GAA MANAGERS ROW WITH RTÉ:TYRONE MANAGER Mickey Harte went on RTÉ radio's Drivetimeshow with Mary Wilson yesterday evening to explain why he and seven of his fellow inter-county managers are refusing to speak to RTÉ radio or television after matches.

The stance by the managers centres on a perceived slight by RTÉ Sport towards their Gaelic games radio correspondent, Brian Carthy, who was not promoted to the primary commentary role to replace the retired Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh.

RTÉ are using a pool of commentators, including Carthy, Ger Canning, Marty Morrissey and Darragh Maloney, for their GAA coverage.

“The very time Micheál retires from that role Brian seems to be reduced in his role when you would expect he would be upgraded,” said Harte.

“I think that is only natural. He has been with them doing games all that time (25 years). He is recognised as ‘the voice’ of radio Gaelic games along with Micheál for so many years.”

Carthy is scheduled to commentate at a championship fixture this weekend.

“It’s no big orchestrated affair,” Harte continued. “It’s just friends standing up for a friend.”

But when challenged by Wilson that RTÉ Sport staffing decisions should not be dictated to by inter-county managers, as also stated by GAA president Christy Cooney, Harte, who also confirmed Kildare manager Kieran McGeeney “feels exactly the same way”, stated it was an issue of “respect” as much as concern for a friend.

“It is about respect for someone who gives you respect. We’re not in the business of telling RTÉ Sport what they should do. I think we are more in the business of alerting them to the fact that’s maybe escaping them at the moment; that lots of people out there know the quality that Brian Carthy brings to Gaelic games commentating.

“And they are aware the opportunities that should be coming his way, at least shared with others, don’t seem to be doing that.”

Wilson countered that the managers could be perceived to be using the weight of their position (“muscle” was the word she used) to try to influence RTÉ Sport staffing decisions.

“We don’t see that as muscle at all. In fact, managers are probably the people with the least muscle in the GAA at all. We just do our own affairs. We don’t have muscle. This is a myth put out by journalists and commentators. Is it not a good thing to do – stand up for your friend?”

Harte, McGeeney and six other intercounty managers sent a letter to RTÉ director general Noel Curran on May 23rd.

A response was sent to Harte on Tuesday afternoon by courier, which stated RTÉ reserves the right to assign their staff as they see fit.

It is unclear if the intercounty managers will continue to refuse interviews with RTÉ after this weekend’s championship matches, as Harte stated the managers will now make “our valued judgment in due course”.

At the end of the interview, Wilson stated: “We asked RTÉ to provide us with a spokesperson this evening. They couldn’t do so.”