For Brian Carthy, the truest gael, there must have been no greater indignity than being cast out to Páirc Uí Chaoimh to commentate on Cork-Waterford this weekend. If it wasn't clear last season, it's obvious now that RTE are happy to thrust into Carthy into utter obscurity and hopes he just goes away. You have to sympathise with Carthy, who's given his life to covering the game, especially when those people who fill his shoes - step forward Mssrs Morrissey and Canning - couldn't even light Howard Cossel's cigar. Injustice is injustice, but does anyone actually pine for Carthy's obscure knowledge of GAA family trees and pedestrian ('over the bar', 'over the bar', 'over the bar' commentating style? I sure don't. The truth is that Carthy is a bad radio play-by-play guy. This is not a secret. He has the voice of a bureaucrat you'd encounter in purgatory. Contacts within the game and knowledge of 1923 Roscommon club hurling championship are no good to you when you're trying to describe a game in motion.
That said, it would be a shame if Carthy is losing out because he sounds 'old fashioned'. I still have that creepy futuristic RTE ad in my head - the one with Des and Darragh Maloney on some Voltron kick. You'd wish they'd send Marty Morrissey back to the sidelines and Canning to Shanghai. The GAA, meanwhile, should invent some sort of 'professor emiritus' title for Carthy and rid us of this needless headache.
