The controversy mongers were left off the evening show, leaving the more earnest young bucks to cast an eye over things at the weekend.
Craic reading
The craic-o-meter did not crash through the ceiling last night. Three of the more diligent, non-flashy pundits were in place following Spillane and O'Rourke's shift in the hot seat in the afternoon.
Of the trio of Tomás O'Sé, Dessie Dolan and Aaron Kernan, Tomás is the most inclined to go for his shots.
While more earnest viewers will have been pleased to see the new kids in situ, it meant there was slim pickings on the craic front.
Des tried a folksy reference to Tyrone giving Kerry a scare in last year's All-Ireland semi-final. Tomás's reply indicated that Tyrone's nougties hoodoo over Kerry occupied a bigger space in his mind.
It wasn't exhilarating stuff.
However, there was one incident which commands our attention.
While introducing next week's massively intriguing hurling qualifiers in Thurles, he reminded us that Waterford were playing Wexford in one of the quarter finals, before announcing that 'it's Galway versus Ger Loughnane...I mean... I mean Clare...'
Now we have no idea whether this was deliberate mischief-making by Des, inspired by Loughnane's enormously provocative remarks about the Galway hurlers, or whether it was a genuine slip of the tongue.
Considering that Ger hasn't managed Clare since the first year of the new millennium, we're inclined to rule out a slip of the tongue. Maybe, he was going to refer to Clare as Ger Loughnane's county - itself a trolling move - before ducking out of it.
We tend to believe that Des knew what he was doing. We commend him for this. Being an RTE presenter, Des gets the odd bit of flak like all the rest of them, but all of us who remember Sportscall on a Monday evening know that Cahill is one of the finest GAA presenters the national broadcaster has to offer.
Tomás O'Sé - 4/10
Dessie Dolan - 3/10
Aaron Kernan 2/10
Des Cahill - 12/10
Headline Friendly
Black card has to go... Refs are confused by it... etc, etc, etc. Very little to see here. Tomás, the closest the panel had to a growling alpha male, was forceful on the point that a Westmeath should get a red card regardless of the scoreline.
Tomás O'Sé - 5/10
Dessie Dolan - 3/10
Aaron Kernan - 3/10
Tactics truck
In contrast to the usual unrelenting negativity, the boys waxed lyrical about the darling of the purists, Galway, who've the Nestor Cup in their possession for the first time in eight years, an intolerably long period for a county like Galway.
Des noted that neutrals are particularly fond of Galway, which was the cue for Dessie to list off the Padraig Joyce's, the Michael Donnellon's, the Ja Fallon's...
Elsewhere, the most-talked about sweeper in the game, Kevin McLoughlin, was subject to more scrutiny. Still not suitable is the verdict.
Tomás O'Sé - 4/10
Dessie Dolan - 5/10
Aaron Kernan - 5/10
OVERALL
Tomás O'Sé - 13/30
Des Cahill - 12/10
Dessie Dolan - 11/.30
Aaron Kernan - 10/30
Des almost wins despite only being marked under the Craic category.
Any other business...
Owing to Longford's sinking stand, RTE decided to station their camera in said stand so as to could avoid the undignified spectacle of a deserted main stand on the national broadcaster. They instead showcased the nicely swelled crowd on the sun-baked terrace opposite.
However, this had a couple of effects. The stand in Longford, which stretches the length of the ground is nonetheless not the biggest in height - and it will be less so the more it sinks into the floor - and so the camera angle had a rather Highbury-ish feel. It was barely above ground level.
Also, the roaring of the smattering of Cork supporters who for some reason were congregated on that side of the pitch really echoed around the empty ground.
