TV VIEW:WELL, AT least from here on in we can take 'I had a Macedonia' as meaning 'didn't quite make John Giles purr, but got the job done' – and we'll settle for that after our past Macedonian mishaps.

“And you weren’t purring like you were last week John, were you?” Bill O’Herlihy asked him at full-time.

“I wasn’t, Bill, no,” said Giles, “it won’t be a match that lives long in the memory.”

In fairness, though, there was always the danger this would happen: once Barca lifted him to the footballing heavens, any game at all after that would have dumped Giles right back down to earth.

Mind you, Giovanni Trapattoni was floating on air during his post-match chat, purring like a highly exultant cat that had cornered the cream, but while the panel was content too with the win, they weren’t dishing out too many points for artistic merit.

If it was a set of exams, Liam Brady argued, the team would pass “commitment”, “work-rate”, “organisation at set-pieces” and “tactics” with honours, but would end up having a couple of re-sits in the autumn after flunking two more of their tests.

“Control of the game?”

“Fail?” suggested Bill.

“Fail,” confirmed Brady. “Passing and possession of the ball?”

“Fail?” suggested Bill.

“Fail,” confirmed Brady.

This was all a bit of a contrast to the mood over on Sky, where none other than Steve Staunton (and Reading manager Brian McDermott) was on punditry duty, our former gaffer generously hailing the performance of “11 heroes” – a status the RTÉ lads were really only prepared to award to Shay Given and Robbie Keane.

And ropey as the defence might have been at times, the clean sheet had Staunton doing a bit of purring himself, although he conceded the missed penalty was a bit of good luck.

“I think he’s kicked the wrong ball there, to be fair,” he winced as he watched the replay of John O’Shea almost ending Goran Pandev’s hopes of fatherhood.

But job done, points in the bag, there was no great need, as it proved, for the panel to fret.

And fret they did, in the absence of The Three Ds (that’d be Dunne, Duff and Doyle), and in light of the “bad news” from Bill that goalkeeper Edin Nuredinovski, star of Ireland’s 2-0 win in Dublin back in March, had been dropped by the hosts.

“I have a sense of foreboding about this game,” said Dunphy.

“I wouldn’t be confident, Bill,” said Giles. “I imagine it’s going to be a very difficult night,” said Brady. “Draw,” said Dunphy.

“Draw,” said Giles.

“Draw,” said Brady.

See?

The lads had a Macedonia. In the old sense of the term, that is.

You could hardly argue, though, that Roger Federer had a Macedonia in Paris yesterday. He was, after all, up against Rafa Nadal. “It’s almost hard to breathe in anticipation of this match,” the BBC’s Andrew Castle had said when he welcomed us for the latest instalment of one of the great sporting duels of this or any other time – and that’s understating it.

Boris Becker was a bit breathless too when he arrived at the last minute, but that was only because his driver “had different ideas of how to get from A to B”. He was, happily, in his seat by the time we were up and running.

When Nadal took a 7-5, 7-6, 4-2 lead it was, it seemed, time to bid adieu to the Age of Federer, but you know yourself, back he came. That bookie who offered odds of 18 to 1 on him winning the French Open a couple of weeks ago was, possibly, heading for the nearest airport. But he needn’t have worried, the rally, so to speak, was short-lived.

Federer’s not the first man to be Nadalised in Paris, and most probably won’t be the last.

Meath, meanwhile, were Nadalised by Kildare at Croke Park yesterday, losing by six points, despite Joe Brolly spending a chunk of the build-up telling us the Kildare forwards couldn’t hit a barn door, that wides were their thing.

“Far be it for me to contradict Joe, but do you know who are the second highest scorers in the Championship for the last two years,” asked Pat Spillane.

“Who?” Joe enquired.

“Kildare,” grinned Pat.

A Macedonia for Joe.

The only low-point, really, from the sporting weekend was that moment at Roland Garros when, under a sprinkly shower, half the stadium erected giant umbrellas, thus blocking the view of those not allergic to a drop of rain.

Andrew Castle resisted condemning this abominable carry-on, leaving us wishing RTÉ’s Micheál O’Hehir was still with us and on duty in Paris yesterday.

As he once so beautifully put it during an All-Ireland final when the Hogan Stand nigh on disappeared from sight behind an umbrella, “would ya take that umbrella out of that and get wet like a decent man”.

He’d have Nadalised the fella if he’d got his hands on him. He’d have been right too.