The saddest moment of yesterday evening was the realisation that we hadn't even the cathartic spectacle of Donal Óg Cusack's righteous anger to look forward to.
One would have thought that material offered by the weekend's action would have offered serious scope for outrage. But, for all that, yesterday was one of the more drab instalments of the Sunday Game.
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/265538173" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]
Headline friendly
Shag all. Tomás Ó Sé played a game of 'so-called weaker county' bingo as well as 'we need to look at the championship structure' bingo. Or the old reliables as they are known now. But the media binged on championship structure articles in 2015 and has no appetite for them now. So infested were the papers with alternative championship structure proposals that many people are unable to happen upon one now without screaming. There are no headline theories to be grabbed onto here.
Donal Óg's annual 'State of Cork Hurling' address has regrettably been discontinued this year, much to the relief of the longstanding county board and no one else.
Seanie McGrath, the knacky little forward who was the personification of the 1999 All-Ireland win, appeared to dispute that Cork played a sweeper, saying he thought it was more of an effort to double-mark Seamus Callanan. Aside from that, Des kept on drawing him out on the excellence of Tipperary.
It wasn't until the end of the slot that he was offered the chance to expound on the big picture failings. The takeaway verdict was that Kieran Kingston was working on a two or three year plan and the statement that Cork are simply not good enough at the moment.
Brendan Cummins - 3/10
Seanie McGrath - 3/10
Tomas Ó Sé - 3/10
Aaron Kernan - 2/10
Craic
The craic reading was not off the scale last night. The closest we got to was Des feeling the need to coddle Ryan O'Dwyer after his county man Cummins dismissed his scoring capabilities.
Other than that the hurling analysis was slavishly devoted to the nitty gritty, emphasising tactics not passion (a la Emmet Ryan).
In fact, Des carried much of the craic yesterday evening, making a virtue of his forgetting the last year Tyrone won the Ulster title by remarking '... as they bid for their first Ulster title since... brief pause... whatever they've won so many of them in recent years'.
That's a pro. Very adroitly done Des.
Brendan Cummins - 4/10
Seanie McGrath - 3/10
Tomas Ó Sé - 3/10
Aaron Kernan - 2/10
Sartorial elegance
Time was when Michael Lyster and Enda Colleran used to both appear on the Sunday Game, wearing woolly pullovers. Nowadays, the show has become an advertising platform for high-end men's clothes shops.
Again, the show was stolen by a man who wasn't even on in the evening.
At the time of writing, Henry's latest tweet remains his shout-out to Pauls of Kilkenny for providing him with his glistening waistcoat.
Tipp excellent, Cork should stay with traditional game.Thanks @paulskilkenny for @RemusUomo suit on @TheSundayGame pic.twitter.com/qSbLOeM4ZV
— Henry Shefflin (@ShefflinHenry) May 22, 2016
Anthony 'Drowned Rat' Daly also pulled out all the stops with his clobber. RTE rewarded his sartorial efforts by plonking him on the sideline.
In truth, he was disastrously overdressed for the role of sideline reporter, a role that is often performed by a tracksuited Clare McNamara or Joanne Cantwell.
Brendan Cummins - 7/10
Seanie McGrath - 8/10
Tomás Ó Sé - 7/10
Aaron Kernan - 6/10
Rating
All in all, the lads were far too diligent and earnestly devoted to the nitty gritty. One half suspects that the Sunday Game backroom boys are listening to the self-serving guff from managers and the stiff moralising of the current GAA President.
We need an injection of Brolly soon.
We dub Seanie McGrath the winner this week on the waistcoat tie-break. We predict that Aaron Kernan - inexperienced at this level - will grow into the role soon.
Seanie McGrath - 14/30
Brendan Cummins - 14/30
Tomás Ó Sé - 13/30
Aaron Kernan - 10/30
Any other business
Naturally, some Rossies and Leitrim supporters were upset that their game wasn't granted blockbuster status. Not only was it not, but the programme didn't even grant them the presence of a commentator giving his reaction in real time. Rather, their match was highlighted in the manner of a past tense report on the Six One News. The practice continues to be unpopular.
Read more: This Man Wants To See Actual Arrests Made After Cork's Loss In Munster Yesterday
