LUXEMBOURG vs Ireland was an instantly forgettable match with about the only standout aspect to it being RTE’s scaled back coverage.
There was no studio coverage before, during or after the scoreless draw with it left to Des Curran, Ronnie Whelan and Tony O’Donoghue to shoulder the broadcast.
Curran and Whelan were on commentary and also filled the half-time break by narrating ‘highlights’ of what chances were created by both sides.
O’Donoghue was at least present in the stadium as he conducted interviews with Heimir Hallgrimsson, Player of the Match Jason Knight and Jack Taylor – who had a decent cameo off the bench.
But the main talking point generated throughout the entire evening was that there were no pundits in studio talking things over.
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.”
Head coach 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.
“We were so different from all the things we want to represent. We lost duels, we lost ball, our rotations were slow, our pressing was more individual than collective.
“It was not tactical, I think it was just focus. We were not doing the things we did four days ago.
“We changed in the second half, we had more tempo, and won more duels.
“But it was not good enough. We always like answers to questions and this one is a negative one, so we at least know that.
His side will begin their World Cup qualification campaign with a similar double-header in September, hosting Hungary before travelling to Armenia.
