' to ask if the story was true; and their father Christy confirmed that he had in fact won a medal in the 1947 minor championship, albeit in typical Irish dad fashion. @otbgaa 🗣️ 'He died last year, and we only found out about two years before he died!' 🗣️ 'I rang him… did you win an All Ireland medal?' 🗣️ 'I did, yeah! What about it?' 😂 Tipperary icon Pat Shortt never knew his father was an All Ireland winner! | 🤯 ♬ original sound – OTB GAA '[My brother] rang and said 'daddy, did you win an All-Ireland?' He said 'I did yeah. What about it?'' Pat laughed. 'That's the way they are in Tipperary ya see. Everyone wins so many.' Pat revealed that his father had played every game in the minor championship as a left forward before having what he described as 'a crap day' in the semi final when he was moved to the centre midfield, and despite him winning the medal Pat reckons he felt he didn't deserve it as he didn't play in the final. 'So he never told anyone he had it. And before he died we brought it back to him. That's what killed him, he died of a broken heart,' he joked. Pat's father Christy passed away in 2023, aged 92. Pic: As for why he never went senior, Pat learned of his dad's hurling ability during a charity gig that he hosted when the All-Ireland senior winning captain Pat Stankelum, who played with Christy two years prior in the minors. 'He came up to me and said 'yeah I played with your dad, and he should've been on the 49 senior team but he had a cruciate ligament operation' — back in those days that was it, your career was over — and that's what finished him off.' 'But [Pat said] 'he was a great hurler.' It was 47 he won the All-Ireland with the minor team and your man who played with the minor team and went on to captain the senior team in 49.' Pat's father Christy passed away in 2023 at the age of 92, with his daughter Faye, who's also a comedian, paying tribute to her granddad on social media. Sharing a photo of her as a child alongside her granddad, she simply wrote 'You can rest in peace now Grandad, we will always love you.'
The 42
29-06-2025
- Sport
- The 42
'He deserves it' - Kenny heaps praise on Andrews, backs him to deal with Martin O'Neill criticism
STEPHEN KENNY HAS backed his former Ireland assistant Keith Andrews to excel as Brentford manager in the Premier League, and is confident Andrews will shrug off the intensity of the scrutiny coming his way, including from former Ireland boss Martin O'Neill. Andrews was confirmed as the new Brentford boss on Friday, meaning he steps into his first managerial role in the Premier League. Andrews had previously been on Thomas Frank's staff as the club's set-piece coach, and the club say he is the ideal candidate to build on his predecessor's outstanding work given he has the added benefit of knowing the squad and how the club operates. Andrews joined Brentford a year ago following a short stint on the staff at Sheffield United, whom he joined after Kenny's tenure with Ireland came to an end. Andrews served as Kenny's assistant with the Irish U21s from 2019, and joined him in stepping up to the senior team. Kenny maintains regular contact with Andrews, and had been in touch with him on Friday, though in relation to the passing of Ruaidhrí Higgins' mother. Higgins worked alongside Kenny and Andrews on the Irish senior staff. Advertisement 'I am in regular contact with Keith all the time, I am absolutely thrilled for him', said Kenny. 'It's a great opportunity for him, he deserves it. 'He has a superb level of detail. He is a very organised guy, super professional; a very analytical coach, and very modern, [with] innovative ideas, so good luck to him. It's great news.' Andrews has already drawn the ire of former Ireland boss Martin O'Neill, with O'Neill quick to point out that Andrews had been a vocal critic of his during the final days of his Ireland reign. Prior to going into coaching with Kenny, Andrews had a high-profile media career, combining regular appearances on Sky Sports and Virgin Media with his own show on Off the Ball. 'He has been their set-piece coach,' said O'Neill of Andrews. 'The irony is when I was manager of the Republic of Ireland he was a particularly vitriolic critic of mine at the time. He was really dead against me trying to use set pieces to try to win games. 'The irony is he becomes the set-piece coach. Really I say good luck to him. Brentford have decided, if it is the case, that he should get it. I hope he does get it because then he will realise what management is all about. It's not as easy to be sitting in a pundit's chair sitting to criticise someone who in all honesty had a much better career than he had. 'He was dealing at the bottom end of it when I was winning the European Cup. That doesn't mean you shouldn't be criticising. Everyone to their own. But it'll be a different ball game now.' O'Neill's old assistant, Roy Keane, described Andrews as a 'bullshitter' in a 2020 interview with showbiz journalist Barry Egan. Keane is now one of the highest-profile pundits in football, and will likely preside over some Brentford games for Sky Sports. Asked if he was confident that Andrews will deal with scrutiny and criticism like that of O'Neill's, Kenny replied, 'Keith is well able to handle all of that. It's all about the football really.' Kenny's more immediate concerns is the form of his St Patrick's Athletic side, who were held to a 0-0 draw away to bottom-of-the-league Cork City on Friday night, extending their winless run to four matches. Though he admitted his side miss the injured midfielder Romal Palmer, Kenny said Pat's will not rush into the transfer market, saying the club will not make any 'kneejerk decisions.'
Irish Independent
29-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Declan Lynch: John Giles put brains before banter to give us football punditry that was truly great
The retirement of John Giles from his regular Thursday night football talks on Newstalk's Off the Ball means one of the great Irish broadcasting careers has ended. Before that, there was a great football career.
The Journal
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Journal
Irish football legend John Giles brings near 40-year punditry career to an end
The 42 JOHN GILES HAS called an end to his near-40-year punditry career at the age of 84, today announcing his intention to step back from his weekly Thursday slot with Off the Ball. Giles has been providing punditry for Off the Ball since the show's inception in 2002, but has now made the decision to call it a day. 'John Giles, Senior Analyst, is a titan of Irish sport', said Ger Gilroy of Off the ball. 'His weekly explanation of football truth on Off The Ball helped deepen what the country knows about football. His ability to see through bullshit and his love of the game shone through in every contribution.' Having left the West Brom manager's job in 1985, Giles first moved into media by doing punditry for RTÉ for the 1986 World Cup, agreeing to the role at Eamon Dunphy's behest. Giles and Dunphy were later joined by Liam Brady, and the trio formed the iconic RTÉ panel, which consistently shaped the conversation around football in Ireland. Advertisement Giles was the appointed 'senior analyst', whose tactical insights and innovative use of technology was buttressed by wise insights into the character of footballers along with a very low tolerance for bullshit. Giles also established a kind of canon for the sport, making clear there was a difference between a great player and a merely good player. Giles stepped away from RTÉ after Euro 2016, with Dunphy retiring two years later. Brady then left RTÉ in 2023. Giles and Brady continued to make regular appearances on Dunphy's popular podcast series The Stand, from which Dunphy stepped back at the start of this year. Giles continued his work with Off the Ball up to the end of the recent English football season, but will not return when the new season kicks off in August. Off the Ball will bid farewell to Giles at a special event at the Sugar Club in Dublin on 14 August, for which ticket details will be announced in due course. Written by Gavin Cooney and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won't find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women's sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here .
Irish Daily Mirror
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
End of an era as Johnny Giles announces his retirement from punditry
The legendary Johnny Giles has this evening announced his retirement from punditry. Giles has graced Irish screens and airways for many decades and has long been heralded as one of the most respected analysts in the land. The former Leeds United star was the face of RTE's soccer punditry from the 1980's until his retirement from television work in 2016. He has formed part of Newstalk's soccer coverage for over two decades, and spoke on Off the Ball this evening about his career breaking down the best players in the game. "I was really lucky. I fell into the television. Eamon [Dunphy] helped me a lot in that," Giles said on radio this evening. "When you're doing the job I was trying to do, you have to watch all the matches. You can't make it up as you go along. "I think it got to the stage where I was getting a bit stale trying to watch as many matches as I could and it became hard work. "Football has never been hard work to me, I have always loved it but there are so matches. "Even in the summer now, you see the teams over in America [for the Club World Cup]. "I have had a good run of it. I am 84, nearly 85. "I have enjoyed it. I loved playing. I fell into to the television, I had no intention of doing that when I was actually playing the football. "No complaints whatsoever." A legend of Irish soccer, Giles is regarded as one of the best players that this country has ever produced. He enjoyed a glittering playing career for the likes of Manchester United and Leeds, and on the International scene, he played 59 times for Ireland, operating as a player manager for the last six years of his time with the Boys in Green. After retiring from football, Giles took on the role of pundit with RTE and was synonymous with the Irish soccer team for many decades. Alongside Eamon Dunphy, Liam Brady and host Bill O'Herlihy, Giles was a key cog in the golden era of Irish punditry, an era that even now is very fondly remembered.
