All season MICHAEL LYSTER Calmness personified, never tries to be flashy, always being content to set up shooting chances for his panellists. A criticism that could be levelled at him is that he tends to facilitate conversation rather than debate, but then he's rarely afforded the necessary time to do so.

Unlikely to say "Now let's go down to the pitch and laugh at our touchline reporter trying to squeeze a few questions in before being mauled by supporters."

PAT SPILLANE Like his native county, improved as the year went on. Interrupts his panellists less now, and asks questions rather than throwing ludicrous sweeping statements at them. Has also cut back on his haranguing of hurling, although that may be because Pete Finnerty was likely to get around to chinning him at some point if he didn't.

Regardless, it still beggars belief that RTE ditched their most colourful analyst to make a sub-standard anchor out of him.

Unlikely to say "Let's settle this once and for all. You and me Finnerty. Outside. Now."

GER CANNING Even allowing for the fact that it's next to impossible to describe a fast-moving game for 70 minutes straight without making some errors, Canning's ability to infuriate armchair viewers remains unmatched. Constantly uses bizarrely chosen words and phrases to describe events unrelated to those on the pitch.

Unlikely to sayThere is nothing he's unlikely to say.

MARTY MORRISSEY Still, somehow, behind Ger Canning in the commentator pecking order, but he's also RTE's best touchline reporter, asking smart questions about the game, rather than the standard "You must be delighted with that win?" nonsense.

Unlikely to say "Sorry if I sound bored but I'm just not that enthusiastic about this game here today."

JOANNE CANTWELL and EVANNE NI CHUILINN Shipped more shoulders and dunts over the season than most players did. Surely a quiet interview spot can be found in a tunnel somewhere to stop them being engulfed by hordes of fans before they've gotten halfway through their first question?

Unlikely to sayAnything that can be heard.

DONAL O'GRADY Plainly chasing down a job on Off the Rails, whenever anybody else saw a schemozzle, a sceilp or a slap, Donal only saw handbags. The best hurling analyst around when he's in the form, occasionally he can seem disinterested to the point of being unresponsive.

Unlikely to say "That was a disgraceful incident and all involved should be banned for life.

Sure there could have been children watching."

MICHAEL DUIGNAN Excellent co-commentator who has the terrific habit of watching out for what happens after someone clears a ball and the camera turns away. Sees more off-the-ball incidents than the CCCC, the CHC, the CAC and CCTV combined.

Unlikely to say "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

JOE BROLLY and COLM O'ROURKE The only real Hook & Pope-style combo that The Sunday Game has ever thrown up, neatly shift between jocular and incisive and work off each other as perfectly as you'd expect a target man and a nippy corner-forward to.

Unlikely to say "I refuse to spend another minute working that Meath/Derry clown."

ANTHONY TOHILL Turns out he was just finding his feet last year, as he's easily this season's most improved performer. Analyses games with a quiet authority and eschews the easy say-what-you-see option to explain why we are seeing it.

Unlikely to say "Spillane, if you interrupt me again I'm going to find a window and throw you through it."

TONY DAVIS Has an infuriating tendency to drop his head and read out names that you'd expect him to know by rote, but is still an accomplished analyst. Also, kept us amused by growing increasingly disenchanted with football as the season wore on and dropping in references to how much better the hurling was.

Unlikely to say "The incident occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning and anybody who can help us with our enquiries should contact the number on screen right now."

pnugent@tribune. ie