Marty Morrissey on his childhood: 'My father always said no son of his would fight for America'

Marty Morrissey's childhood in New York instilled in him the American attitude he could be whatever he wanted to be, but it was his parents' steadfast support and his community in West Clare that set him on the path to fame

Marty Morrissey spent four years ringing RTÉ from a public phone box before they gave him. Picture: Moya Nolan

Sports commentator and television presenter Marty Morrissey may have spent his first 10 years of life in America, but his mother, Peggy, flew from New York while pregnant so he could be born in her home county of Cork.

That was 1958, and a few weeks later, she brought him back to the Bronx. Morrissey’s earliest memories are of life there, “swearing allegiance to the American flag every school day, playing ball with friends in Van Courtland Park on Saturdays, and football and hurling in Gaelic Park on Sundays”.

His parents were hard workers. Peggy worked in a Manhattan insurance company by day and as a receptionist at Fordham University at night, while Morrissey’s father, Martin, ran his own travel agency.

Morrissey would go to work with his father whenever he was off from school. In those days, travel agents accompanied clients to the airport, which meant young Morrissey spending a lot of time at JFK.

“Some of my fondest memories are of being left upstairs with a hot dog,” he says. “The planes used to park in front of the window, so I could see right into the cockpit. Dad would make me promise not to tell my mother, as she’d have killed him for leaving me there alone, but I loved it.”

Marty Morrissey with his mother Peggy and father Martin in New York.

As an only child of parents who were also only children, Morrissey had to make his own fun. However, he was never lonely and his interest in sport had a lot to do with that.

He played basketball and baseball at school and with friends on the streets and says he developed “a love of football and hurling at the weekends. My mother and I would holiday in Ireland for two weeks every summer, and I’d play with lads there, too. We’d use pitchforks as goalposts and pretend to be in Croke Park.”

Returning to Ireland was always on the cards, especially because the US still had compulsory conscription. “Everyone had to do military service and my father always said no son of his would fight for America,” says Morrissey. “So they aimed to save enough money to be able to come home before I started secondary school and when a pub came up for sale in Dad’s local village, of Quilty in West Clare, they bought it.”

Marty as a baby in New York.

Moving to Ireland was a big adjustment for 10-year-old Morrissey. His summer trips were a taster, but he struggled with “the dark of winter. Our fourth-floor apartment in the Bronx looked out onto other apartments, and there were always so many lights. Quilty had one shaky streetlight and the only other light was from the Aran Island lighthouse. It would shine every 13 seconds and I remember looking out across the Atlantic, counting those 13 seconds and wondering what in the name of god we were doing there.”

Settling in to St Flannan’s Secondary School in Ennis wasn’t easy. Morrissey was “a young fella who knew no one in a school of 900 boys, as well as a Yank with an American accent”.

Sport came to the rescue. “Being able to play football and hurling meant being able to make friends. The friends I made through sport are friends to this day.”

Marty Morrissey and his dad Martin in the late 50s.

His journey to becoming a sports commentator was roundabout. He played football at University College Cork, where he started studying medicine, before switching to microbiology and physics. He then taught the lessons he learned “as the only Clare lad on a team of Cork and Kerry men” to the youngsters he trained in his home club of Kilmurry and the football team of St Joseph’s Secondary School in Spanish Point, where he spent four years working as a teacher.

Then, one day, our postman, Patrick Galvin, talked me into recording a video commentary on the county final on the back of a tractor and trailer. The video was shown in our pub and people paid 50p to see it. I thought it was awful.

Everyone else liked it and Morrissey commentated on other local sporting events. He eventually felt confident enough to approach RTÉ. “I spent four years ringing them from a public phone box, before they gave me an opportunity,” he says.

He had the steadfast support of his parents. The three were always close. His parents even moved to Cork with him during his university years. “There was a great bond between us, and, as a result, I didn’t move out to live by myself until I was in my late 20s,” he says.

Marty cycling on University Avenue in the Bronx, New York.

He absorbed many of their personality traits and says his work ethic “definitely came from them, as well as my honesty and loyalty. They valued kindness above all and always said I should lend a helping hand and never be a begrudger.”

His Bronx childhood left its mark on him, too. “It inspired me to never give up on my dreams,” he says. “Kids in America are told they can grow up to be president. That rubbed off on me. I believed I could be whatever I wanted to be.”

He acknowledges the impact of the people of West Clare. Pulling pints and chatting to people in the pub “was better than any PhD. I learned that people are generally good and decent as long as you’re sincere in your dealings with them. They can also be great craic and even convince you to hop on a tractor and trailer to commentate on a match, which could end up being your first step towards a career on TV.”

• Marty Morrissey is supporting Hidden Hearing for Noise Awareness Month to highlight the importance of healthy hearing in staying connected and present for the moments that matter with family and loved ones.

• He has also partnered with Killester Travel to bring a group of holidaymakers to Spain for The Marty Party from October 1 to 8. Find out more at killestertravel.com.