Maloney a possible replacement for Bill O'Herlihy

Darragh Maloney pic: rte.ie

Replacing Bill O'Herlihy when he steps down next year is a possibility according to RTE's sports commentator, Darragh Maloney. 

But when asked outright if he planned to replace the veteran broadcaster, Maloney kept his cards close to his chest. 

"O'Herlihy is a brilliant professional and is close to irreplaceable," Maloney said.

"But I hope that Bill does not go anywhere soon," he added.

O'Herlihy has previously said that he plans to step down from his commentary position following the next World Cup in Brazil 2014.

Maloney was speaking as part of the University of Limerick's  Journalism Seminar Series titled: 'Issues in Irish Journalism', earlier today.

The broadcaster also spoke about impartiality in sports commentary. He told students that remaining impartial was hard to do,  and something he, as a  commentator stills struggled with from time to time. 

Recalling Katie Taylor's final fight during the London Olympics, Moloney said that although RTE's commentary wasn't particularly impartial during the bout, he still looks back over the tapes and wonders how the fight was actually scored. 

"I've looked at the fight again and you know in the third round you start to think how did they score  the fight that way. But I don't think to many people at home watching the fight would have been very impartial either."

In his Seminar address he advised journalism students to make use of any means of industry experience that comes their way.

He said that qualifications were of the upmost importance, but having experience puts you in a position that if anything does come up you are able to take the helm. 

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