RORY O’NEILL LIKES to get to Donnybrook at eight o’clock on a Sunday morning.
That’s over 12 hours from when the cameras will start to roll on ‘The Sunday Game’ highlights show but the programme producer opts to get a head start on the day and rolls into RTÉ studios early.
“I’d be in from 8 and get planning straight away. If there’s games from the night before that weren’t on TV, I like to go in and see what footage we have. I scan the papers and see is there anything of interest.
“The running order is usually done for the games but it can change depending on the story. For example when London beat Sligo last year, it got brought forward to lead off the programme and we’d a Skype interview with the manager and players.
“I’d try to watch the two live afternoon games then with the pundits, who usually come in around lunchtime. Sometimes they come in earlier to look at the analysis that has been clipped up from the night before.
“After the second live game, we’ve a quick meeting around six o’clock to see what the lads want to go through in the analysis. Then we’re sorting out production stuff and it’s a very busy day. By the time the show ends, it can be after 11 o’clock at night. It’s a long day but it’s very enjoyable.”
Tonight ‘The Sunday Game’ returns to our screens, 35 years after it initially aired and still going strong. It’s a mammoth operation these days. O’Neill started to think about the 2014 series once the championship draws were made last October. From early March, he’s been immersed in the planning.
“It’s a big show and it runs for 20 weeks. It’s a massive logistical operation. You’ve a crew on the road to every county before it starts getting shots of all the players at training sessions.
“It can be a monster of a show in ways but I love the job. Last year was my first year doing the night time production as a full series. I was the chief sub editor on The Sunday Game Live for eight years before that. I got a good grounding.”
For the new season, there’s been efforts to shake things up. A brand new graphics package, the introduction of walk on pen pictures featuring players and an overhaul of the opening animation. That’s the technical side and the analytical side hasn’t been ignored either.
“We want to lift the analysis up a notch. This was primarily led by Donal Óg Cusack but also by other guys like Eddie Brennan and Ciaran Whelan. They’re all really growing into the analytical side of things. It wasn’t that I thought the analysis was bad before but judging social media, which I think is an important feedback for the programme, people want more of it.”
For 2014, there’s going to be an emphasis on advancing the statistical approach.
“There’s a big distinction to be drawn between the people that watch the live show and the highlights,” says O’Neill. “We’ve got the more hardcore GAA supporter for the night whereas the live programme has the more floating audience, people who might sit down to watch the game because their county is involved. We’ve more time to reflect at night. For the live show, you deal in the immediacy.
“By the time you move to the highlights programme, you’ve to look at a broader view of the game. That’s an area we’re going to push this year. We’ve someone coming in who’s assigned specifically for stats.
“We’ll be able to say to our panellists beforehand, is there something specific they want logged that we can then have a detailed breakdown of stuff like individual possession stats and restarts.
“You can bombard people with stats and annoy them so we have to bear in mind that there’s a decent portion of your viewers that aren’t anoraks and they just want decent highlights and analysis.”
Providing that analysis is an array of celebrated former inter-county stars. Brendan Cummins and Tomás Ó Sé are the latest who will slip into the pundits chair this year after summers spent shining on the pitch.
“The rota of analysts is more or less done until end of provincial finals. You’ve to be fair to the analysts to give them an itinerary so they can plan around us. There’s an onus to freshen it up year on year.
“Brendan Cummins had done some media stuff already in co-commentary capacity. He was obviously one that was earmarked. When Donal O’Grady stepped back to go into management again, there was a space on the hurling roster. He’s excellent and very enthusiastic. Tomás is very interested as well and also offers immediacy in that he was playing last year.”
Taking into account the opinions of viewers is something O’Neill is always conscious of.
“I don’t ignore what comes in on social media. If it’s genuine complaints rather than madcap stuff, it’s definitely something you have to take on board. I’m not precious about criticism.
“Last year, I have to put my hands up and say one area I probably didn’t get 100% right was the Kevin Walsh situation. That was the most high profile one. But there were other technical things that people might not have noticed and I looked back on after. These are the things you learn.”
Forging a close working relationship with presenter Des Cahill is key to ironing out any kinks in the programme.
“Myself and Des get on very well. Des has a really good journalistic sense and we’d bounce stuff off each other. We’d make a lot of calls late. Last year we got Lee Chin in the weekend that he was playing for both Wexford teams. That was interesting.
“Another weekend we got Waterford manager Niall Carew and Westmeath’s Pat Flanagan in. There was a massive amount of calls made on a Sunday morning to organise that. We try to keep it fresh, do different things but always keep a high line on the analysis.”
As well as focusing on their own show this year, they’ll be keeping an eye on the new player in town. The emergence of Sky Sports adds a layer of intrigue to the GAA TV market.
“I watch a lot of what Sky do and they’re excellent in the TV business,” admits O’Neill. “They have a little quandary in terms of their editorial in what audience are they pitching to. A British audience that may never have heard of the game or an Irish audience? It’ll be fascinating to see what they do and I welcome competition. It’s a good thing and something to index us against.”
His summer will be spent watching GAA but O’Neill admits there are some pangs of regret that he isn’t able to take to the terraces on a Sunday. He’s a supporter like everyone else and as a Nemo Rangers club man not attending Cork games is a downside.
“I do miss going to games. Last year not being able to go to the two All-Ireland hurling finals was a killer. I was at the 2010 All Ireland football final but I was in the truck working underneath the Hogan Stand so you may as well be on the moon.
“I love both sports equally but I’ve a soft spot for the Cork footballers, I feel they get a terrible raw deal from the Cork public. But that’s just the way it is. I get to the odd game, I was at the Cork Dublin quarter-final last year. “
He doesn’t complain too much though.
“I grew up with the show as most kids did around the country. To be sat in the chair, formulating an editorial plan for it is a huge privilege. It’s not something I take lightly. I want to make the best possible show. We’re bullish about the year ahead and can’t wait to get started.”
