Watch MNS every monday night on RTÉ Two and worldwide on RTÉ.ie from 8-9pm (unless otherwise stated). Live updates from around the grounds every Friday on RTÉ Radio 1's Friday Sportsnight, RTÉ.ie and RTÉ Aertel.
I recall coming out of matches down through the years with thoughts raging through my brain about what I might do if I could get my hands on the referee. It's not something that's peculiar to the eircom League.
Think of how the Arsenal fans must have felt when the referee failed to award them a stonewall penalty in last season's Champions League quarter-final defeat to Liverpool. It was a decision that ultimately cost the Gunners a place in the final, and for Arsene Wenger, success in the Champions League seems to be his holy grail.
So referees at every level frustrate, annoy and leave supporters with twisted guts when decisions go against their team.
We received many, many e-mails from annoyed Cobh Ramblers fans after their game at home to Bray Wanderers. The referee's decision to disallow what seemed to be a perfectly legitimate effort by Daryl Kavanagh clearly incensed the home faithful, and salt was rubbed into their wounds when the ref reversed his decision to award a penalty on the advice of his assistant, albeit around two and a half minutes after he had first pointed to the spot.
Although the ultimate decision not to award the spot-kick was probably correct, the time lag involved between the first decision to give a penalty and then to change their minds is unacceptable, and likely to lead to great discontent amongst supporters. We even received e-mails from Bray fans who were incredulous after the game.
I was in the West of Ireland for a few days with two of my nephews, Rory and Josh, last week. We were in Galway on Friday, and took the opportunity to get along to Terryland Park for the Galway United v Derry City tie.
Unfortunately the game was up for the home side early in the first half. I also heard the Derry City visiting fans singing 'cheerio', to a few less than happy Galway supporters, who decided they'd had enough and headed for the exit after only 30 minutes of the first half.
I've heard 'cheerio' being sung early in the second half of matches I've attended, but half an hour into the first half is probably as early as I've ever heard it chanted.
Derry's demolition of Galway was absolutely clinical. The speedy City wingers were too much for the heavy legged Galway defenders to cope with.
As we trundled back into the city centre, a Galway fan stopped his car, rolled down the window and asked if we could lose the tape of the match before broadcasting it on Monday's programme. That summed up the evening for Galway.
Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout for the game given United's plight at the wrong end of the table. The main stand was quite well filled, but unfortunately viewers to MNS will have seen the much less populated stand across from the main stand as a backdrop to the game.
I know I sound like a scratched record here, but for casual viewers to the programme, the empty seats sends out the wrong message.
Despite the fact that the game fizzled out in the second half with Galway 4-0 down at half-time, I still found the €35 for one adult and two kids pretty good value for an evening's entertainment.
We had lunch that afternoon for €66 euro for three. In that context the €35 seemed reasonable for a night out. I believe Galway have reduced their prices lately, and I would welcome that.
The one thing I was slightly disappointed about was the lack of promotion of the game in the city in the days prior to the encounter.
We were staying close to Eyre Square and spent a lot of time rambling around the city. Nowhere did I see posters promoting the game. No roadside signs, and nothing in the hotel lobby where we were staying.
I found leaflets for arts shows, music events, and tourist trips here there and everywhere, but nothing about the big match at Terryland.
There are thousands and thousands of tourists in Galway and its environs at the moment. Surely some of them are football fans and would like to get a fix while visiting the city.
I could be doing the club a grave disservice. Maybe there were posters all over the city and in the pubs and hotels, but if they were, they didn't catch my eye.
I mentioned earlier that I was pleasantly surprised by the turnout for the match, but there must be more potential customers out there to be tapped.
Tony McDonnell, Colm Foley and Sean Connor were our studio guests this week, and after putting in another sterling shift, they all helped record a little piece to camera for a children's educational video extolling the virtues of eating fruit and vegetables.
I'm pretty sure you'll see some of the outtakes in our end of season review!
After Drogheda v Kiev on RTÉ Two and RTÉ.ie this week, and St Pat's versus Olimps on RTÉ Radio 1 on Thursday evening, I'll be heading to Beijing for the Olympics, and Tony O'Donoghue will be presenting MNS. I'll be watching online from China. I hope you'll be watching too.
