As he prepares to commentate on a World Cup Final, RTE's Darragh Maloney reveals the one place in the US he's always wanted to visit - and the eerie silence that greeted him when he made his dream come true

Published: 22:33, 18 July 2026 | Updated: 22:33, 18 July 2026 RTÉ commentator Darragh Maloney has spoken of the difficulty of being thousands of miles away from his young family while covering the World Cup, especially as his son was finishing his Leaving Cert. ‘I missed the last couple of exams he [his son, Jack] was doing,’ Maloney told the Irish Mail on Sunday, as he boarded yet another flight this week – this time from Atlanta to New York – to cover tonight’s World Cup final showdown between Spain and Argentina. Maloney left home to cover the expanded 48-team World Cup – lauded by FIFA as ‘the largest sporting event in history’ – on June 11. While covering the event is one of the highlights of his broadcasting career, it necessitated an enforced separation from wife Louise and their three children, Kate, Hannah and Jack, who has just completed his Leaving Cert. ‘It was a stressful couple of weeks, but he’ll get his results, and hopefully we’ll find out what’s happened next,’ says Maloney.  Despite the distance, Maloney, 53, has stayed in close contact with his family throughout the tournament. He said: ‘Jack is really into football, so he’s been glued to the whole thing.’ Maloney left home to cover the expanded 48-team World Cup – lauded by FIFA as ‘the largest sporting event in history’ – on June 11 Covering the World Cup is a career holy grail for many sports journalists, but it has not been all glamour for the RTÉ man, who has spent the past month living out of a suitcase while hopping between cities across north America. ‘We’ve been busy all the time, kind of on the move quite a lot,’ he says. ‘The distances here are just vast.’ And the contrast with covering the last World Cup – in Qatar, in 2022 – could not have been greater. While journalists were able to attend multiple matches in a day in Qatar, the sheer size of the US meant careful planning was essential. ‘It’s a very different experience to Qatar,’ he says.  ‘The whole country there is the size of county Louth. Here it’s just from one side of the country to the other.’ From New York to Philadelphia, Miami, Atlanta, Dallas and Houston, airports have become as familiar as stadiums to the commentator. ‘I’d love to be back here again,’ he admits.  ‘Before this trip I’d only been in America three times, so I’d love to see a lot more of it.’ And there was one pit stop Maloney was determined to make. In Dallas, he finally got the chance to visit Dealey Plaza, the site of John F Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.  ‘I always wanted to see the Plaza,’ he reveals.  ‘The hotel was maybe a 40-minute walk away from it.  'It was a very quiet, sort of eerie place I always wanted to see.’  It was also a rare break from the football, given travel days are often followed immediately by preparation for the next fixture. ‘You’re researching teams and watching videos of past matches, trying to make sure you get names right and the player identification – all the bits and pieces,’ he says. After tonight’s final, Maloney will have covered 13 World Cup matches, joined by Irish soccer legends, Ray Houghton and Ronnie Whelan. ‘I did seven with Ronnie and six with Ray,’ he tells the MoS. One big disappointment for Maloney is the absence of the Boys in Green on the world’s biggest sporting stage.  ‘The group we would have been in wasn’t one of the toughest groups,’ he muses.  ‘South Africa got out of that group and I would like to think we would have done at least the same.’ Poignantly, Maloney was in Atlanta to cover South Africa’s clash with Czechia, who Ireland agonisingly lost out to on penalties in the qualifying semi-final. ‘That was the game Ireland should have been playing in.  'That was kind of a weird experience.’ Poignantly, Maloney was in Atlanta to cover South Africa’s clash with Czechia, who Ireland agonisingly lost out to on penalties in the qualifying semi-final He thinks Ireland’s fans could have given the Scots – who won global acclaim for the party atmosphere they created across the US – a good run for their money, saying: ‘That would’ve been our fans too, no doubt about it.’ The tournament has not been without controversy, either, most notably Donald Trump’s intervention to get US striker Folarin Balogun’s ban for a red card lifted – a move that sparked a global backlash.  ‘I could kind of see what was going to happen, that it would have an effect on the player [Balogun],’ says Maloney. ‘All of a sudden, you’re the centre of attention and of the world’s media. ‘I kind of felt for him at the time, thinking this may not help him.’ In the end, the scrutiny did little to help either Balogun or the hosts, with the US crashing out of the tournament after being trashed 4-1 by Belgium in the Round of 16. With a record 103 matches now played, the only one that matters is tonight’s final featuring European champions, Spain, and defending world champions, Argentina. And Maloney also covered Lionel Messi in that World Cup final triumph, in Doha, four years ago. He admits these are the sorts of assignments he dreamt of as a boy. ‘The first one I properly remember was 1982 in Spain, which was West Germany and Italy,’ he recalls.  ‘I just remember thinking, “this is amazing”.’  And more than four decades on, that sense of boyish wonder has not left him. ‘To do a second one is just incredible, really,’ he says. ‘It’s the biggest match in four years.  'There won’t be anything, no matter what happens in the football world, that will be bigger than this for the next four years.’ As for who he’s tipping to lift the famous trophy, Maloney finds it difficult to look beyond Spain’s quality – but doesn’t rule out Argentina’s ‘mentality monsters’ defying the odds once again. ‘If you were going to go logically, you’d say this will be Spain,’ he says.  ‘But Argentina in all their knockout games have thrown logic out the window.’  He says of the battle between Messi and Lamine Yamal – expected to soon take Messi’s crown as world’s best player – ‘it’s the past and the present, and then the future’. ‘Yamal is at Barcelona,’ he continues.  ‘Messi was at Barcelona since he was 12 or 13.  'Yamal is only 19 and Messi is more than twice his age.’  For now, though, the veteran broadcaster simply wants to savour the moment: ‘We’ll enjoy it and hopefully the minutes go slow. ‘Because once it’s over, it’s over.’ Darragh Maloney's Top 5 World Cup 2026 moments 1. Pico Lopes and Cape Verde’s fairytale run ‘I’d put Pico at number one. I actually know the man, and [now] he’s played in the World Cup. I don’t really know too many people who play in the World Cup and turn into global superstars.’ 2. Watching Lionel Messi up close ‘Any match that you see Messi in is a pretty incredible thing to watch. When he goes over to take a corner, you’ve got hundreds of people who are down close to him, and all you see are just the hands up with the phones. They want to take a picture of him or a video of him just taking a corner.’ 3. Erling Haaland’s heroics against Brazil ‘Haaland against Brazil was fantastic... those two goals!’ ‘The World Cup stadiums I’ve been in have all been absolutely incredible. Like, you’re just going to see these things on TV, and then to get to walk around in them... they’re pretty much amazing.’ 5. Spain knocking out favourites France ‘I still can’t get over what happened to them. France early on in the competition were brilliant... and then they just collapsed in the semi-final.’ Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.