And then there were none. First Gilesie set sail, then The Dunph, and now Liamo is off, the only place we’ll see them now is on Reeling in the Years. If you were already of a certain vintage, you’re currently feeling like an antique.
When the news broke on Monday that Brady was hanging up his punditry boots after 25 years on the RTÉ panel, there was a suspicion that he’d concluded after watching Friday’s game against Greece, perhaps like most of the Irish population, that life’s just too bloody short.
And there was a notion too that he’d rather be heading to the dentist for a root canal than having to watch and analyse the Gibraltar game.
When he spoke to RTÉ radio, he confessed that “I’m just not in love with the game any more,” although he stopped short of blaming the current Irish team for the end of the romance. But he cited “the arrival of social media” – “it’s all gobbledegook to me” – and, at 67, he said, “I’m an old dog – you can’t teach me new tricks.”
But old dogs should never have to learn new tricks, and they should be granted the legal right to insert their gnashers into the backside of anyone who pesters them in to trying. And Liamo was entitled to growl if anyone asked him to be chirpy rather than Chippy. His grumpiness on witnessing a game of Dog and Duck quality was, while not quite at Ronnie Whelan levels, always good craic.
Joanne Cantwell had him close enough to tears when she played him a tribute montage type thingie, appropriately soundtracked by his beloved Bob Dylan.
[ Ireland 3 Gibraltar 0: How the Irish players ratedOpens in new window ]
“It was sad seeing it, to be honest, because we all miss Bill,” he said having seen clips of the late and very great O’Herlihy trying to impose some semblance of order on the most unruly of panels. Them were the days.
“Off screen, Liam’s got a great sense of humour,” said Gilesie, at which point the Terrible Trio dissolved, Liamo’s ability to hide that humour on air unsurpassed, largely because The Dunph sucked it out of him, leaving his colleagues in a perpetual state of exasperation. Not least during Saipan. “He wouldn’t speak to me and John because we took Mick McCarthy’s side.” Ah God yeah, them were the days.
“They set a benchmark for broadcasting for over a decade, they took it to another level,” said Didi Hamann, standing alongside Liamo on the Aviva pitch, but Liamo reckoned “25 years is the right number”, it was, he said, time to “let the young ones have a go”. To which the auld ones at home shouted: Nooooooo.
Any way, the question for the night that was in it: could Ireland give Liamo a rousing send-off with a swashbuckling triumph over Gibraltar?
[ Stephen Kenny has depleted his benefit-of-the-doubt reserves with fansOpens in new window ]
First, the ceremonial bits, President Michael D giving the mighty James McClean a mighty hug on the occasion of his 100th cap, the pair then having a hearty natter, possibly about Nato.
Off we went.
Ireland huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow Gibraltar’s rearguard down, Liamo’s face come half-time, when it was still 0-0, a mix between thunder and relief that he’d decided to retire from this lark.
But he was hell-bent on being positive-ish. “They actually haven’t played too badly.” But? “I’m a bit worried.”
Mercifully, the floodgates opened in the second half. Well, twice, at first, Mikey Johnston and Evan Ferguson’s goals prompting such a sigh of relief from the crowd, the thunder clouds overhead were blown towards Westmeath. And then Adam Idah, bless his polyester socks, made it 3-0. And you’d take that, like.
Maybe, just maybe, Stephen Kenny will be granted a breather now, we’ll see. But? “But I still think we’re a long way off, and I’m sorry to say that on my last appearance here on RTÉ,” said Liamo. “We’re an awful long way off making the breakthrough of qualifying for the Euros or a World Cup with this squad of players.”
Honest – and a bit grumpy – to the end.
Happy retirement Liamo, and thanks for the memories. Just keep on resisting learning new tricks, there’s nothing better than an old dog set in its ways.
