World Cup on television: Mary Hannigan reports

RTÉ's very own Special One, Bill O'Herlihy, may need to have a chat with Jose Mourinho about the business of accommodating an abundance of top-class midfielders in his line-up. Both men now face major midfield selection dilemmas after unveiling their new signings yesterday.

While the Chelsea manager must figure out how he will squeeze Germany's Michael Ballack into a midfield that already contains Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Claude Makelele and Joe Cole (not to mention Damien Duff, Arjen Robben, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Geremi, depending on Mourinho's tactical mood), O'Herlihy is now confronted with a similar selection headache for his team after RTÉ announced yesterday that Graeme Souness and Mark Kinsella will be joining its panel of pundits for its World Cup coverage this summer.

It is, then, seven across the middle for RTÉ, with Souness and Kinsella lining up alongside fellow midfielders John Giles and Eamon Dunphy, with Liam Brady, Ray Houghton and Trevor Steven once again providing some width on the flanks.

Denis Irwin, meanwhile, will have been relieved to hear of the signing of Kenny Cunningham, the former Irish captain, who will assist him in RTÉ's revolutionary two-man defence. Alas, however, no goalkeeper has been signed, nor indeed has any forward, probably meaning that the station will concede plenty, score very few but, at least, will be competitive in the middle.

"It will be a different experience, something I'm looking forward to," said Cunningham at RTÉ's launch of their sports coverage this summer in Donnybrook yesterday. He apologised for tipping Brazil for the World Cup - "very boring, I know" - but he believes they are "head and shoulders above the rest".

"But there will be some interesting sub-plots as well, I think England's progress will be interesting to watch, I think they're capable of actually going the whole hog and getting to the final."

Cunningham, released by relegated Birmingham City at the end of the season, may ask for permission to leave his mobile phone on while on punditry duty, as he waits for a call from a club offering him the chance to continue his career.

"No phone calls as yet," he laughed. "I'm out of contract now but I'm keeping my batteries charged, we'll see if there's any interest but I'm quite relaxed about it. Physically, I'm in decent condition but we'll see what happens in the coming weeks, it's out of my hands."

As for his uncharacteristically fierce and public criticism of the club and the way it was run last season Cunningham insisted he'd simply spoken his mind but that was that, he'd moved on.

"I didn't enjoy a lot of aspects of my time at the club but that's behind me now, I put on record my feelings about it but that's the end of it now."

In contrast to Cunningham, Souness is a punditry veteran, regularly working with Sky Sports, but is looking forward to adding a little more bite to the RTÉ midfield. (Not that it's needed). "Yeah, I'm delighted to be involved and to be working with the RTÉ team. And, as an old player, I'm just looking forward to the tournament so much, I think it could be fantastic. The coverage now is amazing, in my day there were two cameras at games, these days there are 22, so the whole way the thing is covered just adds to the excitement. Can't wait for it."

Football loathers avert your eyes: RTÉ will be showing 56 games live from Germany, over 25 days. O'Herlihy will anchor the coverage, along with Peter Collins and Con Murphy, while George Hamilton, Darragh Maloney, Jimmy Magee (commentating on his 11th World Cup), Stephen Alkin and Ger Canning will commentate on the games. Also joining the team will be Dublin-born Premiership referee Dermot Gallagher who will give his analysis of the performances of the officials at the World Cup, while Newstalk's Ger Gilroy is being sent to Germany in a camper van, his "Gatecrasher" series of reports designed to "give viewers an alternative look at the sights and sounds of the greatest show on earth". Gilroy will cover more than 7106 km in Germany and will visit all 12 World Cup cities.

And, of course, the Apres Match team will be back, providing World Cup coverage of the "you couldn't make it up" kind.

RTÉ line-up

Manager: Bill O'Herlihy.

Goalkeepers: None.

Defenders: Denis Irwin, Kenny Cunningham.

Midfielders: Ray Houghton, Trevor Steven, Mark Kinsella, Graeme Souness, John Giles, Eamon Dunphy, Liam Brady.

Forwards: None.

Referee: Dermot Gallagher.