NEWSTALK HAVE TODAY parted company with the team behind the award-winning Off The Ball programme.
Presenter Eoin McDevitt, Ken Early, Ciaran Murphy, Simon Hick and Mark Horgan have resigned according to the station.
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A statement issued to TheScore.ie reads: ”Ger Gilroy, Newstalk Sports Editor, who devised Off the Ball in 2002, will be joined by mainstays of the Newstalk sports team – Cian Murtagh, David McIntyre and Joe Molloy – in taking over the running of the show, starting tonight.
“Newstalk would like to thank Eoin, Simon, Ken, Ciaran and Mark for their contributions to the station and wish them luck in their future endeavours.”
Station insiders claim the team disagreed with bosses about the future direction of the show, suggesting the OTB team were keen to move to an earlier slot.
When Marconi House bosses decided a switch in the scheduling wasn’t feasible and other slots and ‘financial incentives’ were offered, the situation came to a head, they say.
The team will make a statement soon.
George Hook, speaking on air this evening, said he was sorry to see his colleagues go but insisted they were off to look for ‘fame and fortune elsewhere’. One RTÉ spokesperson told TheScore.ie that they do not speculate on programming.
The incredibly-popular nightly sports show has been running for over a decade.
Wow. For sports coverage it is the best thing going by a million miles. Maybe it was a dispute over money; certainly they should have been getting well paid for the quality show they provided.
The independent report that the lads demanded an hour of George hooks show which was denied because it didn’t make sense commercially or in relation to viewing figures.
The lads also apparently turned down the opportunity of a Saturday morning slot too.
who will toto schillaci listen to now? what about vincent browne and on the ball?
what about the modern day football managers and their mobile phones?
oh well joe duffy, looks like they will actually go home.
I am guessing they have gone to RTE for more money. When lads get responsibilities an cant hang around with their mates as much Off The Ball filled a huge gap. It was like listening in on a conversation of your mates. You almost felt part of the banter. I hope they are back at a similar time slot ASAP
Someone in Newstalk gonna be real sorry about letting these guys go. The best of the best in sports journalism. I for one will miss the shit out of them. A class act. Gilroy not fit to take the reins. I won’t be tuning in to hear him anyway. Serious mistake by Newstalk. Good luck lads. Thanks for the excellent show over the years.
I like Ger Gilroy, but the banter between the main trio is top notch. Will find it extremely difficult to listen to now without Eoin and Ken. Even Murph was coming into more in recent weeks. Devastated.
RTE recently announced a sports show in the exact same slot…. It was laughable to compete with these guys… but maybe it was more strategic than it appeared. They’ve surely made them an offer they cant refuse.
Devastated! Always dreaded the day they quit, could only go on for so long I suppose. Best thing on radio/Telly/web by a mile.
Presume they all got poached and handed in their notice today, then were put on gardening leave for a month or two before reappearing somewhere soon to carry on the great work.
Whatever Newstalk are up to, they’d want to cop on, they have lost Eamon Keane, a great anchor of the lunchtime slot, Dunphy and now the people behind possibly the best radio program in the land! And all of them seemed to have just walked out!
Will that daft plonk, made for 12 yo girls and over-exciteable 70′s type Tony Felloni or whatever his name on RTE2 – errrr that is if he is still on. I havent checked in a while.
That’s the end of newstalk for me so. What with yer man Chris in the mornings who’s brutal and Norah Casey reminding everyone she has a son every 2 minutes now this is the final straw… Bad times
Casey’s poor son must be mortified by his Ma going on about him every two minutes. She’s dire but she’s off the telly so she’ll do as the token woman. Losing off the ball is just a crazy, moronic decision. Hopefully they’ll be back somewhere soon.
Best show on radio by a mile; intelligent, witty and always entertaining irrespective of what sport they discuss. Very sad to hear this but I’m sure they’ll be occupying the “never go home” slot somewhere else very soon.
Can’t believe ger gilroy is going to present it and not back his fellow sports journalists up. Come on ger solidarity please! Off the ball without eoin, murph, and even know it all ken will never be half as good.
You’re right, but still good to see that most of the lads of negotiated as a group. Collective action like this is rare these days. Workers are always more powerful acting together. Good luck to them.
I have long dreamt of RTE dumping the old farts and getting the OTB lads in to do the Champions League matches.
But they are probably just too entertaining for RTE.
Genuinely shocked…I’m living out of the country now and Off the Ball was one of the few ties I just couldn’t cut. Listen to it whenever possible. Better make that past tense now. Thank god for podcasts.
I’m not a huge sports fan, but the off the ball team were so entertaining it was always great to listen to. Hopefully they go to a national broadcaster and not somewhere they’ll never be heard off again.
On many occasions i found myself turning it on for 5 mins and realising an hour later I was still listening to it! Very disappointed by this news. They had a very off beat approach to reporting but with a surprising professionalism also mixed in. Hope that show pops up in a new guise again
Major bad news if this is true. Best show sports or otherwise on the airwaves. In utter shock OTB could be coming to an end. A generation holds its breath…
I have no connection to Ireland at all except this show, which I discovered in 2008. It wipes the floor with anything over here in the UK and with a much smaller budget than Five Live. If Ken no longer has an outlet for his playful, insightful, sardonic take on the world of football then the world of sports broadcasting is a much poorer place.
Only last week, his conversation with Eoin in which they discussed the possibility of Ronaldo (and not Messi) turning out to be the “hero after all” had me in stitches.
The show will be greatly missed and I can only assume and hope the lads have something planned for the near future.
Moncrief and Off The Ball are the only two shows on Newstalk worth listening to. Tom Dunne was great on TodayFM when he’d fill in for Ray Darcy but his show on Newstalk is shite. If OTB start up somewhere else, that’s what I’ll be tuning in to after 7pm.
Losing Moncrieff would be a real killer blow. That and OTB are/were brilliant. I don’t know how Ger Gilroy & Co. will cope in regard to maintaining listenership/advertisers.
Tom Dunne? He loves himself, talking about himself and talking about Something Happens.
If theres one thing guarenteed to put you in a bad mood for the day its Newstalk in the morning, Ian Dempsey all the way for me. I havent listened to Hook in months due to perpetuating with that psycho Michael Graham. The only thing I actually listened to was Off The Ball. So no more newstalk for me.
Hopefully RTE snap them up, ditch their own Game On show and give these lads the 6pm to 8pm slot. Will mean they will need to do something with their drive time show.
Either way, wherever they end up becomes my default radio station from now on.
Ken Early will be missed most of all in my honest opinion, he is a broadcasting legend, hope his talents go on to bigger and better things. What a shame.
Damn it !!! Now I have to go to bed at 7pm. OTB kept radio alive post 7pm each evening. Gerard Gilroy will have a hell of a task to fill the lad’s slot. Best of luck to them. BTW hands off Sean Moncrief ! He is top end.
I for one am glad they are gone. This show had become a vehicle for their big egos. the show had become stall and had to many gimics. Other stations would give you the sports news in half the time and had better interviews and content.
The big egos were a selling point of OTB in my opinion.
It’s ok to have a big ego if you can keep the show entertaining… I’m not that big into sport at all but they even managed to keep me interested.
Great show – will be missed!
The best on radio? thats a bit of a stretch. I was listening to the show recently and it was taking about 20 mins on average to give the sports headlines, with the presenters butting in with jokes and stupid comments. And then what about all the other gimics? richard saddlers dog etc…there is a place for comedy and quick witted remarks, but the constant trying to get one up on each other was starting to annoy!! the general content of the show was OK. just ok. but saying they where the best guys on radio is a bit narrow minded.
ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND OF LSD??!! Delighted, absolute muck of a show, talk about loving the sound of their own voices!! What will they and their Leinster jerseys do now?
Don’t even tempt fate by mentioning Sean Moncrieff leaving – I switch between all the morning & drive time shows but tuning away from Sean is sacrilege in my house. He is hands down the most versatile presenter on radio.
He’s an unfunny, smug git who spends half his time talking to “the Caroline Clarke” who we can’t hear, or laughing breathlessly with “netty” at in-jokes.
Here’s a drinking game; knock back a shot every time he says “eh”. You’ll be dead from cirrhosis in no time. Also, his staff know nothing about the things they are on the radio to talk about
It’s astonishing the RTE have someone even worse on at that time
Sad to see Ken Early go, the rest though meh. Culchies may not realise but back in 2003 was Newstalk was Dublin only, Gilroy was the presenter and it was winning awards back then. Mcdevitt came in on the back of Gilroy moving to the breakfast show. Nothing McDevitt did was unique or original. Gilroy has a better all round sporting knowledge and his interaction with Ken on the football show was top class.
OTB was sliding fast in recent times – it had become ridiculously preachy (much like most of the rest of the Newstalk schedule) and all about the presenter’s opinions. It was time for it to change.
So either the boys rediscover their mojo in pastures new, get back to reporting and facilitating instead of it being all about them or we lose something that was getting worse rapidly.
I think they’ve either been head hunted by RTE – maybe to take over the new 2FM slot. Which would be great if they got to anchor more live sport.
Or they are heading for the telly. A 2 hour slot before Vincent Browne perhaps?
Ger Gilroy is not the answer but I am defo tuning in at 7 tonight to hear what might be said!
Remember when they dumped David Williams back in the day ? This station seems to have a talent for shooting itself in the head. I liked to listen in even to discussions on sports I didn’t really like such was the talent of these guys. No reason to move the dial of Radio Nova now ( rock on Tommy )
Same company, but today fm has a lot more money to play with than newstalk because it actually makes a profit. So might be a chance of it yet, hopefully.
It’d be highly unusual for the show to move within the Communicorp group, lots of shared resources in Marconi House and there’s no way Today FM would want to do sport in the evening, it’s not what the station’s about. Anyway, if the lads want to start at 6 Today FM are as likely to want Cooper ’til 7 as Newstalk are with Hook
Is every news media absolutely terrified of ( dare i write the initials) DOB…jebus…i know there’s a reputation there for having a hair trigger on the direct line to the lawyers to sue anyone for the least bit of criticism but what could the off the ball chaps have done to bring then guillotine??
If RTE haven’t snapped them up they must be rubbing their hands with glee at the timing of their venture into a sports show.
When RTE announced they were going to start a sports show as a rival to OTB the overwhelming opinion on here was that they didn’t have a chance, I agreed totally and this would have been the case. Now that the OTB team are gone they will get a lot more listeners on RTE, still not huge numbers as a lot will still listen to OTB but definitely more than if the OTB team hadn’t left.
I seriously doubt RTE have snapped them up as they are cost cutting everywhere so simply couldn’t afford them. I also doubt Newstalk just let them go so I think we will be hearing them on a different radio station soon or seeing them on TV, maybe Setanta!!
Best show on radio. They’ve been going for a long time with the same crew and it was only getting better. Hope the lads are well remunerated somewhere else.
My boss told us today he was banning radios in work and i was fuming that i was going to miss the lads talking shite everynight. The are the only thing that stopped me jacking the job more times. Suppose i might as well stay in the dive now. Might as well listen to my earplugs.
Pity.
Own goal for NewsTalk to let this talented team depart. If RTE wanted instant promotion to the premier leave they would dispense with their own long-servers and give these guys their own show.
To be fair to Newstalk, it would have been nonsense to concede to their demand to move the show to 6pm (given half the nation tune into the news on RTE etc and most evening sport events don’t commence til c8pm); anyhow the format was fine as is.
I’ll hazard a guess that they’re on their way to Setanta to do TV.
Well it’s mad putting on a sports show at 6pm and trying to shove into George Hooks time. Terrible to see them go but what the hell were they thinking?
They must have rattled someone’s cage upstairs< i often wonder what happened to Eamonn Keane i thought his show as brilliant.
I don't listen to Newstals anymore it stinks.
Hope it’s not a sellout to RTE, they took Clare Byrne, the business reporter Conor – can they not develop their own talent? And Joanne Cantwell from TV3 and John Kelly from Today FM.
Erm, the presenters CHOOSE to go to RTÉ and that’s usually a good career move. What’s wrong with a sellout if they got to RTÉ, have better funding and improve the show? Surely that’s a good thing or are you so fickle that you judge a show’s quality by the channel it’s broadcast on? All of those mentioned are at the top of their game and are right to take the best offer they get.
Wouldn’t you move to a different company within your industry if it meant better pay and conditions and had a benefit on the quality of your work?
Competition breeds better quality program’s. If state broadcaster buys up all the talent then industry veers towards monopoly. It’s why football teams compete in leagues.
As long as the sports team in today don’t get moved downstairs to the sister station I don’t care, OTB was okay at best I’ve found myself switching to talksport in recent months, and there commentary on the Sunday premiership matches is worful compared to the show today fm does on the Saturday
Agreed its trashy but it’s an allday station about sport do better than Sean moncreff or or derek mooney , plus it’s match commentators are much better than the news talk guys
The best on radio? thats a bit of a stretch. I was listening to the show recently and it was taking about 20 mins on average to give the sports headlines, with the presenters butting in with jokes and stupid comments. And then what about all the other gimics? richard saddlers dog etc…there is a place for comedy and quick witted remarks, but the constant trying to get one up on each other was starting to annoy!! the general content of the show was OK. just ok. but saying they where the best guys on radio is a bit narrow minded.
They’ve been sliding for some time. I thought it was editorial policy at first, since the Breakfast Show is now unlistenable because if you don’t share the presenter’s world view, you can’t stomach more than 5 minutes of them preaching.
Interesting about Ger Gilroy. He left OTB (our younger posters might not remember that) when it came out first, was very good and then left to front up the breakfast show. Only to be sacked off that after an embarrassingly short time. Yet here he is sticking with the company while his proteges head for more feathery nests.
I’m genuinely shocked at this, I did wonder on my way into work tonight where Ken Earley was, but either way it has been the best Irish sports show on radio ever, and I can’t believe that the lads and in particular Ken are gone.
Great show, big loss… Newstalks CEO left a while ago , now these lads… Ivan Yates and Eamonn keane were great… Hook is a grumpy old man and Norah Casey is full off herself
Excellent show, but it was not only due to the presenters. The contributors are top notch as well.
Ken Early has to be the worst commentator around. Why he was put on the Sunday games is beyond me. Murph had his moments but was getting irritating as time went on. All in all a great show, but I think it was past its peak. A fresh look with Gilroy, Murtagh etc might be whats needed. However, I think the new line up is missing a strong personality.
Im sure we’ll see the old off the ball team very soon. RTE is almost a cert, its not like they have many other options really. Very few duos/trios etc that were successful in ‘smaller’ stations have managed to replicate that success after a big move.
Doubted… RTE have bedded down their line up in recent months… Damien O’Reilly is their man.. I would think they’re doing ‘hand stands’ at today’s news.
What a mistake by newstalk letting these guys walk, now there is absolutely no reason at all to listen to Newtalk. All that remains is own brand of right wing commentry and an arse hole’s opinion on everything.
Great show but let’s be real for a minute nobody has died. The show will go on and the only way to know if it’s any good without them will be to listen to it.
Oh and Early jesus he was one biased annoying broadcaster and painful to listen to on a sunday afternoon
The second best reason to leave the telly off of an evening. I’ve listened that show for years, even though, as a rugby fan I felt it was top heavy with soccer analysis. SOme chance Vile Nugent and the rest will upset the Rte apple cart and take on some real talent.
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This is what it must have felt like to have been a teenage girl in 1996 when Take That broke up.
I expect to see this in the ‘comments of the week’ !
last time i felt this emotional was when zig and zag fecked off to channel 4 :(
Wow. For sports coverage it is the best thing going by a million miles. Maybe it was a dispute over money; certainly they should have been getting well paid for the quality show they provided.
great show, I’ll miss it for definite. a bit depressing really. I hope to hear them elsewhere soon.
Shocked….best show on the radio by a country mile…..
Gone form their website already http://www.newstalk.ie/offtheball
I wonder if Moncrieff would consider leaving!! I hope not unless it’s too another station straight away
Great show. Thanks for cumming
Surely they should be paid a pittance in your socialist paradise Petr?
Lol.
Silence in the house this evening, this is like a death on the family
Up yours, Belly Up.
Five people all resigned at once? Some difficulty with management?
It’s my (off the) ball and if I can’t be captain I’m going home.!!!
Surely SOMEONE knows what’s going on??? Somebody, anybody?!?!
Is there any real journalism anymore? Is there someone banging on Newstalk’s door demanding an answer?
I want to know what frequency to tune into for the lads’ new show, wherever it may be…
Probably over money.
It’s always money and greed. It come from the top in this country.
If Shane Coleman ever gets that PR job in FG the station might start reporting real news instead of spin
Darren, maybe they wanted to be second captains instead!
The independent report that the lads demanded an hour of George hooks show which was denied because it didn’t make sense commercially or in relation to viewing figures.
The lads also apparently turned down the opportunity of a Saturday morning slot too.
Obviously listener figures
Yea, he’s been off ball for years now, but the best is yet to come…
Love their show, very sad to see them go. No doubt they will be snapped up by someone soon
This is a sad day for sports journalism. I am genuinely shocked.
true, they seemed to be on their own reporting on the Lance Armstrong stories for the past year at least
who will toto schillaci listen to now? what about vincent browne and on the ball?
what about the modern day football managers and their mobile phones?
oh well joe duffy, looks like they will actually go home.
I am guessing they have gone to RTE for more money. When lads get responsibilities an cant hang around with their mates as much Off The Ball filled a huge gap. It was like listening in on a conversation of your mates. You almost felt part of the banter. I hope they are back at a similar time slot ASAP
Someone in Newstalk gonna be real sorry about letting these guys go. The best of the best in sports journalism. I for one will miss the shit out of them. A class act. Gilroy not fit to take the reins. I won’t be tuning in to hear him anyway. Serious mistake by Newstalk. Good luck lads. Thanks for the excellent show over the years.
I like Ger Gilroy, but the banter between the main trio is top notch. Will find it extremely difficult to listen to now without Eoin and Ken. Even Murph was coming into more in recent weeks. Devastated.
Is it just me or does it seem like something dodgy has gone on behind the scenes? Unless they’ve been snapped up by another station.
RTE recently announced a sports show in the exact same slot…. It was laughable to compete with these guys… but maybe it was more strategic than it appeared. They’ve surely made them an offer they cant refuse.
Devastated! Always dreaded the day they quit, could only go on for so long I suppose. Best thing on radio/Telly/web by a mile.
Presume they all got poached and handed in their notice today, then were put on gardening leave for a month or two before reappearing somewhere soon to carry on the great work.
I may aswell throw my radio in the bin now.
Why is that? Can you not receive RTE on it??!
Jesus lads the gift grub sketch was only having a laugh!…
In all seriousness really going to be missed.
Whatever Newstalk are up to, they’d want to cop on, they have lost Eamon Keane, a great anchor of the lunchtime slot, Dunphy and now the people behind possibly the best radio program in the land! And all of them seemed to have just walked out!
If they lost Moncrieff now, it’d be game over, no more reason to listen!
True!
Will that daft plonk, made for 12 yo girls and over-exciteable 70′s type Tony Felloni or whatever his name on RTE2 – errrr that is if he is still on. I havent checked in a while.
2fm is effectively dead air
Eamon Keane what the hell happened to him? You’re right there his lunchtime show was great.
That’s the end of newstalk for me so. What with yer man Chris in the mornings who’s brutal and Norah Casey reminding everyone she has a son every 2 minutes now this is the final straw… Bad times
All she talks about is her son and famous people that she’s met, she’s brutal
And the plight of women. And how silly men are lol!!
Casey’s poor son must be mortified by his Ma going on about him every two minutes. She’s dire but she’s off the telly so she’ll do as the token woman. Losing off the ball is just a crazy, moronic decision. Hopefully they’ll be back somewhere soon.
I don’t think Norah is so bad. Bobby Kerr is woeful, the most dreary voice on radio. I switched off Sunday after the second Insomnia plug.
Best show on radio by a mile; intelligent, witty and always entertaining irrespective of what sport they discuss. Very sad to hear this but I’m sure they’ll be occupying the “never go home” slot somewhere else very soon.
Have they been poached by rte???
hope so. hope they go back on radio soon.
Can’t believe ger gilroy is going to present it and not back his fellow sports journalists up. Come on ger solidarity please! Off the ball without eoin, murph, and even know it all ken will never be half as good.
Mad timing alright!
RTE start up their yoke and these lads leave!
You’re right, but still good to see that most of the lads of negotiated as a group. Collective action like this is rare these days. Workers are always more powerful acting together. Good luck to them.
I have long dreamt of RTE dumping the old farts and getting the OTB lads in to do the Champions League matches.
But they are probably just too entertaining for RTE.
Easily the best programme on the radio. Will be sorely missed until their almost certain return elsewhere.
Disgusted!! Hope they show up on another station soon
I used to plan journeys around this show. Best thing on radio.
Can’t believe this! Don’t know what i’m going to listen to now when I’m working nights.
Genuinely shocked…I’m living out of the country now and Off the Ball was one of the few ties I just couldn’t cut. Listen to it whenever possible. Better make that past tense now. Thank god for podcasts.
Same as man,.. I’ve listened to the podcasts all over the world on my travels. Going to miss the banter!
Pathetically, I’m devastated.
I am genuinely going to need a support group to get over this
Please God will somebody think of US Murph, who’s going to break the tragic news to him when he wakes!
Going to miss it and its podcasts….. Balls!
I’m not a huge sports fan, but the off the ball team were so entertaining it was always great to listen to. Hopefully they go to a national broadcaster and not somewhere they’ll never be heard off again.
Talking history strangely soothing !
Ger Gilroy every night???? NO THANK YOU
The scene:
Denis O’Brien walks into Newstalk office.
“There’s a vacancy on Off The Ball. Who’d like to do it?”
Up jumps George Hook: “I will.”
This is like Saipan all over again, disastrous news.
Maybe Bertie can come back and intervene and save the day.
Someone get Tommy Gorman ready for an interview.
What planet is john Burke on.Its the only show in town for sports .Great show.Very sad.
That is gutting news. Wont be the same show at all. Was the best thing on radio by a long way
thats just a shame…. Had to be the best sports program on the radio… Poor on Newstalk’s behalf.
On many occasions i found myself turning it on for 5 mins and realising an hour later I was still listening to it! Very disappointed by this news. They had a very off beat approach to reporting but with a surprising professionalism also mixed in. Hope that show pops up in a new guise again
Quality programme altogether they’ll surely be snapped up in no time to continue
Major bad news if this is true. Best show sports or otherwise on the airwaves. In utter shock OTB could be coming to an end. A generation holds its breath…
I have no connection to Ireland at all except this show, which I discovered in 2008. It wipes the floor with anything over here in the UK and with a much smaller budget than Five Live. If Ken no longer has an outlet for his playful, insightful, sardonic take on the world of football then the world of sports broadcasting is a much poorer place.
Only last week, his conversation with Eoin in which they discussed the possibility of Ronaldo (and not Messi) turning out to be the “hero after all” had me in stitches.
The show will be greatly missed and I can only assume and hope the lads have something planned for the near future.
Newstalk sinking rapidly and I’m delighted. DOB propaganda machine.
Thanks for the memories.
off the ball gone but Norah Casey remains , a bad day for newstalk
Does anyone even listen to newstalk anymore? It’s sinking fast.
It has gone very trashy in general, but OTB was still outstanding.
tom dunne is savage, and moncrief too. great shows.
Don’t think I’d miss Tom Dunne…. Borefest
Moncrieff & OTB class, the rest meh.
Breakfast show is a disaster since the bookie left!
The Breakfast Show, now with Norah Casey, has gone down hill a lot. Hook goes off on his mad rants in the afternoons. They are struggling.
Moncrief and Off The Ball are the only two shows on Newstalk worth listening to. Tom Dunne was great on TodayFM when he’d fill in for Ray Darcy but his show on Newstalk is shite. If OTB start up somewhere else, that’s what I’ll be tuning in to after 7pm.
Losing Moncrieff would be a real killer blow. That and OTB are/were brilliant. I don’t know how Ger Gilroy & Co. will cope in regard to maintaining listenership/advertisers.
Tom Dunne? He loves himself, talking about himself and talking about Something Happens.
If theres one thing guarenteed to put you in a bad mood for the day its Newstalk in the morning, Ian Dempsey all the way for me. I havent listened to Hook in months due to perpetuating with that psycho Michael Graham. The only thing I actually listened to was Off The Ball. So no more newstalk for me.
Please tell me this is not hillarious! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6vMgU23qFA
Dr. Bill was fairly funny about 8 years ago.
The breakfast show is turned into an episode of loose women.
A menopausal auld one and a politics geek.
Dave Grant, I cannot like your comment enough!
Gutted about that, one of the finest podcasts out there. That’s a real bolt from the blue, those guys are too good to be out of action for too long.
ffs … pay them what they want if yis have any sense … best sports show on radio by a mile … hopefully youll all come to your senses soon … madness ..
Hopefully RTE snap them up, ditch their own Game On show and give these lads the 6pm to 8pm slot. Will mean they will need to do something with their drive time show.
Either way, wherever they end up becomes my default radio station from now on.
WHAT……???? NOoooooo Typical Ireland, when something is going really well… DESTROY IT.
Best sports show on radio, with one exception, Dundalk FM match coverage live from Oriel Park !!
Lazy Bollox, can’t imagine Oriel park ever been sold out for a game, get off yer arse and go support yer team
Not me buddy I’ve got my season ticket, what about u ?
I don’t support them, and I wouldn’t be arsed bringing a radio to a live game
Feckin’ Greeks!
Ken Early will be missed most of all in my honest opinion, he is a broadcasting legend, hope his talents go on to bigger and better things. What a shame.
Damn it !!! Now I have to go to bed at 7pm. OTB kept radio alive post 7pm each evening. Gerard Gilroy will have a hell of a task to fill the lad’s slot. Best of luck to them. BTW hands off Sean Moncrief ! He is top end.
I for one am glad they are gone. This show had become a vehicle for their big egos. the show had become stall and had to many gimics. Other stations would give you the sports news in half the time and had better interviews and content.
Insightful stuff right there Andrew.
YOU ARE TALKING SHIT…. These guys are the best on radio
The big egos were a selling point of OTB in my opinion.
It’s ok to have a big ego if you can keep the show entertaining… I’m not that big into sport at all but they even managed to keep me interested.
Great show – will be missed!
The best on radio? thats a bit of a stretch. I was listening to the show recently and it was taking about 20 mins on average to give the sports headlines, with the presenters butting in with jokes and stupid comments. And then what about all the other gimics? richard saddlers dog etc…there is a place for comedy and quick witted remarks, but the constant trying to get one up on each other was starting to annoy!! the general content of the show was OK. just ok. but saying they where the best guys on radio is a bit narrow minded.
want some salt and vinegar for that massive chip on your shoulder?
ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND OF LSD??!! Delighted, absolute muck of a show, talk about loving the sound of their own voices!! What will they and their Leinster jerseys do now?
It’s called entertainment, were you a German prison guard in a previous life
Best sports show in Ireland by a mile. Hope their back on the air soon…..(!)
Don’t even tempt fate by mentioning Sean Moncrieff leaving – I switch between all the morning & drive time shows but tuning away from Sean is sacrilege in my house. He is hands down the most versatile presenter on radio.
He’s an unfunny, smug git who spends half his time talking to “the Caroline Clarke” who we can’t hear, or laughing breathlessly with “netty” at in-jokes.
Here’s a drinking game; knock back a shot every time he says “eh”. You’ll be dead from cirrhosis in no time. Also, his staff know nothing about the things they are on the radio to talk about
It’s astonishing the RTE have someone even worse on at that time
Each to their own :)
Just count the “eh”s for me tomorrow! You can make it my birthday present!!
I eh find them quite endearing actually eh…
Ah jaysus. Can this Monday get any worse?!
Sad to see Ken Early go, the rest though meh. Culchies may not realise but back in 2003 was Newstalk was Dublin only, Gilroy was the presenter and it was winning awards back then. Mcdevitt came in on the back of Gilroy moving to the breakfast show. Nothing McDevitt did was unique or original. Gilroy has a better all round sporting knowledge and his interaction with Ken on the football show was top class.
Hopefully there all gone to rte for the new sport show and for better money. They need to be on a national radio station
NOooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…..then they will turn into The Plank or Duffy…….noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Umm, Newstalk is national,, they were the only thing on it worth listening to. Can’t stand that slobbering Hook
Great news and a total win win.
OTB was sliding fast in recent times – it had become ridiculously preachy (much like most of the rest of the Newstalk schedule) and all about the presenter’s opinions. It was time for it to change.
So either the boys rediscover their mojo in pastures new, get back to reporting and facilitating instead of it being all about them or we lose something that was getting worse rapidly.
I think they’ve either been head hunted by RTE – maybe to take over the new 2FM slot. Which would be great if they got to anchor more live sport.
Or they are heading for the telly. A 2 hour slot before Vincent Browne perhaps?
Ger Gilroy is not the answer but I am defo tuning in at 7 tonight to hear what might be said!
TV’s a good guess.
Very hard to see a similar format working on TV. Closest they could get is a Skinner & Baddiel show.
This is worse than the Take That breakup.
I’d be fairly confident they’ve gone to another station. They won’t be off air for long.
Maybe TV3 are about to launch an “ON the Ball” sports show and needed some presenters
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Remember when they dumped David Williams back in the day ? This station seems to have a talent for shooting itself in the head. I liked to listen in even to discussions on sports I didn’t really like such was the talent of these guys. No reason to move the dial of Radio Nova now ( rock on Tommy )
That’s nuts, hope rte/today fm have them
Is Today not owned by DOB too?
Today FM and News talk are the same company so no hope there…. Maybe rte, but would Rule Nugent have that kind of forward thinking?? :-/
In my shock I forgot that, rte it is so, be a massive improvement on what they have at the moment
Same company, but today fm has a lot more money to play with than newstalk because it actually makes a profit. So might be a chance of it yet, hopefully.
It’d be highly unusual for the show to move within the Communicorp group, lots of shared resources in Marconi House and there’s no way Today FM would want to do sport in the evening, it’s not what the station’s about. Anyway, if the lads want to start at 6 Today FM are as likely to want Cooper ’til 7 as Newstalk are with Hook
Thou shalt not take the lord’s name in vain!
ARRRRG DAM IT Really loved their show. Gutted BOOO you Newstalk Management!
Is every news media absolutely terrified of ( dare i write the initials) DOB…jebus…i know there’s a reputation there for having a hair trigger on the direct line to the lawyers to sue anyone for the least bit of criticism but what could the off the ball chaps have done to bring then guillotine??
If RTE haven’t snapped them up they must be rubbing their hands with glee at the timing of their venture into a sports show.
When RTE announced they were going to start a sports show as a rival to OTB the overwhelming opinion on here was that they didn’t have a chance, I agreed totally and this would have been the case. Now that the OTB team are gone they will get a lot more listeners on RTE, still not huge numbers as a lot will still listen to OTB but definitely more than if the OTB team hadn’t left.
I seriously doubt RTE have snapped them up as they are cost cutting everywhere so simply couldn’t afford them. I also doubt Newstalk just let them go so I think we will be hearing them on a different radio station soon or seeing them on TV, maybe Setanta!!
Best show on radio. They’ve been going for a long time with the same crew and it was only getting better. Hope the lads are well remunerated somewhere else.
All about money
I like Newstalk, but I ABSOLUTELY HATE Off The Ball show!
My boss told us today he was banning radios in work and i was fuming that i was going to miss the lads talking shite everynight. The are the only thing that stopped me jacking the job more times. Suppose i might as well stay in the dive now. Might as well listen to my earplugs.
A real pity love these guys!!
That’s unreal. Jesus they will be hard to replace as they had great banter..wonder what happened
That’s a shock. I suppose u never know what’s around the corner.
Absolutely devastated!
Pity.
Own goal for NewsTalk to let this talented team depart. If RTE wanted instant promotion to the premier leave they would dispense with their own long-servers and give these guys their own show.
To be fair to Newstalk, it would have been nonsense to concede to their demand to move the show to 6pm (given half the nation tune into the news on RTE etc and most evening sport events don’t commence til c8pm); anyhow the format was fine as is.
I’ll hazard a guess that they’re on their way to Setanta to do TV.
I agree, crazy idea
I hope newstalk replace it with a proper news or current affairs show and not another boring 3 hours/night talking about soccer.
As a bit of variety from their other shows is it?
Only the last hour was about soccer! Obviously you never listened….
Something you can sit and do your knitting to perhaps
That’s hiilarious. Soccer is made up of nancy boys who throw themselves on the ground at any given opportunity. Crap sport.
G Hook just called it “Off the boil” – obviously what’s being said around the Newstalk offices all day..
Well it’s mad putting on a sports show at 6pm and trying to shove into George Hooks time. Terrible to see them go but what the hell were they thinking?
Will RTE give them the freedom to do their show? Maybe a move to a bigger market. ESPNRadio or 5Live ?
A great show, will really miss it
If they went to talksport they would raise the iq level by about 500%…
They must have rattled someone’s cage upstairs< i often wonder what happened to Eamonn Keane i thought his show as brilliant.
I don't listen to Newstals anymore it stinks.
Hope it’s not a sellout to RTE, they took Clare Byrne, the business reporter Conor – can they not develop their own talent? And Joanne Cantwell from TV3 and John Kelly from Today FM.
Erm, the presenters CHOOSE to go to RTÉ and that’s usually a good career move. What’s wrong with a sellout if they got to RTÉ, have better funding and improve the show? Surely that’s a good thing or are you so fickle that you judge a show’s quality by the channel it’s broadcast on? All of those mentioned are at the top of their game and are right to take the best offer they get.
Wouldn’t you move to a different company within your industry if it meant better pay and conditions and had a benefit on the quality of your work?
Competition breeds better quality program’s. If state broadcaster buys up all the talent then industry veers towards monopoly. It’s why football teams compete in leagues.
Might as well delete that frequency off my radio now, if that were possible
Very disappointed, a great show, their interviews were brilliant, I’d be hooked even if it was a sport I had no interest in.
The five of them made that show, great presenters. Im not a big fan of sport talk shows but would always tune in because they gave me a great laugh.
As long as the sports team in today don’t get moved downstairs to the sister station I don’t care, OTB was okay at best I’ve found myself switching to talksport in recent months, and there commentary on the Sunday premiership matches is worful compared to the show today fm does on the Saturday
Talks port is the news of the world of sports radio
Agreed its trashy but it’s an allday station about sport do better than Sean moncreff or or derek mooney , plus it’s match commentators are much better than the news talk guys
Stan ulrika Johnson collymore
The best on radio? thats a bit of a stretch. I was listening to the show recently and it was taking about 20 mins on average to give the sports headlines, with the presenters butting in with jokes and stupid comments. And then what about all the other gimics? richard saddlers dog etc…there is a place for comedy and quick witted remarks, but the constant trying to get one up on each other was starting to annoy!! the general content of the show was OK. just ok. but saying they where the best guys on radio is a bit narrow minded.
They’ve been sliding for some time. I thought it was editorial policy at first, since the Breakfast Show is now unlistenable because if you don’t share the presenter’s world view, you can’t stomach more than 5 minutes of them preaching.
Interesting about Ger Gilroy. He left OTB (our younger posters might not remember that) when it came out first, was very good and then left to front up the breakfast show. Only to be sacked off that after an embarrassingly short time. Yet here he is sticking with the company while his proteges head for more feathery nests.
How interesting.
WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT FRANK SADLIER???
Ah feck!
Balls
Great show, lads seem sound. A real shame they are leaving.
I think 168 comments and counting supporting the lads just shows how good the show was
Very sad about off the ball. There must be more to it or else this is crazy.
What the fudge !!
Superb show. A huge loss
Has to be RTE – these leads are to big for anywhere else in Ireland.
And if that’s the case Tony O’Donoghue will be on his bike. There could be a silver lining yet…
Great show a real sport fans show , damn it won’t be listening to newstalk anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m genuinely shocked at this, I did wonder on my way into work tonight where Ken Earley was, but either way it has been the best Irish sports show on radio ever, and I can’t believe that the lads and in particular Ken are gone.
Very sorry to see them go. A great show and will be missed.
Great show, big loss… Newstalks CEO left a while ago , now these lads… Ivan Yates and Eamonn keane were great… Hook is a grumpy old man and Norah Casey is full off herself
Moncreiff and Jonathan Healy are all that’s left
Lets hope the lads are back on somewhere soon. As for Gilroy, can’t stand……ah Jesus help!!
Excellent show, but it was not only due to the presenters. The contributors are top notch as well.
Ken Early has to be the worst commentator around. Why he was put on the Sunday games is beyond me. Murph had his moments but was getting irritating as time went on. All in all a great show, but I think it was past its peak. A fresh look with Gilroy, Murtagh etc might be whats needed. However, I think the new line up is missing a strong personality.
Im sure we’ll see the old off the ball team very soon. RTE is almost a cert, its not like they have many other options really. Very few duos/trios etc that were successful in ‘smaller’ stations have managed to replicate that success after a big move.
Doubted… RTE have bedded down their line up in recent months… Damien O’Reilly is their man.. I would think they’re doing ‘hand stands’ at today’s news.
What a mistake by newstalk letting these guys walk, now there is absolutely no reason at all to listen to Newtalk. All that remains is own brand of right wing commentry and an arse hole’s opinion on everything.
Over 65,000 views so far… Denis O’Brien is that a little bit of egg on your face.
Great show but let’s be real for a minute nobody has died. The show will go on and the only way to know if it’s any good without them will be to listen to it.
Oh and Early jesus he was one biased annoying broadcaster and painful to listen to on a sunday afternoon
If you don’t like sport it’s fare enough that you didn’t like off the ball. To say its rubbish because soccer is rubbish is a stupid argument.
The second best reason to leave the telly off of an evening. I’ve listened that show for years, even though, as a rugby fan I felt it was top heavy with soccer analysis. SOme chance Vile Nugent and the rest will upset the Rte apple cart and take on some real talent.