Sun shines on the sons of Galileo but Pat and Colm are gloomy

TV VIEW:WHO'D HAVE thought that Gerry McIlroy could possibly be overtaken in the battle for the June "Sporting Da of the Month" award? Mind you, yesterday's big race at the Curragh can't have been easy for Galileo, with four of his several sons in the field. But, with as active a love life as he has, there's always a danger that class of thing can happen.

Presumably he was back home watching it all on TV, shouting “that’s my boy, that’s my boy, that’s my boy, that’s my boy” as the horses paraded about the place before the Derby. And soon after, two of his lads finished first and second, which must have prompted him to light a cigar and declare himself to be the mother of all fathers.

Galileo, though, doesn’t seem to play too active a role in his sons’ lives, he’s too busy romancing, leaving their rearing to Aidan O’Brien. They’re in good hands, though, it would seem.

Before the race Ted Walsh was marvelling at the fact that O’Brien, at just 41, had already won the Derby eight times; after the race Tracy Piggot could only declare: “NINE TIMES!”

“Ah no, sure listen . . . what can I say,” O’Brien boasted. “We’re very lucky, it’s a team effort. Galileo in first and second? It’s incredible.”

“Indeed,” the Da would have said back home, taking another puff of that cigar.

A bad day for the Queen, though, Carlton House trailing in fourth. You could only hope she wasn’t the punter Robert Hall told us about before the race who had put €80,000 on him winning the Derby. Carlton House that is, not Robert. Although, if you can afford to bet €80,000, you probably wouldn’t miss it.

Over on RTÉ 2 Pat Spillane and Colm O’Rourke were in such despair over the state of Galway football it seemed like the only hope for a brighter future was if Galileo sired a few players for the county.

“Holy God, the standard of that senior team is very poor,” said Pat after Galway had managed just the single point in the second half of their defeat to Mayo. “They were absolutely feeble, an embarrassment,” he said, and much as he might have wanted to defend his county, Michael Lyster couldn’t bring himself to disagree.

He then told his panel he was going to show them a compilation of moments when Galway gave away possession during the game, prompting sighs and guffaws of the “we’ll be here all night” kind from Pat and Colm. True enough, it was quite a lengthy clip, “a horror movie”, said Pat.

They were, though, more hopeful about the prospects of Dublin v Kildare being watchable, and by half-time their mood had lightened considerably. Well, apart from Colm’s rather prescient, as it proved, complaints about the referee. “Every game I’ve been at this year has been destroyed by fussy refereeing, I just wish they’d get off the stage and let fellas play,” he said, not best pleased by all the frees and cards in the first half.

Thirty-five-ish minutes later, the scores level in added time, Aindriú MacLochlainn savagely fouled Bernard Brogan/barely laid a finger on the fella and the ref blew for a free, from which Brogan got the winning point.

“Ah no, ah NOOOOO,” said Kevin McStay, who appeared to disagree with the decision. “Crazy decisions, soft frees, daft cards and then in the end not to finish it off with a draw,” he said, the GAA half tempted, you’d have thought, to add to the list: “And he’s robbed us of a lucrative flippin’ replay!!”

Anyone who tried to tell that crying Kildare woman in the crowd that it’s only a game may well have ended up needing reconstructive surgery.

Back in the studio Colm rested his half-time case. “We don’t want to be seen to be ref-bashing,” said Pat. “Well, I do,” said Colm. Not happy, then, Pat pleading with the officials to stop refereeing games like they were Strictly Come Dancing. It’s going to be a long summer.

It’ll be a long one too for Andy Murray if he doesn’t give Britain its first Wimbledon men’s title since 1626, or thereabouts. The BBC cornered a few past and present sporting stars last week to ask them what advice they’d give Andy as he hunts down the Wimbledon crown. “Just take one game at a time,” said Geoff Hurst. In fairness, that’s solid advice that works in any sporting discipline, but we’ll have to wait and see if it’ll do the trick.

Should he win the title, though, the most fascinating thing we’ll discover is whether Andy’s actually capable of smiling. Not necessarily a big toothy grin like Galileo would have flashed yesterday, just a little hint of facial happiness. We’ll see.