Man Friday
Friday, 14 September 2007
Our Man Friday knows a thing or two about sliotars and sticks!!!
Today's Man Friday is Ireland's one and only Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh!
About Mícheál
Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh was born in Dún Síon just outside An Daingean, County Kerry, in 1930.
1949: Ó Muircheartaigh, with ten other students from the college, and several from other colleges, did a test commentary on a hurling game at Croke Park. Each student had to commentate for five minutes as Gaeilge and the most successful would be selected for further commentary work.
Ó Muircheartaigh had never seen a game of hurling before in his life. The judges could not see the game so Micheal made it up as he went along!!!! He chanced his arm. His introduction to broadcasting came about by sheer chance..
'Twas a new game to me. But I knew one person. He was in goal for UCD and his name was Tadhg Hurley. He went to school in Dingle and he had hurling because his father was a bank manager and had spent time in Tipperary or Cork. The moment my minute started, he was saving a fantastic shot. And he cleared it away out; I can still see it, out over the sideline, Cusack Stand side of the field, eighty yards out. But it was deflected out by a member of the opposition. The adjudicators couldn't see that that didn't happen. Who was called out to take the line-ball? The only person I knew, Tadhg Hurley. And he took a beautiful line-ball - Christy Ring never took better. He landed it down in front of the Railway goal, there was a dreadful foul on the full-forward, and there was a penalty. And who was called up to take the penalty? Tadhg Hurley. 'Twas the best individual display ever seen in Croke Park.
- Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, http://www.rte.ie/laweb/smil/t07/t07_momuircheartaigh_llshow_tv.smil
The players never played as good as they did on that day!
Ó Muircheartaigh was the one selected and his first assignment was to provide an all-Irish commentary on the 1949 Railway Cup final on St. Patrick's Day.
He never received any training or guidance and landed himself in the box beside Micheal O Hehir. He was very helpful with Micheal on all occasions and was a real hero.
Ó Muircheartaigh graduated from St. Patrick's College a little later and also completed a Bachelor of Arts degree from University College Dublin. He taught economics, accountancy and Irish in both primary and secondary schools throughout Dublin, the majority of which were run by the Christian Brothers. He thought at the very famous secondary school called O Connell's CBS where Ronnie Delaney the Olympic gold medalist and John McCarthy who won many all Ireland medals for Dublin.
He continued teaching up until the 1980s, when he became a full-time broadcaster with Radio Telefís Éireann. Micheal also had a few encounters with Gareth Fitzgerald at UCD and felt he was a real loss to the world of education but what he did for politics was also good for the country.
For the early part of his broadcasting career Ó Muircheartaigh commentated on Minor GAA matches, in the Irish language. He also replaced the legendary Micheál O'Hehir when he was not available to commentate. Eventually when O'Hehir was forced to retire in the mid-1980s Ó Muircheartaigh took over as the station's premier radio commentator.
Today he commentates on RTÉ Radio 1.