Behind the Scenes
Two minutes to air ahead of the late night edition of MNS, soon to be known as TMS, or Tuesday Morning Soccer, and I still have no earpiece. Maybe it's just as well. I didn't realise I had to bring my own to studio 6, if it was a party I would have brought booze, or a gift for the host.
The host, Con Murphy, is in Beijing and I'm on the couch for the next few weeks. I think it's a fair exchange. He gets the smog and the anti-social hours and I get the rarefied atmosphere of studio six alongside legends like Rico and Roddy…and the anti-social hours.
Anyway, a bit of a panic as I can't hear the gallery and technicians are frantically looking for an in-ear monitor. The guests are in position, we've practised the opening sequence for shots and lengthened the introductions so the camera can linger on MNS debutante Stephen McGuinness of the PFAI, journo Philip Quinn and regular Damien Richardson and we're just about ready to rock.
They've checked downstairs in the fabulous Olympics studio and they have no ear piece either and so I turn on my mobile phone and ring my old desk in the RTÉ Newsroom. No answer, maybe they're on air. I ring Eamon Horan who I had been chatting with earlier in the day about hurling, obviously, but Elvis had already left the building. He did make a useful suggestion, though. Gareth O' Connor was in for the late news and I should try him.
Sure enough GOC had the vital bit of gear and we rushed it down to studio and got ourselves hooked up. Gareth has lovely snug ears, by the way.
Seconds to go and now I can hear Dave Berry, our new director who's taking charge of his second live show. He's reassuringly calm unlike MNS series editor Steve Caffery known to those of you who are avid readers of Con's blog. Steve is reassuringly sarcastic.
'Did you bring bottoms to go with that pyjama top?' he cackled but I insisted my shirt was in sympathy with our transmission time. And then the MNS signature music roared into life (I used to hate it but now I love it, should be a ring tone IMHO) and we were away.
The last time MNS went out late the amount of hits on the website was huge. Which means that some of you may be reading this before watching the show, which is weird.
But I'm glad to report that plenty of you watched as the show went out. How do I know? Well I mentioned the mobile phone, didn't I? At one stage Eddie Gormley, Bray Wanderers manager said in his post-match interview that Eoin Hand would fall off his seat in the studio when he hears Eddie praising the referee.
Back in studio I suggested that it was far too late in the evening for a newly married man like Eoin, who I was sure would be tucked up in his bed. Beep, beep! Mr Hand was quick to point out that, like The Skibbereen Eagle, he was keeping an eye on proceedings from his lofty perch in the Kingdom.
I got texts from other friends of mine as well, from 'Cobh are shocking' to 'Do you realise there's a programme on locusts on Sky Three right now?' I assume those texts were not related.
Stephen McGuinness, head of the Players' Union, was an excellent guest. He revealed that Cork City players were free agents because they hadn't been paid for three weeks ahead of the crucial Bohemians clash at Turner's Cross. What on earth is going on in Cork?
The fact that the wages weren't paid JUST after the transfer window closed was too much of a coincidence as far as McGuinness was concerned. If that had happened a couple of weeks earlier the players could have left the club for nothing as City were in breach of contract.
Hardly the ideal preparation ahead of a championship-defining encounter, hardly the best motivation for full-time professional players. Before last season's FAI Ford Cup final Arkaga, the owners of Cork City, were openly planning to get rid of the manager Damien Richardson. The dogs in the streets around the RDS knew it and it meant that Cork was not a happy camp.
Clubs change gaffers all the time, of course, and that is their prerogative. But timing is everything and as far as fans, and business plans, are concerned, trophies won increase the value of your investment. It's looking increasingly unlikely now that Cork or St Pat's can challenge the excellent Bohemians for the league title this season.
Could it be that Arkaga, enthusiastic supporters of an All-Ireland League, are considering their position?
Also on MNS, we had a look back at Drogheda's European adventure through the eyes of their fans, Shelbourne's famous victory over Hadjuk Split in Raiders of the Lost Archives, an amusing SIXTY with Jacqui Hurley and Galway's Jay O'Shea, while Galway also featured as Derek Glynn took the Goal of the Month.
And the line of the night went to bookie Paddy Power. The odds on Roddy Collins getting a manager's job in the League of Ireland were huge, he said. In fact, according to Paddy, Roddy's next club would probably be a comedy club!
By the way, we hear that St Patrick's Athletic players, in Sweden for their UEFA Cup match against Elfsborg, watched the entire MNS show on Keith Fahey's laptop. Saints, you are truly gentlemen of good taste. Good luck in Europe and keep watching.
Tony O'Donoghue is Group Football Correspondent for RTÉ.
