Micheal Mulleady, Elphin and
Roscommon player of the fifties/ Micheal O Muircheartaigh/ John Joe Nerney,
Boyle/ Micheal Shivnan, Knockvicar, St. Michaels and Roscommon player of the
fifties. Michael Mulled and Michael Tivnan were both colleagues of Michael O
Muircheartaigh in teacher-training college at St. Patrick’s, Drumcondra.
Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh a very special
guest at Roscommon CBS Medal Presentation
On Thursday night of
last week I attended the medal presentation to the Roscommon CBS team that
played in and lost the All-Ireland
Colleges ‘A’ Hogan Cup Final to Dingle in Croke Park in April. The special
guest was Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh. He was in sparkling form. He is currently
84 years of age and as sprightly as a man much, much, younger. He has become an
iconic figure, a living legend and I do not know many of those who are as
active as Micheál. He has been to many, many, clubs and venues throughout the
country and amongst the Irish diaspora abroad over the years. He got a glowing
introduction by CBS staff member Kieran Beirne on Thursday night. I don’t know
if he feels pressure but he certainly lived up to the introduction. I had the
pleasure of introducing him a few summers ago at Boyle Arts Festival when he
read from his biography ‘From Dún Síon
to Croke Park’ which I will quote a few pieces from here.
Early Life
Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh was born in Dún Síon just outside
Dingle, County Kerry in 1929. Ó Muircheartaigh grew up on the family farm and
was educated locally in Dingle. In September 1945 he began studying at Coláiste
Íosagáin in Baile Bhúirne in the County Cork Gaeltacht where he was in training
to be a teacher. It was at this all-Irish school that his name changed from
Michael Moriarty to the Irish version Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh . In September
1948 he began the final year of his teacher training at St Patrick's College of
Education in Drumcondra, Dublin.
Broadcasting Career
In early March 1949 Ó Muircheartaigh, along 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 in Irish and the most successful would be selected for further
commentary work. Ó Muircheartaigh had never seen a game of hurling before. But
he knew that those adjudicators judging his commentary were not able to see the
game:
'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 side-line,
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. It took him at least a minute to come from the Canal goal up. And while
he was coming up I spoke about his brother Bob, who was in Donal's class, and
his sister who used to come out to Dún Síon strand during the summer. So
eventually he took the penalty. I've seen DJ Carey, I've seen Nicky Rackard,
I've seen Christy Ring. None of them could ever equal the display he gave that
day... Sin mar a thosaigh sé!"
Throughout his broadcasting he has speckled it with
memorable phrases and anecdotes which are regularly repeated and he is a
favourite subject for would-be impersonators. One of the best known quips
relates to a great Cork hurler
"Sean Og Ó Hailpin.... his father's from Fermanagh, his mother's
from Fiji, neither a hurling stronghold
Mícheál Ó
Muircheartaigh, RTÉ
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 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
continued teaching up until the 1980s, when he became a full-time broadcaster
with Raidió Teilifís Éireann.
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. He developed his own
inimitable style of commentary and his accent is unmistakably that of a native
Irish speaker. He is a true lover of Gaelic Athletic Association and it is
reflected in the enthusiasm he brings to matches. His unusual turn of phrase
has made him a much loved broadcaster and often imitated character. He has
become particularly famous in Ireland for his unusual turns of phrase in the
heat of the moment while commentating.
Ó Muircheartaigh's commentaries for RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday
Sport show won him a Jacob's Award in 1992. He was also the Parade Grand
Marshal for the 2007 St. Patrick’s Festival, having been given the honour by
the chairman of the Festival in recognition and appreciation of his unique
contribution to Irish culture.
In September 2010 he announced his retirement from
broadcasting. The last All-Ireland he commentated on was the 2010 All-Ireland
Senior Football Championship Final on 19 September 2010. On 29 October 2010 it
was announced that the 2nd International Rules test at Croke Park would be Ó
Muircheartaigh's final broadcast as commentator on RTÉ Radio 1 for official
games. He did commentate for the Celebrity Bainnisteoir series subsequently.
He is a supporter of many causes and associated with a
variety of organisations.
Sam Maguire's
spectacular visit to Ireland's summit
In May 2014 Micheál
accompanied All-Ireland medal winners
from 32 counties when they climbed Carrauntoohil bringing the Sam Maguire Cup
to the summit as part of an Alan Kerins (Galway) Africa Charity project. Dr.
Mick Loftus aged 85, a medal winner with Mayo in ’51, who has strong Boyle
connections also participated climbing a significant part of the way.
So Miceál Ó Muircheartaigh continues his travels through the
highways and byways of the Ireland and much further afield, a great and unique
man. While the young footballers of the CBS might not have been very tuned into
his character prior to the occasion they will be able to say for many a day
that they met the Kerry legend.
Nature Under Pressure
I mentioned before the near extinction of the corncrake
through the country due to farming practises but on reading a letter to the
Sunday Independent I see a reference to the decline of another regular wild
life species. The one in question is the hare and the decline of the hare on
the nature reserve of Bull Island of Dublin City. According to an ecologist
with forty years’ experience recording wildlife on Bull Island, “local
extinction is imminent if it has not occurred already”. Once the hare and
rabbit were hugely visible. However I have not seen them as such in recent
times. One place they were was on Boyle golf course. I do not know what the
story is there now. The snaring of rabbits was a huge practise in the fifties
and they formed an important part of the food diet in that decade. Then a
disease called myxomatosis was
deliberately introduced in Australia in
the early fifties to rid the country of a plague of rabbits. It arrived in the
U.K. and Ireland in the mid to late fifties and this reduced the numbers
enormously. With some resistance to the disease the rabbit population rose
again in recent decades but they do not seem very visible now. Perhaps, of
course, I am wrong. I started commenting
on the hare but drifted to the rabbit as they join the corncrake and the hugely
important bee on the endangered species list.
The Closure of the English Language
Colleges in Dublin
I am pretty surprised by the blasé attitude that exists
towards the closure of so many English Language Colleges in Dublin. I would had
thought that this very positive industry would have been regulated
appropriately. The first thing is the blatant injustice in accepting
substantial fees from participants, have them come here from distant parts of
the world and then not being able to provide the services paid for. If, as a
parent, one had a young family member go to Brazil, Spain, or wherever to learn
a language and have the chaos of the closure of the school to which they had
pre-paid their fees and so on I am sure we would be very angry indeed. I hear
no word of the reputational damage to the country in all this. These young
people are well educated and will form a strong body of opinion into the future
and will be critical of this country in terms of this experience. In the
tourist area if a provider caused so many people so much expense and vexation
it would be seen as terribly serious. The efforts I see being initiated, through television news, seem weak, delayed
and uncaring. It surprise me also that regular and upstanding language schools do
not raise their concerns more vocally since the reputation of Ireland in this
service area has to be taking a battering. These young people and their
families deserve much better intervention from the relevant state agencies
.
Sport’s Review
Boyle Seniors v
Elphin
The Abbey Park is the venue on next Saturday (May 30th for a
championship double header, St. Ronan's play Eire Og in the Intermediate
Championship and Boyle meet Elphin in the Senior Championship. Boyle defeated
Elphin last year at Croghan so it will be interesting to see what emerges this
time. It will be a busy evening for all Boyle club members and anyone who can
help will be welcome.
Davy Fitzgerald of
Clare
While Davy Fitzgerald has been a near iconic character in
Clare hurling in recent decades. He is now, however, becoming a near caricature
of himself as represented in his post- match interview or non- interview after
Clare’s loss to Limerick on Sunday. There are a number of very good players not
playing for Clare at the moment for a variety of reasons and while Davy
mentioned a three year programme for his management I think if the record does
not improve this summer he will be under pressure. Still Clare were Aa-Ireland champions
in 2013 which was at a time when Clare might not have thought was within their
remit. Like the football game between Monaghan and Cavan the first half of
Clare v Limerick was very poor but the second half provided some brilliant
scores and it looks as if it is going to be another great hurling summer. This
coming Sunday it is Dublin hurlers versus Galway in Croke Park. The dream is
for Dublin to make the breakthrough in hurling with an All-Ireland win while
Galway blow hot and cold and the non vibes coming from the county do not seem
to suggest that 2015 will be any different. Still this is a very open season
and with Kilkenny coming back to the pack any one of half a dozen teams could
be in with a shout. From here it looks to me like Tipp are best equipped.
Roscommon v London
Roscommon achieved what everyone expected of them in
defeating London on the score of Roscommon 1.14 London 0.10 on Sunday last at
Ruislip. While I was not there it seems
as if it was not a sparkling display but hopefully it was the slight reality
check everyone needs as we go towards the game against Sligo. Well done to Enda
Smith who did supply some sparkle with a fine first half performance.
Boyle Celtic
Boyle Celtic had a good win over Strand on Tuesday evening
and have reached the Sligo Leitrim Cup Final as a result. There they will play
Calry on the week-end of June the 6th / 7th, probably in McSharry Park in
Sligo.
Celtic are struggling to get a reasonable team together for
these matches due to the number of players who are unavailable mostly having
gone abroad in recent times. The émigrés include Brian and Jake McCrann to
Canada; John Connolly to Spain, James Carty to London plus some others also
being unavailable. Still they have done well with the reduced resources and
under the recent management of Gerry Emmett so a Cup Final is a real
possibility.
Sin e.
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