As he leaves RTÉ Sport, here are George Hamilton’s best quotes

“The nation holds its breath”  — As David O’Leary stepped up to take the penalty against Romania, Hamilton summed it up perfectly and followed it up with an ecstatic “yes!” as Ireland reached the quarter-final of the World Cup in 1990.

“Danger here!” — often a king of understatement, the commentator’s curse came back to bite Hamilton here as he praised Packie Bonner’s record at Euro 88 just before identifying the aforementioned danger in the form of a Soviet attack.

“Hoolahan… inviting… it’s there! Robbie Brady brings us all to our feet in Lille!” — Again, Hamilton sums it up perfectly as Ireland clinched the goal at Euro 2016 against Italy to put them through to the next round.

“Real Madrid are like a rabbit in the glare of the headlights in the face of Manchester United’s attacks… but this rabbit comes with a suit of armour in the shape of two precious away goals.” — Hamilton on the Spanish team’s shiny defence in 2000. 

“And Ireland have got to contain the brothers Baggio… the Baggio brothers, of course, are not related.”  — perhaps he knew we were going to beat Italy at USA 94 with this moment of levity beforehand.

“I didn’t want to stop doing commentary because I enjoy it still. And I still think I have a contribution to make.” — Hamilton’s comments to the Irish Independent in announcing he was no longer working for RTÉ.

Mr Hamilton’s first commentating duties with Premier Sport will be a Europa League tie between Manchester United and Twente.

Ryle Nugent, a former colleague of Hamilton’s as Head of RTÉ Sport, is now Premier Sports Ireland chief executive.

“It was well known in the industry that his contract at RTÉ was up at the end of the Euro 2024 finals,” said Mr Nugent of their reunion.

“George and I spoke about a potential opportunity with Premier Sports. The hook was Manchester United participating in the Europa League, games we’ll be televising live in Ireland. George, who is a Manchester United fan, agreed.

“Our arrangement is for the eight Manchester United games. We will review things at this stage and take it from there.

“George’s standing and history with Irish audiences as a football commentator is unparalleled in this country – we’re delighted to launch our coverage with him.”