MÍCHEÁL Ó MUIRCHEARTAIGH, the legendary Gaelic games commentator, has died. He passed away this morning, surrounded by his family at the Mater Hospital, according to a statement to RTÉ. The much-loved and revered gaelic games commentator commentated on Gaelic games between 1949 and 2010 on RTÉ Radio.
At first, Ó Muircheartaigh began commentating on national minor hurling matches, as Gaeilge, before taking over as the premier commentator on RTÉ Radio One for both hurling and gaelic football games for the rest of his career. Many considered Ó Muircheartaigh as the ‘voice of the GAA’. He trained as a primary school teacher and graduated from St Patrick’s College in Dublin in 1948.
Ó Muirchearaigh taught a young Luke Kelly in St Laurence O’Toole’s CBS in Dublin’s north inner city. He was born in 1931 and reared in Dún Síon, near Daingean Uí Chúis, in Co Kerry and later worked in Dublin for most of his career. After his retirement, he moved to Co Meath and still had a home in his birthplace of Kerry.
Taoiseach Simon Harris has paid tribute to the broadcaster: “It is with the heaviest of hearts that I today learned of the death of Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh. “The word ‘legend’ gets used too often, but for Mícheál, it is almost not enough. Harris remarked on the commentators humour, which would shine through even during some of the most exciting games: “He also had a humour you could not learn, ‘Teddy McCarthy to Mick McCarth.