Taoiseach leads tributes to the late Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh

The word ‘legend’ wasn’t sufficient to describe the former RTÉ GAA commentator Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh according to Taoiseach Simon Harris who led tributes following today’s announcement of the death of the west Kerry man known to generations as the ‘Voice of Gaelic Games’.

Mr. Ó Muircheartaigh, 93, died in hospital on Tuesday.

The native of Dún Síon outside Dingle attended secondary school in Coláiste Íosagáin in Baile Mhúirne before qualifying as a teacher in St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra. 

He taught for many years in Dublin before becoming a fulltime GAA commentator in the 1980s. 

The first game he commentated on was a Railway Cup Final between Munster, featuring fellow Dingle legends such as Paddy Bawn Brosnan and Thomas Ashe, and the last game was the Cork’s last All Ireland senior football final victory when the Rebels beat Down in a rain sodden Croke Park in 2010.

In the statement from the Taoiseach, Mr Harris, said that he learned of the death of the former commentator with ‘the heaviest of hearts’.

“The word 'legend' gets used too often, but for Mícheál, it is almost not enough,” said Mr. Harris.

“His voice, his colour, his excitement, his love of sport, his turn of phrase were often as exhilarating as the action he was describing on the pitch as the audience held its breath for what Mícheál would say next.

“He also had a humour you could not learn, - "'Teddy McCarthy to Mick McCarthy, no relation, Mick McCarthy back to Teddy McCarthy, still no relation.'” 

Mr Ó Muircheartaigh is survived by his wife, Helena, and eight children and numerous grandchildren.