In what was admittedly a sparsely populated field, Keith Andrews was Ireland's best performer at Euro 2012. In what is a far more competitive arena, Andrews is in contention for the 'best co-commentator of the Euros award', if such a gong exists.
If a fellow co-commentator was to describe Andrews' tournament, they would say he has been the proverbial breath of fresh air, proverbially putting the cat among the proverbial pigeons. Andrews would not describe himself as this, however, as he avoids cliches like a plague.
When Andrews opens his mouth, you're not entirely sure exactly what is going to fall out, and while that is occasionally bizarre - he called a Ronaldo shot tonight a "honking finish" - but that is an acceptable corollary of being unpredictable. Whereas many of the wizened old summarisers will merely decry the fact that the game has gone soft, and spend most of the game saying "what if X had passed to Y instead of doing Z", rather than explain what actually happened.
Andrews delivers his lines with all the composure of a child at Disneyland, which certainly adds colour to proceedings:
Keith Andrews definitely had 50 quid on England last night... pic.twitter.com/ZVeHYSzvNX
— Rob Murphy (@roobmurph) June 12, 2016
Andrews was in great form on tV3 tonight, mocking his dodgy call during England Russia (saying 'I have no idea why Eric Dier is over this free-kick, seconds before he blathered it into the top corner) before uttering the following immortal line about Joao Moutinho:
Keith Andrews: "Moutinho looked like he was caught on the travelator in Gladiators there." 😆 #gladiators #TV3EURO2016
— Stuart Fox (@Stucf) June 30, 2016
Magnificent. Our high opinion of Andrews was shared by many others:
Who had Keith Andrews for the first 'Gladiators' reference of #EURO2016 ? @TV3SportIreland
— James Fenton (@fentonjames16) June 30, 2016
I enjoy Keith Andrews describing that chance for Ronaldo: 'Fabianski more than happy to just pick the cherry.' #POLPOR
— Mark Farrelly (@MarkFarrelly131) June 30, 2016
Keith Andrews is a star of these euros: 'He's raggy dollying him', 'that's a honking finish'. The Joyce of football co-commentary.
— Paul Howard (@AkaPaulHoward) June 30, 2016
"He looked like he got caught on the travelator on Gladiators"
Commentary gold from Keith Andrews on @TV3SportIreland #EURO2016— Trevor Spillane (@TrevorSpillane) June 30, 2016
Andrews was far more entertaining than the game itself.
