Nothing personal but Dunphy and friends need to be put out to grass

RTÉ may consider it sacrilegious. It is the campaign, which starts here, for RTÉ to call full-time on the panel of Eamon Dunphy, Johnny Giles and Liam Brady.

Ireland drew with world champions Germany but this wasn’t enough for the lads. No – we should have out-passed Germany from the first minute. This, with a team with great spirit and some skill but many of whom are not even regulars with their own clubs? Are all these managers wrong and Dunphy and the two lads right?

The truth is while Dunphy positions himself as the voice of the football-playing public this is simply not the case.

I’ve played Lenister Senior League football for 20 years and the reality is real football people — who Eamon speaks of all the time — have never taken him seriously. He is the half-time entertainment. No more. People would ask in dressing rooms before 3pm kick-off: “Did you hear Dunphy last night?” Not from a football point of view but reacting to his latest “shock jock” comments.

After the German game the three wise men scolded Ireland — and double European Cup winner O’Neill — for not being ambitious enough to play the first 70 mins like the last 20.

Anyone who plays the game knows if Ireland had tried to out-pass the Germans from the start they would have cut us to ribbons.

Games open up in the last 20 and this suited Hoolahan and Gibson (who is only just coming back from a long-term injury).

The problem is that the three lads are suffering from a common condition of the ageing footballer: “the older I get the better I was” synrome.

It is time to put them out to grass.

And Eamon don’t worry — it’s not personal – it’s just show biz baby.

Roughan Mac Namara

Rockford Park

Blackrock

Co Dublin