With the bloating of the European Championships came its splintering across Irish broadcasters for the first time. What with the added games, along with the added expenses of the GAA Championships, the Olympics and the broadcast of the Nuacht during said GAA Championships, the state broadcaster sub-licensed 22 live games to TV3 to ease the financial burden.
It was a very interesting move, as TV3 have proved stiffer competition in the realm of sports rights than ever before, having bought the rights to the Rugby World Cup and the Six Nations, along with the Champions League.
With TV3's only remaining broadcast the simulcast of the final, we decided to pit the respective channels' coverage head to head and ask: RTE vs TV3 - who won Euro 2016?
Commentators
Heavy is the head that wears the crown, but it showed no signs of affecting George Hamilton. He had a great tournament, with the highlight being his commentary after the England/Iceland game, as he spoke of a kingdom shaken twice in a week, before delivering a brave but wonderful imitation of the 'Maggie Thatcher, your boys took one hell of a beating' line from the 1980s. The voice of Irish football had a number of other highlights, with his accentuating of the provenance of the national anthems from Italy/Germany archetypal Hamilton.
Also on RTE, uber-excitable Stephen Alkin delivered once again. His bizarre "Ronaldo: the arrogance of the man!" having hit the post with a penalty against Austria was indicative of a commentator living and working in the moment, which is preferable to those who clearly script their lines beforehand.
On TV3, Dave McIntyre continued proved why he's one of the best/hardest-worked in the business, while Trevor Welch really added colour to the Wales/Belgium quarter-final. Martin Tyler also randomly popped up.
RTE shade it however, as Hamilton remains peerless.
Winner: RTE
Co-commentators
The summarizer sensation of the tournament has been Keith Andrews. 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 against Poland a "honking finish" - he has been radically different to other co-commentators, who spend much of the game complaining about how soft the game is/what players could have done instead of what they actually did.
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
On RTE, the bromance between Jim Beglin and George Hamilton has continued to enthrall, and Beglin calling Radja Nainggolan 'ferret head' once again was magnificent. Brian Kerr was utterly brilliant but underused, while Ronnie Whelan going nuts on Robbie Brady's goal will echo through Reeling in the Years for the rest of our lives. Andrews takes the crown for TV3, however.
Winner: TV3
Pundits
The big one. RTE went with the tried and trusted, meaning we saw a lot of the familiar faces of John Giles, Liam Brady, Eamon Dunphy, Richie Sadlier and Didi Hamann. The most notable additions to the live coverage were Damien Duff and Stephen Hunt who were fine additions to an otherwise staid panel.
Bar Hamann's entertaining demolition of the Premier League after England/Iceland, RTE's panel were distinctly unimpressive. Dunphy, a pundit born to react to English embarrassment, used the Iceland game to cast a pessimistic prophecy on the future of football. It is arguable that the panel misread the mood of the nation after the French defeat - focussing on negatives, criticising O'Neill's dropping of John O'Shea - as they had after the 1-1 draw with Germany in qualifying.
In contrast, TV3's punditry was fresh. Graeme Souness seemed to relish the 'senior analyst' role, even trying his hand at doing voiceover work on promos. Joey Barton was excellent, with Uwe Rosler equally insightful, calling bullshit on Marc Wilmots subbing on Marouane Fellaini against Wales as it happened. That's all before we get to Neil Lennon dropping Thomas Hardy references like nobody's business.
Winner: TV3
Set
RTE made the most of the studio template they set during the 2012 Olympics, by panning the camera across a couple of different studios: the desk for the important business of analysis for the live broadcast along with the sofa for the more relaxed highlights show. Bisecting both in the foreground was an enormous version of the touchscreen fandago that Jamie Carragher playes with on Sky Sports.
TV3, meanwhile, used the same set as they had during the Rugby World Cup, with a desk capable of explaining Pythagoras' theorem along with a smaller table in front of a TV screen off to the left. The second screen was hardly used, however.
Winner: RTE
Presenters
This was Darragh Maloney's first major tournament as the RTE anchor, and, as expected, he excelled, chairing the usual panel debates with slickness and ease. Maloney captured the mood at half-time of the French game superbly well, although the panel debates missed the anarchy of the glory days of Bill O'Herlihy. Peter Collins, meanwhile, was grand.
TV3 were an injury to Tommy Martin away from disaster as he proved himself as the Irish football anchor best able to crack a joke. Martin rose to hosting fame on 3e's coverage of the Europa League from 2009, where he memorable raised a debate surrounding Liverpool left-back Emiliano Insua by saying 'the problem with Insua is he's got a fat arse'. Martin brings a nice mix of reliability with unpredictability; he is a bit like Colin Murray without the uncomfortable anxiety as to what the hell Murray is likely to say next.
Maloney shades it for Montrose, however.
Winner: RTE
Post-match entertainment
RTE had Apres Match.
TV3 did not.
Winner: RTE
Spin-off shows
RTE's spin-off show was the nightly highlights show, which took a more relaxed approach than RTE ever have before. Aidan Power and Jacqui Hurley were fine hosts, with the show recovering well from an early tournament fartgate. The guests were different and relatively interesting - Clinton Morrison is barmy - although there were some needless additions, most notably that Pierre le Pup thing.
TV3's spin-off was the half-hour Extra-Time hosted by Joe Molloy and Kirsteen O'Sullivan on a Thursday. A lack of air time means it can't compete with RTE.
Winner: RTE
Montages
TV3 had a decent montage with a Welsh choir prior to the quarter-final against Belgium, but this is RTE's crown. The broadcaster put a lot of work into the pre-Irish montages, and they showed: they had most of the country running through walls, particularly prior to the French game.
Winners: RTE
Pointless films
RTE seemed besotted by producing short films of Daire O'Brien quoting Irish writers and native food in various parts in France, clips with almost no relevance to football.
TV3 did not do these. TV3 win.
Winner: TV3
Game selection
RTE held the rights to the Irish games, meaning that the realm of games selection was bound to be a bit capricious. TV3 targeted the England games showing two of the group games, but missed out on the best of them: the Iceland defeat. TV3 did, however, get the best the Northern Ireland game - the 2-0 win over Ukraine, featuring that weird stoppage for hailstones - and the best Welsh game: the Belgium quarter-final. They were badly let down by Spain's no-show against Italy in the last-16.
RTE lucked out here though, along with the Irish games they had the best group game (Czech Republic-Croatia) and the best last-16 tie (England-Iceland) and also landed the heavyweight clash between Italy-Germany.
Winner: RTE
Heroic endeavour
TV3 broadcast the Belgium/Sweden game at the same time as Ireland/Italy. They win here for being just about the only people in the country who didn't get to see Robbie Brady stick the ball in the Italian net.
Winner: TV3
Final result: RTE 7 - 4 TV3
In the end RTE nicked it, but TV3 proved more than adequate competition, particularly in the more important realms of commentators and pundits. TV3 have the core elements right, and RTE are another Pierre le Pup away from the crown slipping.
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