Was former Irish International Eamonn Dunphy a good player or not?

[Noelys Guitar]

Does anyone remember Michael Calderwod ( I think that was his name) of the the old Sunday Press? Very good sports writer. He wrote a famous article following a horrible 0-0 away draw to Switzerland in the 80's. Liam Brady had ordered bottles of Champagne to "celebrate" our feat and Calderwood decided to mention this in his article. Brady who had played a stinker went ballistic and refused to ever speak to Calderwood again. That was the same article that quoted Stapleton saying we were probably not good enough to ever qualify for major championships. Anyway the following week Dunphy endorsed Calderwoods version of events in the Tribune.

[Sumac]

For all their 'great' football, both Barca and Arsenal are out of Europe in the second round. Dunphy and Brady were moaning about it last night - but what good are fancy teams if they've got no guts? Useless, didn't see the 'experts' raising that point though

In my opinion it is the likes of Barca that make football worth watching and it is th etype of football all teams should aspire to. Heaven forbid we end up in a situation that it is win at all costs. Chelsea have won 2 titles in a row and will probably win plenty more - But who is better for football - Barca or the likes of Chelsea!
Maybe thats the point Dunphy and Brady were trying to make (Although as with all so called experts they can talk complete rubbish at times)

[Billsthoughts]

In my opinion it is the likes of Barca that make football worth watching and it is th etype of football all teams should aspire to. Heaven forbid we end up in a situation that it is win at all costs. Chelsea have won 2 titles in a row and will probably win plenty more - But who is better for football - Barca or the likes of Chelsea!
Maybe thats the point Dunphy and Brady were trying to make (Although as with all so called experts they can talk complete rubbish at times)

Spot on. Chelsea can win all the premiership titles they want I wouldnt open me curtains to watch them play if they were out my back garden. Bit unfair on Arsenal as they are in a rebuilding phase in which they still made it to the final of the champions league. Italy won the WC in 82 but most people remember the Brazilian team they knocked out.

As for Dunphy, Brady and Giles they are pretty decent panel cause at least they tell it as they see it but as above they are only human and partial to talking a load a rubbish at times like everyone else. There is no doubting Giles and Brady know their football but they are partial to their obsessions as well.(brady with his keane/mourhino and giles with his ronaldo/scholes obsessions.) I'd take or leave Dunphy the panelist to be honest. He is kinda becoming a caricature of himself at this stage.

[geysir]

Does anyone remember Michael Calderwod ( I think that was his name) of the the old Sunday Press? Very good sports writer. He wrote a famous article following a horrible 0-0 away draw to Switzerland in the 80's. Liam Brady had ordered bottles of Champagne to "celebrate" our feat and Calderwood decided to mention this in his article. Brady who had played a stinker went ballistic and refused to ever speak to Calderwood again. That was the same article that quoted Stapleton saying we were probably not good enough to ever qualify for major championships. Anyway the following week Dunphy endorsed Calderwoods version of events in the Tribune.

That group had already flown by then.
A "Dunphy endorsed" incident meant sfa then as now. He was a vicious cynical hack with a column and indulged himself freely in vindictive personal attacks against Hand and Brady amongst others.
Who can forget Dunphy on Brady 'he was never a great footballer'.
Dunphy is a malignant tumor in Irish football.

[BobbySands]

My father was talking with Eamon Dunphy about 10 years ago about something not sports related. Anyway as the chat was winding up football came in to it and Eamo basically said he was a crap player. So my father asked how many times he'd played for Ireland and when Eamo gave the number my old man said "You can't have been that bad" to which the Dunph kind of nodded and said "I suppose you're right".

I like Dunphy. As for the old man. RIP.

[OwlsFan]

As a pundit, Dunphy can be a moan but compare the analysis we got during the World Cup to that the English got. Dunphy, Giles and O'Herlihy might be a bunch of old boys but they're entirely irreverent and, as often as not, they're spot on. .

They were not "spot on" during the World Cup. They scoffed at Italy and France in the early stages of the tournament: the two teams which were to contest the final. You also confuse "analysis" for jeering and mocking. Their attacks on the English team verged on zenophobia and racism and went way over the line but I understand how that appeals to some people. It doesn't appeal to me but for some it make "great television".

We get two blokes who have been in the game their entire lives and are highly intelligent (apart from the Keaneo business but maybe that proved even more that there are no sacred cows amongst them). The Brits have Gary Lineker, Jamie Rednapp, Ian Wright and Alan Shearer. Even the Saturday morning show on BBC1 is rubbish. I'd take the RTE 2 lads any day.

Dunphy and Giles have not been in the game "their entire lives". Dunphy has no managerial experience or involvement in the game whatsoever after he quit the game 25 years ago while Giles had some success as a manager at WBA but not with Ireland.

"The Brits" also have Hansen and Lawrenson who speak their minds without jeering and mocking (called "analysis" over here). If you actually listen to what Rednapp says, and ignore the pretty boy image, he's ok and can talk sense. Ian Wright is the BBC's version of Dunphy.

Dunphy has attacked every manager since his buddy Giles was replaced and when his mate Kinnear didn't get the gig. He supported the sale of Milltown and is a venomous cur with his own agenda who will say just about anything of a personal nature and then attack the "tabloid press" in the UK for doing the same in print. He is a hypocrite of the highest order and only in Ireland would such a person be tolerated.

p.s. He was a sh*te footballer as well.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Eamon Dunphy played 23 international games for the Republic of Ireland.
He was never on the WINNING side in all that time.

[geysir]

I'm glad now that CTID has added a factual information base to support anecdotal evidence that Dunphy was a cráp footballer and we only started to gain victories as soon as his international career was ended.

[eirebhoy]

Eamon Dunphy played 23 international games for the Republic of Ireland.
He was never on the WINNING side in all that time.

That's incredible.

[OwlsFan]

Eamon Dunphy played 23 international games for the Republic of Ireland.
He was never on the WINNING side in all that time.

If that's true, I am not surprised.

The RTE rugby panel is light years ahead of the soccer panel. Tom McGurk, despite the plum in his mouth, actually knows his rugby (unlike Laughing Bill on soccer) and the panelists for the most part don't engage in personal vendettas (although Hook can verge on Dunphyesque on occasions) but have healthy disagreements on topics unlike the RTE soccer panel who 90% of the time are in the "I agree with John, I agree with Eamon, I agree with Liam" mode.

[zenokelly]

The RTE rugby panel is light years ahead of the soccer panel. Tom McGurk, despite the plum in his mouth, actually knows his rugby (unlike Laughing Bill on soccer) and the panelists for the most part don't engage in personal vendettas (although Hook can verge on Dunphyesque on occasions) but have healthy disagreements on topics unlike the RTE soccer panel who 90% of the time are in the "I agree with John, I agree with Eamon, I agree with Liam" mode.

But unfortunately they are rugby pundits, they use up all their expertise on a sport that is nothing compared to football. Still think that Bill's three have all the characteristics in their personalities that a panel needs.

[stojkovic]

Best anecdote about Dunphy when he interviewed the then Youths manager, Liam Touhy about reaching the U18s Finals (Russia'85, i think).

ED: "So Liam how did you keep the players from getting bored during the tournament?"

LT: "We done the usual, bingo, quiz's, table tennis etc but the best night was when we nominated the 11 WORST ever players to play for Ireland".

ED (jokingly replied): "Really, I hope I was in your team, Liam"

LT: "In the team? You were the fcuking captain !"

[fergalr]

Eamon Dunphy played 23 international games for the Republic of Ireland.
He was never on the WINNING side in all that time.

Sorry to have to correct this (no I really am sorry)....... but old Eamo Grumpy was on the winning side on two occasions:

Ireland 2 -1 Turkey 16-Nov 1966
Czechoslovakia 1 - 2 Ireland 22-Nov 1967

Average player, sh1te pundit.

[TonyD]

Did anyone see Dunphy on Questions & Answers the other week ? When discussing the whole Croke Park/GSTQ nonsense, he waxed lyrical about the GAA "our great national games" and bemoaned the influence English Premiership "Soccer" was having on the country. Hypocrisy of the highest order. Not only does he owe a large part of his income(and most of his fame)to commenting on english "soccer" he was also a prime mover in the attempt to transplant Wimbledon Football Club to Dublin.

[soccerc]

Dunphy has no managerial experience or involvement in the game whatsoever

Oh yes he had

[OwlsFan]

Did anyone see Dunphy on Questions & Answers the other week ? When discussing the whole Croke Park/GSTQ nonsense, he waxed lyrical about the GAA "our great national games" and bemoaned the influence English Premiership "Soccer" was having on the country. Hypocrisy of the highest order. Not only does he owe a large part of his income(and most of his fame)to commenting on english "soccer" he was also a prime mover in the attempt to transplant Wimbledon Football Club to Dublin.

Yes, of course he is a hypocrite. Nothing new there and he does love to ingratiate himself with a section of the public and to be regarded as a "man of the people".

Oh yes he had ((been a manager)).

Who, what, where and when ? Assistant to John G at Milltown before he supported the sale of the ground? Fatima Celtic's Under 11s Bs ?

[onenilgameover]

Only A Game is excellent. It doesn't really go anywhere as a story but if you want to read an honest account of a footballer in his later years with his potential spent (if he had any, that is), pick it up. The likes of Only A Game and Cascarino's book put almost all other soccer books to shame.

As a pundit, Dunphy can be a moan but compare the analysis we got during the World Cup to that the English got. Dunphy, Giles and O'Herlihy might be a bunch of old boys but they're entirely irreverent and, as often as not, they're spot on. We get two blokes who have been in the game their entire lives and are highly intelligent (apart from the Keaneo business but maybe that proved even more that there are no sacred cows amongst them). The Brits have Gary Lineker, Jamie Rednapp, Ian Wright and Alan Shearer. Even the Saturday morning show on BBC1 is rubbish. I'd take the RTE 2 lads any day.

I'd say i'm on my own but i didnt think ''only a game'' was that good....
....

[republicofwhite]

Think there was something on the front of the rags about Dunphy lambasting the BBC pundits for general lacklustre nature. The journalist who wrote came back with the cynical retort of listing Hansen, Shearer, Wright et al's honours and achievements and illustrated the fact that Dunphy has never won anything in his life. Who cares? Dunphy may not benefit from universal adulation as an individual but he is entertaining, controversial and boisterous. The viewer is always gripped as to what he's saying, it makes for the most entertaining analysis one can find, unlike the monotony and diplomacy of BBC. Likewise, he's got his own unique brand of eloquence and comes out with absolute classics. Can't wait for the day Jamie Redknapp comes out with a line such as "Jose Mourinho is poisonous venom injected into the game" Hook is similar. Neither were superstars in their pomp but they've found their true calling in being unuique analysts. Thats essentially why RTE is light years ahead of the beeb in that dept. And while I'm on that subject, Owlsfan, Tom McGurk knows nothing about Rugby.

[bennocelt]

also i miss Ted walsh and the sunday game crowd as well, RTE fair play to them do sport brilliantly

[Bondvillain]

Think there was something on the front of the rags about Dunphy lambasting the BBC pundits for general lacklustre nature. The journalist who wrote came back with the cynical retort of listing Hansen, Shearer, Wright et al's honours and achievements and illustrated the fact that Dunphy has never won anything in his life.

That wasnt a journalist, it was someone who works for the Sun. (And if I recall correctly, the piece was attributed to their "Showbiz correspondent". Says it all, really....)


Liked 'Only a Game' . Think he's more interesting and astute than Shearer, Redknapp, Lineker et al.