The 2000s brought with it a golden age of punditry for sporting coverage.
In this country alone, the likes of Eamon Dunphy, George Hook, Joe Brolly and more brought with them controversy in spades, but even their fiercest critics could not dispute the entertainment value that they added when they opined freely about their respective sports.
One man who was part of a beloved punditry team in that period was Tomás Mulcahy.
Alongside the likes of Ger Loughnane and Cyril Farrell, hurling games became an event and the pre-match and post-match thoughts of the chosen punditry team became a discussion point week in, week out.
The Glen Rovers clubman made the announcement that he would not be involved with the national broadcaster in 2021 and has not been on our television screens in that capacity since then.
Speaking exclusively to KCLR’s Scoreline, the two-time All-Star gave his honest assessment of modern day punditry.
“The change has occurred with the advent of laptops, social media, the apps and the stats. I agree with all of that if it’s for the betterment of a team, but there’s too much of it and it’s taking from the analysis of the game,” Mulcahy said.
He continued: “I’m not saying this because I’m gone from RTÉ. I had 25 good years there. I wasn’t happy with how it ended but that’s for another day.
“It’s the same in all sports. You have the diagrams and all that and you lose that bit of passion and excitement you have for the game and that’s disappointing. It’s the way modern society has gone.”
“It’s no different across the spectrum in most sports.
“The older generation probably want less of that and a bit more punch and back-and-forth between pundits but we’re never going to see that again. That’s the way TV and life has moved on. It’s just the way it is, and we have to accept it.”
You can hear the full interview with Tomás Mulcahy this Saturday at 4.30pm on KCLR where he talks about Kilkenny and Cork’s league semi-final on Sunday, both counties hopes for the year ahead, the reasons behind injuries for intercounty players and Limerick’s biggest challengers in 2023.
On Sunday, our build-up to the Allianz National Hurling League semi-final between Kilkenny and Cork begins at 3.30pm with eight-time All-Ireland winner Aidan Fogarty previewing the game before we hand across to our team of Adrian Ronan and two-time All-Ireland winning goalkeeper and KCLR analyst Michael Walsh for full commentary from 4pm.
KCLR is the only place where you can hear all of Kilkenny’s Allianz National Hurling League, Leinster championship and All-Ireland series games in 2023.
