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The 42
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The 42
John Giles brings punditry career to an end by stepping back from Off the Ball
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. Advertisement '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. 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.
Irish Daily Mirror
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Brian O'Driscoll questions Leinster's call in closing moments of defeat
Brian O'Driscoll has questioned Leinster's decision to go for a match-winning try in the closing stages of their Champions Cup semi-final loss to Northampton Saints instead of taking three points to draw level. Leinster, the overwhelming favourites coming into the last four clash, found themselves 27-15 behind at half-time of the match at the Aviva Stadium. They slowly but surely began to reel Northampton in and were only three points when winning a penalty in the Northampton 22 in the 75th minute. With Leinster captain Caelan Doris forced off with an injury, Jack Conan appeared to look to his bench for guidance on the decision before pointing to the corner. It was a gamble that did not come off though as Northampton managed to turn the ball over and ultimately survived an onslaught from Leinster at the death. Former Leinster and Ireland captain O'Driscoll thinks that his old side should have gone for the posts when given the chance to potentially take the game to extra time. He told Off the Ball: "I was always a three points guy. In my time, it wasn't like what they do now where they regularly kick to the corner and turn down points. "But this was different. Four minutes out, get yourself to extra time, worst case scenario, give yourself a chance. "I just think you can have that mindset and we'd be having a different conversation, but we're not. And so we have to have this conversation. "They've fired all the shots they have, they've spent a quarter of the game with less numbers, and yeah, you've still broke them to get back to draw. "And when you haven't been at your best, regroup, you've got the bench that should be fresh, that should bring that impact for an additional 20 minutes. "I would suggest that it felt like an obvious enough call because it's just outside the 15, a kick that you would expect your goal kicker to get. "That does feel like a brave call, but you could bracket it in a foolish call as well, because it didn't come to pass that they got the outcome that they were looking for. "And I just think, get yourself level and go again. And you never know, there's still time to go and win the game. Get the ball, you know, play territory, put the pressure on them, force them into going and try and winning it again. "They've done all of that work and how deflated you would be having exerted all that effort and energy and scored so many brilliant tries and then still being level playing. The psychology of those games really comes into it. "So yeah, I was very surprised that they went to the corner." O'Driscoll sympathised with Conan as he believed there was uncertainty about the best plan of action throughout the Leinster setup. "Maybe he's looking for a decision to come on, because obviously Caelan's gone and he's assumed the captaincy. So maybe he's kind of gone, I don't know. "He's pretty inexperienced as a captain, in truth. So I think sometimes you'd look to your ten and I would have looked to kind of Felipe [Contepomi] or with Ireland, Rodge [Ronan O'Gara] or Sexto [Johnny Sexton]. around what their sense was. "Sometimes a ball would be grabbed off you and it'd be like posts and that would be it. "So maybe Jack was looking for something from the sideline because it's a horribly difficult decision to make. And maybe Sam [Prendergast] didn't kind of come over and grab the ball. "That also comes into play when you don't have that. There's a bit of uncertainty around. If we missed the goal, does that really knock us and dent our confidence? So these are all snapshot decisions that are challenging and much easier when we have had time to reflect." Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email .
