RTE’S scaled back coverage of Ireland’s friendly vs Luxembourg was “a once-off” according to a source within the national broadcaster.
Viewers were struck by how there was no studio presence around Tuesday’s bore 0-0 draw.
The Late Late Show will be back on-air in the coming weeks[/caption]
An RTE source has now offered up an explanation for the minimalist coverage given to the end of season exhibition.
He/she told The Irish Independent: “The lack of punditry for the Luxembourg was just a once-off, with one studio that would otherwise have been used taken up by last night’s broadcast of Prime Time.
“Another studio was unavailable for Tuesday’s soccer coverage as it is undergoing essential maintenance ahead of the return of the Late Late Show and the Women’s European Championships kicking off in July.”
Tony O’Donoghue was present at the Stade de Luxembourg and did secure post-match interviews with manager Heimir Hallgrimsson, player of the match Jason Knight and Jack Taylor.
But that the rest of the broadcast was left to commentary pair Des Curran and Ronnie Whelan to shoulder. This included them narrating over highlights at half-time, which left many viewers underwhelmed.
Among the tweets posted on X about the significant break from the norm, Indo Sport podcast host Joe Molloy posted: “No RTE studio panel for the match?”
The replies to his post were broadly critical of the national broadcaster.
Barry fumed: “Shameful drop in standards!! Virgin do over an hour on games between foreign nations!”
RTE’s financial woes are common knowledge so that was brought up by several supporters.
Niall Bergin posited: “Surely cost-cutting from RTE but FAI have a right to be p***ed.”
Finally, someone else pondered: “This must be a first?”
However, others didn’t think it was that egregious of a decision given last night was about as close to a meaningless international game as you’re ever going to see.
Mick Finn argued: “A meaningless, nothing game…lucky to have it shown.”
Lastly, one fan used what a dreadfully poor spectacle it was to crack an amusing gag.
He quipped: “Is it possible they had one and they just all fell asleep? Understandable enough.”
Hallgrimsson didn’t shy away from that fact in his post-match interview.
The birthday boy admitted: “Let’s be honest, we’re not happy with this performance.
“It’s good to keep a clean sheet but we all felt that in the first half we were sloppy, the game was boring in the first half.
“All the good things we did against Senegal were missing, all the quick movement, the press, the ball speed – so sloppy.”
