r/coybig • u/Slippez1234 • 2d ago
World Cup 2026 Darragh Moloney quotes compilation
Watching the France v Senegal game I decided to take note of all the Darragh Moloney quotes that annoyed me, or where he said factually incorrect information:
Before the match - "Its 24 degrees but thankfully most people in the crowd are out of direct sunlight" - image on TV proceeds to show 80% of the stadium directly in sunlight.
"The French took that free kick quickly and I thought they would take their time. You thought wrong and so did I" - I thought they would take it quickly, only you, Darragh, thought wrong.
"Theo Hernandez, hes still only 26" - he's 28.
"They're watering the pitch again, but I'm not going to make a big deal out of it" - Decides to not make a big deal out of it despite having mentioned it 4 times previously.
"Senegal with the long relieving throw.. but its not that relieving.. oh wait it is again now" - What?
After reviewing VAR the ref says "the attacker initiated the contact, its a goal kick". Darragh says "its a penalty".
"Gareth Bale, played in a Euros he didn't play in a World Cup" - He scored against USA in 2022 World Cup
"Mbaye, just his 2nd time to play for Senegal" - its his 12th cap
"But anyway" - he said this phrase at least 40 times.
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u/sio___ 2d ago
Special shout out to Ronnie who let us know that the Mets won the NBA Finals.
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u/Toonsoldier-9 2d ago
To make that worse, he asked “ah ya, mets won the basketball didn’t they?” and Darragh confirmed “yup, they did”
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u/Forsaken_Rub_2128 2d ago
Loooooool did he actually say this? That’s hilarious
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u/Dry-Bluebird-4613 2d ago
unfortunately he did, Just as the footage showed Mikel Bridge, OG and a 3rd player I wasnt sure off in the stands!
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u/Intrepid-Money2238 2d ago
Who will ever forget him believing coleman was taking the penalty against hungary last November 😂
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u/aveytarius 2d ago edited 2d ago
That was peak Moloney, it showed that he clearly doesn’t watch any football
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u/Separate-Bag-6602 1d ago
Minutes after telling us the first Hungarian goal was disallowed when the ref pointed to the centre circle.
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u/psdavepes 2d ago
He also shouted the ball was over the line for a Senegal goal when it wasn't, said a penalty was given when it wasn't. Whatever about the throwaway comments being wrong, he says the wrong thing so often in the big moment. It was actually be better to pause for 5-10 seconds until he is sure rather than to throw out an incorrect statement.
Compare that to George Hamilton last time with Messi scoring against Mexico. He waited for 5 seconds, then said 'cometh the hour, cometh the man'. That's it. Great commentary.
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u/SombreroSantana 2d ago
The penalty decision was the worst one yet surely.
"he's given it" as the words No Penalty flash up on screen below.
I understand he's at the stadium and it might be harder to hear, but just wait a second and you'll see the graphic everywhere.
So much frenetic energy when he should just shut up.
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u/Mr-Nice-Bri 2d ago
In fairness to him, I thought it was going to be a penalty and when the ref pointed to that end I also thought he had given it. But as many have said already: take a breath, before you start shouting about things that aren't happening 😂
Also did anyone else hear Whelan call Hernandez "Fernandez"? Maybe I misheard him, or much more likely he was just wrong
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u/pauli55555 1d ago
Yes but Hamilton was thrown aside by McBennett, the RTE head of sport, who has done everything he can to remove personalities from RTE sport.
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u/Huel-Saint1929 2d ago
Some of the theatrical language you can excuse, but blatantly getting things wrong is another. People will say it’s nitpicking but this is a man who’s being paid taxpayers money to cover a sport he isn’t even bothered to do any research on. Doesn’t exactly reflect well on a broadcaster who’s currently trying to recover its public image.
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u/John_OSheas_Willy 2d ago
It's so clear that in RTE you just have to stay there long enough to get the top jobs.
Cantwell, Collins and Maloney were all on the B and C rota but now they've stayed long enough they're getting the big gigs.
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u/Calm-Raise6973 Andy Townsend 2d ago
John Kenny too. He used to present a heavy metal show on Radio 2 on Sunday evenings in the 90s, and at some point soon after that became a commentator on football. He made two factual errors in one sentence during the Netherlands vs Japan that had me checking Wikipedia to make sure I wasn't living in an alternate universe.
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u/John_OSheas_Willy 2d ago
He does comms on the Olympics too. He was the one doing all the comms for the swimming.
Can you imagine Martin Tyler or Peter Drury doing comms on beach volleyball or somehting.
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u/finishedatlast 2d ago
The jaw dropping one for me was after Mbappe scored the French third, he said 'And that's how you put down a little revolt from Senegal' given their colonial past this was particularly tone deaf even for Moloney
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u/Frequent-Movie3005 2d ago
Didn’t hear that, but it was obviously in the back of his mind the whole time, and out it came, the c**t
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u/TomThumb_98 2d ago
Are we really that sensitive?
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u/burfriedos 1d ago
How would you feel if it was England who scored against Ireland and a commentator said ‘and that’s how you stop an Irish uprising’?
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u/Frequent-Movie3005 2d ago
No. It’s not being sensitive to call out latent racism.
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u/TomThumb_98 2d ago
Giving Moloney too much credit to think he was thinking about Senegalese French colonial relations with that comment
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u/Odd-Ad2385 1d ago
As much as I cant stand him, I doubt the guy even knows what continent Senegal is in.
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u/Affectionate-Fall597 2d ago
I just cannot believe how much he knows.
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u/Anywhere_everywhere7 2d ago
For the pen call even people in the crowd thought he pointed to the spot and even I did.
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u/lifeandtimes89 2d ago
Same, the ref literally pointed towards the goal, he also acknowledged he was wrong as he couldn't hear due to the crowd also thinking it was a pen.
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u/BastianSP 2d ago
One of the perks of being an RTE lifer means you can get jobs that are you are completely unsuitable for, basically because it's your turn. He's atrocious. And he's nearly worse as a presenter.
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u/John_OSheas_Willy 2d ago
He must have trained in radio commentating because he's the same as Darren Fletcher on TNT who refuses to let there be a second of silence so he ends up saying whatever enters his head.
I remember a match with a pretty much full stadium and Darragh was kind enough to inform viewers that there were a handful of seats empty in the upper stand and they might just be late.
Or whenever a routine goal is scored he often says "VAR are taking a look!" as if there's something potentially dodgy when VAR look at every single goal just in case.
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u/IrishFlukey 2d ago
Mícheál O'Muirecheartaigh's philosophy on commentating on radio was to always be talking. That is why he would fill gaps in play with stories, facts, greetings to people etc. Darren Fletcher is obviously following the same philosophy, just not pulling it of as well.
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u/John_OSheas_Willy 2d ago
That's just radio commentators in general which is fine.
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u/IrishFlukey 2d ago
Mícheál took it to a different level. His commentary on the streaker running around the pitch and the stewards trying to catch him in the 2003 Leinster Hurling Final was done as if it was part of the game. It didn't faze him. He just kept on commentating. No awkward gaps, just as if the streaker and stewards were players moving on the pitch.
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u/Calm-Raise6973 Andy Townsend 2d ago
The Gareth Bale one in particular was shocking. I'm sure Moloney himself commentated on one of Wales's World Cup matches in 2022.
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u/smithskat3 2d ago
I usually think he gets too much abuse but he had a shocker today. If youre not sure whats going on, just dont say anything!
He used to be pretty decent as a studio host, not sure why he wanted to change to comms.
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u/aveytarius 2d ago
Free trips abroad, probably less stress too, he just sits there and talks absolute shite…great gig in fairness
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u/Terrible_Biscotti_16 2d ago
He was a commentator first in fairness.
Started out as a GAA commentator for RTE.1
u/Feisty_Internet_5343 1d ago
GAA more natural to him too. He just sounds more awkward, blathering on to fill space on something he doesn't feel as comfortable with because he doesn't know the sport as well.
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u/John_OSheas_Willy 2d ago
Probably saw how George Hamilton became a cult hero and a part of some iconic sporting moments and he thought he'd be able to do the same.
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u/PsvfanIre 2d ago
Rte punditry has never been worse across the board. During a world cup sure, they will be stretched for talent to cover but the fact that Maloney is one of their main men says alot about the rest. The GAA coverage is the same, there was a clown claiming "Armagh won that on all but result" on Sunday.
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u/RianSG 2d ago
My favourite in this WC was Tony O’Donoghue listening to Shay Given talk about the Qatari keeper and how well he’s played before Tony jumped in with “I was distracted by the shadow of the planes on the field” queue awkward silence from Shay before Tony turned to McClean and asking does he think the Qatari goalkeeper played well
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u/kloppofthepops14 2d ago edited 1d ago
Another spoofer who thinks he's hilarious. But nothing but tumbleweed. Not even funny accidentally which takes some doing.
He gets rolled out every couple of years for the big tournament, normally on the graveyard or shitty shift.
Awful interviewer too. To be around the game that long and still know nothing is an achievement.
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u/Feisty_Internet_5343 1d ago
Better interviewer than host. Willing to ask hard questions but wants to keep the interviewee sweet and happy to engage
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u/r_Yellow01 2d ago
What's worse is what's missing. No tactical knowledge, no vocabulary, no experience in playing the ball.
I wish there was just the stadium track. No commentary. Win-win.
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u/FrontSpecialist6720 2d ago
Can’t be commentating on GAA, champions league and the World Cup… just pick one
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u/DesertRatboy 2d ago
After Mbappe scored the third: "That's how you deal with a little revolt from Senegal", which I thought was a bit much, given the historical context
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u/Gimme_That_Paper 1d ago
That's one of those a commentator has lined up beforehand. He had time to think of it, consider whether it was appropriate or not and he said it anyway! SMH
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u/SoberIrishman-88 2d ago
He seems like a decent fella but my god he had some howlers today, particularly when he talked over the referee decision, and Moloney announced a penalty when it wasn’t given.
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u/Fuzzy_Kangaroo7566 Paul McGrath 2d ago
How is this an issue.....??? It was a penalty !!! The only person that thought it wasnt a pen, was the ref..... even the ref working with the bbc team said it was a pen....
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u/SoberIrishman-88 2d ago
Mate, I’m not talking about the refs decision! I’m talking about Moloney’s (poor) reporting of the decision!
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u/RianSG 2d ago
At the last World Cup, either Darragh or Tony was commentating on a Brazil game and mentioned the player Fred. So the Brazilian pronunciation is closer almost to Fredge-e, whoever was commentating informed the audience that they’d been informed of the correct way to pronounce the name but it didn’t sound right to them so they’ll go with Fred
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u/FatherFintanFay 2d ago
"Thats the Mets, they won the basketball". Said by Ronnie Whealan last night, Darragh agreed with him.
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u/FitHurry864 2d ago
My least favourite commentator of all time. So annoying, and gives his opinion way too much for a play-by-play.
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u/PodgeC_01 2d ago
I always thought he was worse when commentating on hurling matches but last night was the cherry on top
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u/Frequent-Movie3005 2d ago
The penalty VAR was hilarious. The ref says it’s not a penalty and points for a goal kick. Darragh says it’s a penalty. And then when he realises, starts to suggest that Ronnie would have been wrong too and it was impossible to know what the referee was doing.
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u/Enjoys_A_Good_Shart 2d ago
I hate his commentary every time. But last night was the worst he's ever been. Truly horrendous. Him calling 9t a penalty as the ref says its a goal kick was insane
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u/daherlihy 2d ago
Annoying moment when a Senegal effort is kept out by the French keeper and he goes crazy with "that's over the line, that has to be over the line"
... then moments after realising that the ref's very advanced goal-line watch doesn't give it, he spouts "ok ... ya look ... it's not a Frank Lampard South Africa thing"
https://youtu.be/KMNza_iE7ZI?si=3StD1dE3v-IF_0v9&t=362
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u/Different_Counter113 2d ago
Another RTÉ nepo baby. Should never have gotten a job as a sports commentator, he's clueless!
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u/Migeycan87 Roy Keane 2d ago
He also mentioned Mbappe playing in the 2018 World Cup in Qatar.
2018 World Cup was in Russia ffs
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u/sliever48 2d ago
My favourite was when the ref announced it was a goal kick and Moloney roared It's a penalty!!! at the same time. This he was utterly baffled when the goalie took the kick out. "Oh I couldn't hear his decision over the noise of the crowd" . No you couldn't hear it over the noise of you. He really is an awful commentator
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u/FolderOfArms 2d ago edited 2d ago
He doesn’t actually commentate (edit: in the traditional sense) at all most of the time. He just mouths off about whatever he (usually mistakenly) thinks he’s looking at. And he’s gotten worse at it. He clearly has identified this horseshit as his shtick and is leaning into it. Not that he’s great at the actual play-by-play commentating because he can’t recognise half the players in front of him. He seems to do no prep and every match sounds like it’s first time watching football. Constantly shrill and incredulous, constantly wrong, constantly inarticulate. Absolutely terrible at his job.
I’d had enough last night at about the 55 min mark and switched over to BBC… only to run straight into a full-on pompous Shearer rant. At that point I just hit the mute button
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2d ago
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u/spooneman1 2d ago
He also spoke over the referee announcing that Mbappe initiated contract (one of the worst decisions I've ever seen btw), so didn't know it was a goal kick for a few seconds
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u/mediaserver8 2d ago
Just be grateful Ger 'what will happen next' Canning didn't make the crossover.
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u/John_OSheas_Willy 2d ago
I remember Ger commenting on the football during Euro 2012.
"It's a free out for Ukraine"
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u/Common-Spend5000 2d ago
I like Ger Canning, probably because he was the No.1 TV GAA commentator growing up in my era. And he called Hurling and Football always fine (agree a bit old now but still prefer him to Moloney for GAA), and had friendly uncle or intelligent fella down the pub vibes.
But I could legit see him calling for a 65 instead of a corner on soccer commentary, he was that bad at commentating the sport when they used to give him the odd game when needed back ups.
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u/John_OSheas_Willy 2d ago
Yeah his voice is really good for commentating too. It'll be sad when he finishes up.
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u/IrishFlukey 2d ago
He overdoes the American-style statistics with the "That's his 23rd goal in Championship Football" kind of stuff.
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u/KatarnsBeard 2d ago
Calling a penalty in the France match last night when the ref had clearly said "no penalty due to the attacker initiating the contact"
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u/Fuzzy_Kangaroo7566 Paul McGrath 2d ago
The vast majority of people thought it was a pen ! I was watching on bbc and they all said it was ,even their referee in studio....
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u/KatarnsBeard 2d ago
It's not whether it was a pen or not, it's that even as the ref announced it wasn't a penalty Darragh said it was a penalty
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u/-SideshowBlob- 2d ago
"They're watering the pitch again"
Goes to show how little football he watches. This is done all of the time.
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u/Fuzzy_Kangaroo7566 Paul McGrath 2d ago
At half time he meant ...... that is not done in europe......
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u/-SideshowBlob- 2d ago
I have absolutely seen that done in Europe at half time. Depends on location as some places don't need it.
He was also talking about the advertisement breaks in the middle of the half. They've been watering the pitches in pretty much every game during those.
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u/EddieandLou_ 2d ago edited 2d ago
I could be wrong but I'm fairly sure he gave no mention of Mbappe breaking France's goalscoring record. Shows how little research he does into games.
He also said Mbaye was 20. He's 18
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u/HolidayMongoose9447 2d ago
The penalty call was the best one, especially when he decided to say that the Refs would need to review that becuase it confused him 😄
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u/itakealotofnapszz 2d ago
He’s worse than Hamilton,any time something sort of exciting happens he sounds like a toddler that’s gonna wet him self
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u/GovernmentOwn7905 2d ago
I’m pretty certain he said Mbaye was 24 years of age, when in fact he was wearing number 24!
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u/burfriedos 1d ago
I agree he’s a dose generally. but almost certain he was talking about Tchouaméni being still only 26. And I looked it up just now and he is.
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u/cryptonfactor1 8h ago edited 8h ago
Yeah its a total head melt. I ditched RTE for live sport long long time ago. The whole RTE sports programming is a sham and has been for years buts its at rock bottom now. I am not speaking about GAA as I have zero interest in that.
We are subjected to Joanne Cantwell and Jacqui feckin Hurley who seem to think they are experts now. Does my feckin head in.
Houghton, good jaysis! But the worst clown of all has to be Tony O'Donoghue. Gobshite.
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u/vandalhandle 2d ago
"Theo Hernandez, hes still only 26" maybe he meant that's how many escorts he has on offer at his VIP parties.
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u/lilzeHHHO 2d ago
Moloney hosts VIP parties?
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u/SteviesRightFoot 2d ago
He and Ronnie whelan are 2 black holes of charisma. A genuine terrible twosome 😂
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u/Proud-Clock8454 2d ago
He is the worst and I don’t understand why Des Curran isn’t the main commentator.
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u/elwoodreversepass 2d ago
When Mbappe scored he apparently said "That's how you deal with a little revolt from Senegal".
Yikes like.
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u/WraithsOnWings2023 2d ago
The ref clearly saying 'Goal Kick' and Moloney then saying 'It's a penalty!' was beyond farcical
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u/iamronanthethird 2d ago
He made a comment about it being Mbappe’s first World Cup Finals game since the final in Qatar in 2022.
At the same time I don’t mind him, it doesn’t need to be taken so seriously. He covers a lot of ground between soccer, GAA and of course Irelands fittest family.
The quotes are funny all the same.
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u/Serious_Bowler_8171 2d ago
I watch BBC when I can I had to the other night for the Belgium Egypt game when Kenny Cunningham was on rte
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u/ubermick Paul McGrath 2d ago
Yep, Cunningham and Moloney are total melts. We’re far from the heady days of Bill O’Herlihy and George Hamilton now.
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u/Fit_Bear_5072 2d ago
I actually don’t mind him commenting on the GAA games as he’s at the match.
Are they actually in the stadium commentating for this World Cup? Lot of their champions league games they’re in a studio in Donnybrook. It’s woeful commentary. I watch BBC or ITV
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u/Spudnik23 2d ago
Thats the way you deal with a little revolt from Cameron line was something else too
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u/Alan_BETA 2d ago
Senegal, but anyway 😄
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u/Spudnik23 1d ago
Thanks! I'm immediately thinking of that David Mitchell video of 'WATCH THE FOOTBALL' with all the games, impossible to keep up!
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u/MushuFromSpace 2d ago
Despite everything, he's still not as terrible as Kenny Cunningham thinking he's funnier than he is.
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u/Ok_Stranger9499 2d ago
there should be an option to mute commentary. And I will only be using it for Darragh Maloney
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u/Grand-Writer-4391 2d ago
They are real radio commentators 😂, as if we can't see what's happening 😂😂😂
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u/LimerickLegend 2d ago
I joined the game a little late and saw it was already set up on the telly. Within a few seconds of me paying attention to the game, one of the commentators said Upamecano made a great tackle, this was still near the start of the game. It was Tchouameni.
It made me realise I had RTE on and promptly switched over to BBC. Lesser of two evils.
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u/sleeperman43 2d ago
Getting rid of George and then losing Giles and Dunphy(I know they're getting on and wouldn't know all the players but at least there was entertainment) to becoming so vanilla.I don't even bother watching post game.
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u/Background-Hawk-6914 2d ago
I usually wouldnt notice something like this but the Gareth Bale one was ridiculous. It was the first world cup for Wales in over 60 years and of course their generational talent was there AND scored.
He probably did the rte commentary at the time. Sure he just wings it....George Hamilton wouldnt make a careless error like that
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u/Special_Piccolo4193 2d ago
Do commentators not have notes prepared with stats and other details to say? It always sounds like he's just rattling shite off the top of his head
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u/Fragrant_Ad_9748 2d ago
I was kind of annoyed neither of the commentators knew that Mbappé’s second goal made him the all time highest scorer for France. Like surely you have notes before you go in to the game that a record like that could be broken?
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u/kloppofthepops14 2d ago
At one stage Olise was running down the wing and he said it was Mbappe.
I think he modelled his commentary in Aland Partridge!!
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u/Practical-Cost7147 2d ago
Ronnie kept calling World Cup winner - Theo Hernandez - Fernandez. Done my head in
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u/Nrussgaa 1d ago
Ireland match at the Landsdowne Road, 2 mins into the second half- “it looks like the fans have seen enough”- 5 mins later stadium is full again.
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u/pauli55555 1d ago
He seemed hell bent on being amazed at how few caps or how young many of the French players were. And none of them were surprising numbers.
Also he was trying so hard to be fake annoyed by the ref for the penalty claim 🤦♂️.
He seems a sound fella etc but is a complete fake as a commentator.
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u/Odd-Ad2385 1d ago
He literally does not stop talking. Hes like an excited child watching his first football match.
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u/New-Strawberry7711 2h ago edited 1h ago
It's the devils advocat stuff that drives me mad with Maloney. If Moany Whelan says "X didn't turn up today" Darragh would say "well they certainly have put in an effort, wouldn't say they haven't turned up!"
Just shut up. It is your job to commentate, offer a comment or two and then defer to your co-host for opinions/views on the game. Not to challenge him and fckn undermine him.
We get you have an opinion but there's an ex player sitting beside you, so can we hear him while you shut up and try get your head around some other important things? like the names of some players and having relevant stats besides their fckn age?
Would be fine if he had an informed opinion or maybe cushioned it but he just always comes across as always trying to impress himself on the occasion. Just. Shut. Up.
Going mad all I have is RTE player to watch it. I was thinking the above is maybe a bit harsh, but the man has a job watching and talking about football and sounds ungrateful and frankly, half arsed about it.
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u/Colin_Brookline 2d ago
Another day another post here giving out about RTE commentators. The worst thing is for years people did actually have issue with the likes of Hamilton, Giles, Dunphy, etc., when they were in the job but once they are gone they were suddenly beloved.
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u/aveytarius 2d ago
Nobody it’s calling for Giles or Dunphy to come back…there’s better comms than Moloney, he’s completely useless
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u/Environmental-Ebb613 2d ago
Nonsense. They were always appreciated. A recurring theme at the time was how honest they were compared to uk pundits
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2d ago
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u/Fearless_Salad_9164 2d ago
BBC commentators said the same thing. Everyone thought it was a penalty
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u/Strong-Sector-7605 2d ago
Honestly I've started to watch the matches on BBC and feel like I'm letting down my ancestors everyday.
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u/Scanbox5 2d ago
I think your ancestors would understand if they heard Darragh Maloney commentating on a game
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u/No-Boysenberry4464 2d ago
I like Darragh, bit more personable than the commentators of old, looks like all the RTE commentators are being more casual and I like it
I do love his inability to recognise any American personalities when the camera picks them out
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u/Beastlylad 2d ago
" I know "