Mindless banter of pre-match on RTE a huge BORE

TV Watch with Declan Tierney

For some mindless reason, RTE feels obliged to stage a programme in advance of All-Ireland football and hurling finals. It has been happening for years and the shows have not really improved to any degree.

I am open to correction but I think they began with Liam Ó Murchú who used to present the bilingual show Trom Agus Eadrom and the pre-All-Ireland shows were an extension of this.

In more recent years the terrible Up For The Match has been anchored by Des Cahill who has been joined by the likes of Mary Kennedy but on Saturday night’s show it was Grainne Seoige.

It is a tired old formula and one that should be dispensed with. Even the presenters looked bored by what was going on and there were a few awkward silences between questions. It was as if none of the participants wanted to be there.

It is a pointless exercise in that none of the guests had anything to say while the presenters asked them the blandest of bland questions. This was an exercise in simply filling an hour and a half of television time on a Saturday night.

Three sets of guest were rolled out. One from Clare, one from Cork and then a neutral who was asked to give a prediction and those with red jerseys went into whoops and hollers when Cork was mentioned while the supporters in saffron and blue engaged in similar antics when Clare were predicted to win. Fascinating stuff.

It was a show in which no effort was put into. The programme makers simply rang nine former hurlers, invited them along, rounded up a crowd from both Clare and Cork who waved their little flags whenever they were told to and that was that.

Questions of the most banal variety were asked of the three sets of three guests that were trotted out to occupy the hour and a half that was allotted to this rather meaningless programme.

It is a bit like The Late Late Show, RTE refuse to get rid of it because they naively believe that it is something that they should be doing simply because they have been doing it for years.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.