BROADCASTERS have a difficult balancing act to maintain. You have to come across as likeable and accessible, yet still professional and competent. If you err too far to one side you become slick and vacuous, while if you err on the other side you can appear amateurish and ramshackle.

Off the Ball has been negotiating this tightrope for a few years now and rarely puts a foot out of place. This week Jerry O'Sullivan was in the presenter's chair and his element, counting down to this weekend's GAA extravaganza.

The nice thing about the Off the Ball team is that they are all clearly sporting nerds. If you were to draw up the equation for good radio, vast knowledge and bubbling enthusiasm would be in there somewhere and that's what comes across here.

Often you find yourself thinking that if there were no microphones around them the lads would just be having the same conversation in a pub somewhere. It can occasionally be allowed to descend into student humour, but when they're good they're good, such as when Ciaran Murphy was inviting listeners to help him put together a list of the GAA's Top Five Flawed Geniuses, and he got the ball rolling by throwing out a few suggestions . . . Graham Geraghty, Michael Donnellan, Johnny Pilkington, John Leahy, Mattie Forde . . . before O'Sullivan cut across him.

"I think you're just naming geniuses."

"Well they're all flawed."

"Mattie Forde, a flawed genius?"

"He has been sent off a number of times."

"Aaah, that's shocking.

What are you looking for, Gary Lineker?"

But no amount of banter would matter unless the show was put together in a professional and imaginative manner, and it is. The clash of Limerick and Louth yesterday for example was the first time those two counties have met in the championship since they played each other in the first ever All Ireland football final so a GAA historian was brought in to tell us about that year's championship. Back then the All Ireland was run on a sort of Champions League basis, with clubs having to win their county championship for the right to represent their county and there was numerous problems encountered along the way with this system. For example, Wicklow failed to produce any club champions as once the county secretary's club was knocked out he lost interest and failed to organise any more fixtures.

Better again, the All Ireland semi-final that year between Tipperary and Limerick had to be replayed after JK Bracken, chairman of the Templemore club, intervened in the first game. With Limerick pressing for a late winning goal he couldn't contain himself and dashed onto the pitch to boot a dangerous ball to safety. Now that's what I call an official dedicated to the cause. Never mind being good with rulebooks and loopholes, I want to see Frank Murphy storm the pitch in Croke Park on semifinal day and sweep a dangerous ball off the line before delivering a long relieving clearance. Let's see the CCCC deal with that one.

When you have to fill three hours of a sports show every evening there is always the danger of quality control getting away from you, but O'Sullivan's abilities as an interviewer means that what in other hands could seem stretched, is neatly disguised as being in-depth. Needless to say the quality of the guests helps with that issue. Daithi Regan and Jamesie O'Connor turned up to preview the weekend's hurling action and came across as a perfect antidote for all those anodyne comments from various culprits on The Sunday Game.

Regan is a particularly erudite analyst and likes to cut to the quick, pointing out at one stage that no matter how many great games Waterford have been in they can't be seen as a great side as "great sides win All Irelands". He also broke what appears to be the cardinal rule on RTE . . . thou shalt not have a sceilp off your own county . . . while Jamesie previewed the Munster final by saying, "Limerick will have the war paint on and will be hoping to drag the game into the trenches as they know Waterford have the better artillery up front." If they put too much sand on the field in Thurles today Jamesie will have flashbacks to Normandy.

Another enjoyable part of Off the Ball is that they are more than happy to confront textual criticism from their listeners head on, with O'Sullivan seeming to take particular delight in responding pointedly to the flat-out insulting ones. They could of course just ignore these and plough on but, when you're that surefooted on the tightrope, why not catch some of the rotten fruit and throw it back?