Monitor mouth Hamilton rises above his station

TV View: It's at times like this that we can truly covet Eurosport, isn't it?, asks Philip Reid.

Okay, so we can nit-pick and be pernickety and maybe joke about their broadcasters being locked into studio basements all over Europe rather than being at actual venues when providing commentaries . . . but, the truth is, especially with this FIFA World Youth Championship, they're providing a pretty darn good service. Word is they're reaching 250 million viewers in 54 countries with simultaneous commentaries in 18 languages. So, it's definitely not small beer.

Certainly, from an Irish viewpoint, they're giving us live coverage of the matches that matter; and the overworked commentary team of Dan O'Hagan and Bryan Hamilton - on Friday, for example, the pair brought us full commentary from the England-Colombia match in Dubai and less than an hour later were on duty again for the Ireland-Mexico match in Al-Ain - are a good blend, as good as any in the business in fact.

Now, I've always liked Hamilton. He's articulate and knows his football, which (sadly) didn't seem to be the case in his managerial career with Norwich a few short years ago. You'll remember that Hamilton - who won a half-century of caps with Northern Ireland - was given the job at the Canaries in April 2000 in succession to Bruce Rioch but didn't manage to see out the year and resigned in December after a run of five successive losses.

When it was reported at one point that Bryan was in line for the vacant managerial job at Ipswich Town, Norwich supporters were (apparently) delighted. Nothing would have pleased them more than for their arch rivals to suffer a similar fate at the hands of Hamilton. Their delight was short-lived, though, when Hamilton failed to get the job. Still, he holds an FA Advanced Coaching licence and, when it comes to commentating, he is well up there with his analysis and reading of the game.

In his first tour of duty on Friday, as co-commentator with O'Hagan for the match between England and Colombia, Hamilton was not saccharine sweet to an English team that failed to score a goal for the third match of the campaign and went home early. "It's all nice passing and painting nice patterns," he said, "but none of it is hurting the Colombians."

After a quick cup of Bovril between that dour match and the start of what proved to be an explosive encounter between Ireland and Mexico, Hamilton and O'Hagan - oh, the wonders of modern technology - had seemingly transported themselves from Dubai to Al-Ain. Unfortunately, they weren't able to tell us Ireland, because of the ways results elsewhere had gone, had already booked their place in the next phase (informing us instead they needed a draw).

And the limitations of reporting from television monitors rather than from the actual venue were vividly shown when they only became aware Darren Potter was being sent off with his Mexican attacker when it came up on the screen . . . at the same time as we armchair viewers were also made aware of the fact. But that's nit-picking, and we said we wouldn't do that.

Anyway, Hamilton is a man of many words and there is no danger of anyone falling asleep on the sofa once he has a microphone shoved in front of his face. When Stephen Paisley had the shirt literally ripped from his chest at one juncture of the first half - a move from the Mexican attacker that actually cut the Irish defender's skin - Hamilton remarked, "There's a speckle of blood there, you could say he's given blood for his country . . . good man!"

Hamilton, who was hired for a time as a consultant by the FAI in their search for a successor to Mick McCarthy, was certainly impressed with the Irish youths and made the point to the television audience that the presence of a number of players from League of Ireland clubs was a fair indication of the rising standard in the domestic league.

He was also highly impressed by the goalkeeping of Brian Murphy, who, we were repeatedly told, was "quite brilliant" . . . while also explaining to the wider (non-Irish) audience that it is to be expected that Ireland should always have good goalkeepers. "From the time they're little boys they're playing Gaelic football, which is a hand, eye and kick situation . . . Packie Bonner and Pat Jennings played Gaelic so you can understand why they produce such good goalkeepers."

Of Stephen Kelly's clinching goal, and how it demonstrated the Irish team spirit, Hamilton said, "He had no right to get that ball . . . he's crawled along on his backside for three years to get there."

So, asked O'Hagan, how far can the Irish go? "They can go as far as they want to go," replied Hamilton. "They'll do very well."