Ciaran Whelan Interview: Still the key man in the middle

You need a thick skin in this game. Analysing football, and playing it.

Last Sunday around Croke Park before any team took to the field, Ciaran Whelan could sense an edginess and anger in the air among the hordes of Tyrone supporters descending upon the place.

Among The Sunday Game production team, the 39-year-old is known as probably the most thorough and conscientious of their football analysts, on a par with the meticulousness of Donal Óg Cusack. They’ve seen him there on Sunday mornings at 8am to closely study three off-Broadway qualifiers so he could comment authoritatively on them, even though only a couple of minutes could be given to them later that night.