Ger Gilroy has never really been one to play it safe. After spending 24 years building Off the Ball into one of the most recognisable sports shows in Irish media, he has walked away from Newstalk and landed at RTÉ, where he is now fronting a brand new daily sports podcast called Howler.
For a lot of people, 24 years in the same job would be reason enough to stay put. But Gilroy sees it differently. The way he tells it, the move is less about leaving something behind and more about the challenge of starting fresh, proving himself all over again in a new environment.
“Your job is to win, right?” he said, summing up the attitude he is bringing into this new chapter. It is a line that tells you a lot about how he approaches his work.
Gilroy built Off the Ball from the ground up at Newstalk, turning it into a go-to destination for Irish sports fans who wanted something more than just match results and transfer rumours. The show developed a loyal following over more than two decades, and Gilroy became one of the more trusted voices in sports broadcasting in Ireland. Leaving that behind was never going to be a small decision.
But RTÉ came calling with something that clearly appealed to him, a daily sports podcast that gives him room to do what he does best. Howler is designed to sit in the growing podcast space that RTÉ has been trying to develop more seriously in recent years, and Gilroy is the kind of presenter who can anchor that kind of format.
The podcast world suits his style. He is comfortable in long-form conversation, good at drawing out opinions, and not afraid to take a strong line on a topic. Those are exactly the qualities a daily sports podcast needs if it is going to cut through in a market that is already pretty crowded.
What is interesting about Gilroy is the attitude he is carrying into this. Rather than treating the RTÉ move as a comfortable landing spot after a long career, he is framing it as a restart. There is something almost upstart about the way he is approaching it, like someone who has something to prove rather than a veteran coasting on reputation.
That mindset matters in podcasting. The format rewards people who are hungry and engaged, and listeners can tell pretty quickly when a presenter is just going through the motions. Gilroy does not strike you as someone who does that.
Howler is going out daily, which is a serious commitment. Daily sports content is tough to sustain at a high level because the news cycle does not always cooperate, and you need a presenter who can make something worth listening to even on a quiet Wednesday in February when nothing much is happening. That is where experience counts, and Gilroy has plenty of it.
The move also says something about where RTÉ is trying to position itself in the audio space. The national broadcaster has faced plenty of criticism over the years for being slow to adapt to how people actually consume media now, and bringing in someone with Gilroy’s track record is a signal that they are serious about building out their podcast offering properly.
For Irish sports fans, Howler is worth keeping an eye on. Gilroy knows the landscape, he knows what Irish audiences want to talk about, and he is coming in with energy rather than complacency. That is usually a decent recipe for good radio, or in this case, good podcasting.
Twenty-four years is a long time to do anything. The fact that Gilroy is treating what comes next as a challenge rather than a wind-down says a lot about why he lasted that long in the first place.