My culture highlights of 2024: Sonia O'Sullivan, Kevin Barry, Cónal Creedon, Chris Kent and more...

 Kneecap, Bad Sisters, and The Outrun all make our celebrities' lists this year 

Pictured left to right: RTE sports broadcaster Tony O'Donoghue; athlete Sonia O'Sullivan; and writer Conal Creedon.

Tony O’Donoghue, Sports Broadcaster

RTE sports broadcaster Tony O'Donoghue.

Film: Kneecap – it’s about a Belfast hip hop band. They’re partly a political statement and partly a comedy act. It was really funny, powerful and very enjoyable.

Book: Michael Harding’s I Loved Him From The Day He Died: My Father, Forgiveness and A Final Pilgrimage. It’s about his relationship with his father. He lost his father when he was 22 and my dad passed away when I was 18. It’s funny the further away from it you get, sometimes the closer you feel. I devoured it. It’s bittersweet. There’s a spirituality to it, and an intensity. I felt quite emotional, relating it to my own memories of my dad. He’s a superb writer.

Music: Fontaines D.C.’s new album Romance is fantastic. Watching them on Glastonbury – they’ve arrived. They’re about to be the biggest band in the world. They’re brilliant.

Gig: U2 at The Sphere was a fusion of sound and vision. The sound was perfect. I’m very proud – my friend for a long time from Cork, Joe O’Herlihy, has been doing sound for U2 for over 40 years. Maybe that venue is the Sistine Chapel of the twenty-first century. You’d look up and around and overhead and you were enveloped by the landscape they created. It was a widescreen, almost cinematic experience and yet it was intimate as well. Remarkable.

Culture highlight: The rise of an underground movement – the League of Ireland. Led by Damien Duff and Shelburne. Shamrock Rovers doing sensationally in Europe. Cork City coming back to the Premier Division. This underground phenomenon is going mainstream. Sold-out games, attendances up everywhere. The atmosphere at a League of Ireland ground these days is like a gig.

Sonia O’Sullivan, Athlete

 

Athlete Sonia O'Sullivan. Photo: Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland.

TV: I spend a lot of time flying. It’s hard to watch Bad Sisters on a plane and not laugh out loud. It’s so funny and relatable.

Film: A movie out a few years but I’ve only just seen on Netflix is The Unforgivable starring Sandra Bullock. It’s good, it’s a murder mystery. My husband gets very worried about me watching all these murder mysteries. He thinks I’m planning something.

Book: Frank O’Mara’s Bend, Don’t Break: A Memoir of Endurance. Frank is a good friend. It’s a very good read, an easy read – a real-life story of a great Irish athlete who has had to use his endurance as an athlete to fight Parkinson’s Disease.

Comedy: I saw Jarlath Regan – who I do a podcast with – at The Everyman in Cork. It was great. He was very funny.

Culture: highlight I saw the Olympic torch in a hot air balloon at the Olympics opening ceremony on television. When I went to Paris, soon afterwards, I had to see it – it was so unusual. When the sun went down each day, it rose up into the sky, until after midnight. It was brilliant to see it.

Cónal Creedon, Writer 

Writer Conal Creedon. Photo: Larry Cummins.

TV: Sharon Horgan’s Bad Sisters is a quantum leap forward in Irish comedy-drama. Brilliant cast – and Sharon Horgan is just a genius.

Film: Terence White’s documentary The Final Chapter explores the last days of Kevin Gildea’s bookshop. I’ve been a fan of Terence’s work ever since he was a theatre director. He has a natural sense of theatricality honed and refined over decades – and it shines out from the screen.

Sharon Horgan’s Bad Sisters is a quantum leap forward in Irish comedy-drama.

Book: I will have to say – my brother John’s book This Boy’s Heart. I haven’t managed to get my mitts on it yet – but I am looking forward to savouring every syllable.

Music: John Spillane’s opera Fíoruisce: The Legend Of The Lough is a two-hour epic, of haunting themes and memorable arias with the finest collection of singers and musicians. His latest album stands up as a benchmark moment in Irish music to all that went before and all that’s coming down the track.

Gig: Karen Underwood and John O’Brien – with the Crosshaven Choir under the baton of Eva McMullan at Templebreedy Church, Crosshaven.

Liz FitzGibbon, Actress

Actress Liz Fitzgibbon.

TV: The second season of Pachinko, which is based on a book, has just come out. It’s an epic drama about a Korean family spanning across decades. It’s gorgeous.

Film: The Outrun is an adaptation of a book that’s set in the Orkney Islands with a stunning performance from Saoirse Ronan, who produced it with her husband, Jack Lowden.

Music: Sampha’s track Satellite Business with Little Simz, the actor and singer-songwriter, is a song to look up. It’s excellent.

Gig: Ezra Collective, a London afro-beat jazz crew, at the Olympia in Dublin last month. Their bandleader Femi Koleoso drums with Gorillaz. They’re class, pure joy.

Culture highlight: The Galway Film Fleadh was lit this year. It was like a convention of craic. A film I co-created with a friend, All That’s Carried, premiered and we won best short.

Liz FitzGibbon is starring in an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre until 25 January. Click here.

Kevin Barry, writer 

Writer Kevin Barry. Photo: Olivia Smith.

TV: La Maison is essentially Succession transplanted to the high-camp world of French couture. It’s utter fromage but very watchable.

Film: Sean Baker’s Anora deserves the frothing acclaim it’s had. Very funny, propulsive, brilliantly played, with Uncut Gems energy and a star-making turn from Mikey Madison.

Theatre: Mark Rylance’s chewing-the-scenery turn in Juno and the Paycock in the West End – he really kicked life into the old dog.

Book: Kubrick: An Odyssey by Nathan Abrams and Robert P. Kolker. The tone here is a little dry but Stanley Kubrick was one of the most obsessive artists of the last century and he remains, for me, the subject of a deep (if sometimes queasy – not an easy man to love) fascination.

Music: Jessica Pratt’s album Here In The Pitch: ’60s-inflected torch songs by the Los Angeles chanteuse, the perfect soundtrack for the David Lynch film in your mind.

Chris Kent, Comedian

 

Comedian Chris Kent.

TV: Something completely different to what I would normally watch – Colin from Accounts, an Australian comedy. Very funny, honest and offbeat. Not your typical sitcom.

Film: Because I have “smallies”, cinema is usually for them. We saw The Wild Robot and I loved it. I was surprised by it – a great movie with really funny and strange animation.

Music: I love Fontaines D.C.’s new album Romance. They’re on my bucket list to see. My kids even love some of their songs.

Gig: I’ve seen Hozier live a few times. I love him. Brilliant band. I’m a big fan of all of his music. At our wedding, we had a Hozier song. He’s got so many good songs.

Culture highlight: The song The Spark by Kabin Crew, which went insanely viral. It’s from GMC, a producer from Knocknaheeny where I’m from. It’s a banging tune.

Chris Kent is on a nationwide tour in the New Year. Click here for details.

Muireann O’Connell, TV Presenter 

TV presenter Muireann O'Connell.

TV: I loved the adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals, starring Aidan Turner. I put it on; himself was rolling his eyes. We watched six episodes in one sitting. I laughed and laughed. They didn’t take anything seriously. It was tongue-in-cheek, like a Carry On movie. So much fun.

Film: Wicked Little Letters with Olivia Coleman and Jessie Buckley, which is based on a true story, is so funny. It’s a joy – their comic timing, watching them play off each other. It’s brilliant.

Theatre: The President at the Gate Theatre with Olwen Fouéré, who left it all out there on stage, and Hugo Weaving – I didn’t like it but it stuck with me because of the madness of the performances and the conceit at the end.

Book: All the Colours of the Dark by English author Chris Whitaker is about two childhood friends. Something happens when they’re 13 years old, an awful event that changes the course of their lives. Best friends that are put on opposing sides. Shakespearean drama that’s also a thriller. It’s amazing.

Gig: Taylor Swift at the Aviva for the sheer spectacle. It was unbelievable. I sang for three hours. I was happy for a week afterwards.

Karl Spain, Comedian 

Comedian Karl Spain on stage at City Limits Comedy Club, Coburg Street. Picture: David Keane.

TV: The Day of the Jackal series, which is a remake of the movie from the Seventies and the original Frederick Forsyth novel, is brilliant.

Film: Housewife of the Year at Dublin’s IFI is a documentary by Ciarán Cassidy. My mother is on the poster. I supplied it. She won out of Munster in 1977. My mother was blonde and very glamorous. Everyone used to always comment on it: “Oh, your mother was gorgeous. She was beautiful. You’re very like your father.” 

Book: I’ve been a fan of Reeves and Mortimer forever. Bob Mortimer’s second novel The Hotel Avocado is gorgeous. It has these turns of phrases, little lines here and there, that are beautiful.

Music:  I really like Nick Cave’s album Wild God. I’ve always loved Nick Cave. I remember hearing The Mercy Seat on Dave Fanning’s radio show when it first came out and going, “What the hell is this?” It blew my mind. He takes so many different turns, but he hasn’t shook me off yet.

Gig: The Waterboys at Electric Picnic. I was at the back of the tent for it. It was a sheer buzz. I felt 20 again.  

Rick O’Shea, Broadcaster

 

Broadcaster Rick O'Shea. Photo: @ruthlessimagery.

TV: The DC Comics series The Penguin is part The Sopranos, part The Godfather. It has Colin Farrell in one of his most extraordinary performances. I haven’t finished it yet because I’m eking out every individual episode.

Film: Wim Wenders’ film Perfect Day. It’s set in Japan. It’s about a man whose job is to clean public toilets. It’s a single day in his life. You follow him around as he does his job and gets on with people. It’s like a balm for the soul. A gentle, warm film that will slightly restore your faith in the human race.

Theatre: The one-woman Picture of Dorian Gray with Sarah Snook, who was in Succession, in London. She plays every character. It’s done through her playing each of those characters, through costumes, through video, through a giant screen behind her in which she’s playing five or six characters at the same time. It’s incredibly inventive.

Music: Kneecap’s Fine Art is one of the best hip hop albums I’ve heard in I don’t know how long. Two-thirds of it is as gaeilge. Grian Chatten from  Fontaines D.C. is on one track, Manchán Magan is on another track. It’s beautiful.

Gig: Samara Joy, a jazz singer, at the National Concert Hall. She’s a young kid, only 26 years old. She’s one of the most extraordinary performers I’ve ever seen. She performed in front of a full house and she held everybody in the palm of her hand.

Niamh O’Sullivan, Opera Singer

 

Opera singer Niamh O'Sullivan.

Film: It may be a cliché but Wicked! I went to see it recently and thought I was going to hate it but I absolutely loved it. I’m a big musical theatre fan and it just had me from beginning to end.

Theatre: Safe House by Enda Walsh and Anna Mullarkey. I went to see this a few weeks back in The Abbey and was blown away.

Music: Emily D‘Angelo‘s new album, Freezing, with Deutsche Grammophon. Emily is a young Canadian mezzo soprano and this album is just gorgeous.

Gig: I went to see the Kabin Crew perform at the Everyman in Cork over the summer and these teens are incredible! Such touching lyrics and passionate performances.

Culture highlight: Honestly being part of Wagner’s Ring Cycle at Opernhaus Zürich. It felt like a monumental thing.