Football

All the local radio boxes ticked as Saffrons lose

TODAY'S Armchair Reporter is absolutely not brought to you in association with Peigs Bar, Portlaoise and Pat Keogh Skoda, Ballybrittas.

Whether or not the combination of car sales and a pub for sponsorship purposes is a wise one is a matter for the good people at Midlands 103 radio, whose coverage of Antrim's NHL Division 1B relegation play-off against Laois on Saturday inspired the usual mix of exasperation and anxiety listening to your county playing somewhere down south always does.

Jack Nolan and former Laois hurler and manager Niall Rigney provided the commentary and couldn't have done it any better. Enormous bias: Check. Occasional attempts to show they're not biased at all: Check. Getting rather more annoyed with the referee when he gives frees against the home side than the other way around: Check. Using first names and nicknames for the home players whenever possible: Check.

There's not a local radio station in the country that wouldn't provide the same heady mix.

The fact it took Laois until a two-goal blast three minutes from the end meant it was all delivered with a heavy dose of nervousness.

In the first half, after a robust tackle from an Antrim player who was never identified - to be fair to the boul Jack and Niall they were much better than most commentators when it came to naming players from the "other" team - Rigney decided to tar an entire county with a dirty, tarry brush. "They're known for it. There's a line and they don't mind crossing it," said the cheeky blighter, who wondered if Laois's problem was that they didn't do the same. Come on now, Niall, You can't have your 2008 Fabia AND eat it.

Unfortunately for Saffrons everywhere, the line got crossed in the second half when Ryan McCambridge received a straight red card. Playing into the teeth of the wind with 14 men, it looked like curtains, but Kevin Ryan's side hauled themselves level. "As they say up north, 'they haven't gone away you know'," said Jack, who may not have been "up north" in a while given his frame of reference. After those two goals Niall suggested he hasn't watched much English soccer in a while when he accused Paul Shiels of a "bit of a Cantona dive".

By that stage everything was done and dusted and there was only one thing for it - leave the Skoda behind and head for a pint down at Peigs.