RTÉ panel enrage fans with negativity after Germany draw

Scoring an injury-time goal to get

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Whole country in ecstasy and RTE cuts back to that joyless, monotoned panel. They felt even more redundant than usual #coybig

— desod (@desodr1) October 15, 2014

Eamon Dunphy started the complaints at half-time when the match was still scoreless.

“It’s Trapattoni with a Derry accent, that’s all it is, said Dunphy. "It’s exactly the same as the Trapattoni era, you go away and no-one has any belief, any conviction.”

When Toni Kroos scored for the hosts in the 71st minute many might have conceded that the pundit had a point. But the Ireland team refused to lie down and instead put in a strong final 20 minutes and were rewarded with a John O’Shea equaliser at the death.

O’Shea’s goal and a very valuable away point weren’t enough to change the views of the panel though, who continued to complain about almost every aspect of the game.

Liam Brady admired the team spirit, but not their play.

“Spirited Irish yes, hard-working yes, cohesion no,” was Brady’s reaction. “We didn’t play well until the last ten minutes.”

Johnny Giles was less negative than his colleagues, but still felt that the attitude going into the game was wrong, saying, “A draw is a great result, but there’s no reason why you can’t also win.”

Dunphy, meanwhile, continued his criticism from half-time.

“What makes you despair is the attitude for the first hour and a bit. We need to look at our strengths and not be overawed.”

He continued “If we go back to where we were at 7.45 tonight in Martin O’Neill’s head we’re not going to qualify. No if, buts or maybes, if we play players out of position it’s a joke. No other word for it, and it has to be called what it is. It’s wrong.”

The panel will say that it’s their job to be critical, but a lot of football fans were enraged by the tirade of negativity after such a brilliant result.

Why is everyone getting worked up about Dunphy? He achieved his goal of making Dunphy headlines. He is a self publicist par-excellaince

— Kildare Gunner (@KildareGunner) October 15, 2014

The @RTEsport footie analysis has become more about panto, personality and self publicity. More interested in shifting choc bars #dunphy

— Graham Nolan (@grahamdotnolan) October 15, 2014

Maybe they next time they could let us enjoy it for just a while.