As Ireland prepared for their EURO 2024 qualifier against Gibraltar on Monday night, Liam Brady gave us some major footballing news off the pitch.
The Irish legend announced that Monday's game at the Aviva Stadium would be his last as part of RTÉ's punditry team, after 25 years as part of their coverage of Irish and European football.
Brady revealed the reasoning for his decision to step away, saying that he had fallen out of love with the game:
I like watching it. I like watching the players and the best players, but all the things that surround it, it's not really for me.
For Irish football fans, Liam Brady's departure marks the definitive end of an era for the broadcast of the sport in Ireland.
Brady is the last of the "dream team" of football punditry which defined RTÉ's coverage of the Irish team in the 2000s and early 2010s, following his fellow pundits Eamon Dunphy and John Giles in stepping away from TV duties in recent years.
Speaking at the beginning of Monday night's coverage, Brady emotionally remembered the brilliance of the late Bill O'Herlihy, who helmed the iconic discussions between the trio during the golden age of Irish football TV.
READ HERE: When Trapattoni Cheekily Compared James McClean’s Debut To Messi And Pele
Liam Brady remembers late Bill O'Herlihy in final RTÉ broadcast
Just under a year after stepping away from RTÉ duties in 2014, Bill O'Herlihy passed away in the summer of 2015 at the age of 76.
After a video tribute to Liam Brady's time with RTÉ was played at the beginning of Monday night's coverage of Ireland v Gibraltar, Brady said that it had invoked sadness in him, as he remembered the late O'Herlihy and his brilliance on and off screen:
It was sad seeing it, to be quite honest, because we all miss Bill. He was a great man in the presenter's chair, he knew how to keep order - which was difficult at times!
He knew how to throw in a grenade every now and again.
Working with Eamon, there was never a dull moment.
Great memories, fantastic memories.
Brady and O'Herlihy formed half of RTÉ's immortal football quartet, alongside Brady's fellow pundits Eamon Dunphy and John Giles.
26 March 2013; The RTE panellists of, from left, Eamon Dunphy, Liam Brady and John Giles, with anchor Bill O'Herlihy, look on during the game. 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualifier, Group C, Republic of Ireland v Austria, Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne Road, Dublin. Picture credit: Brian Lawless / SPORTSFILE
There were countless classic moments during their time together on RTÉ, but Brady plumped for Ireland's qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup as his favourite from his 25 years as a pundit.
As Liam Brady prepares for his last Ireland game as an RTÉ analyst, he looks back on one of his fondest memories from his long career - when Ireland beat the Netherlands 1-0 and the fallout that ensued in Saipan. #RTESoccer pic.twitter.com/0GJsLS6snQ
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) June 19, 2023
Brady remembered the Lansdowne Road victory over the Netherlands which put Ireland into the World Cup play-offs - before going on to detail the tensions which emerged among the panel as a result of the Saipan saga:
May I say that Roy Keane was immense that day [v the Netherlands], absolutely immense. But we didn't have the team we expected to have when we went to Japan and Korea, it was terrible to see Roy Keane not there.
It did cause some real arguments in the studio. I felt that Mick McCarthy was in the right, Eamon felt that Roy Keane was in the right. It made for fireworks.
Eamon wouldn't speak to us, he wouldn't speak to John or I because we took Mick McCarthy's side. It really was a nasty atmosphere in the studio and Bill had to control it all. It wasn't an easy job.
Once the Champions League started the next season and the World Cup was forgotten about, we buried the hatchet.
Liam Brady was the last man standing from RTÉ's famed football panel, and his departure firmly marks the end of an era for Irish football TV.
SEE ALSO: Stephen Kenny Had Tense Exchange With Journalist In Press Conference
