Presidential seal for Ó Muircheartaigh memoirs

The memoirs of commentating legend Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh mark the culture and heritage of the GAA in an unequalled style, it was claimed today.

President Mary McAleese who was presented with the autobiography, ‘From Dun Sion to Croke Park’, at Áras an Uachtaráin said his story was what sporting fans had wanted for years.

The book recalls personal and professional life of Micheál from his childhood in Dingle through 50 years of reporting on GAA matches.

“This is a book that many people have been looking forward to,” President McAleese said.

“It is the story of a clan, a story about a beautiful culture, a story of our sporting heroes and heroines with Michéal’s own wonderful story woven through it.”

“Micheál has given us so much pleasure through the years. His voice creates a sense of intimacy and allows us to enter into the lives of the sports and athletes he describes. He creates a wonderful sense of family.”

Micheál has reported games on RTÉ since he picked up a microphone in 1949 and won an open competition to become an assistant commentator.

But he modestly rejected talk of legend status among GAA fans who turn the sound from the television down and up on the radio.

“I never did take myself too seriously. It’s sport and it’s entertainment, that’s the way I always approached it,” Micheál said.

“Why people would go to the bother of doing it I don’t know. People do all types of strange things.”

And as the Kerryman revelled in his county’s 33rd All-Ireland football success he said it was the ever-changing nature of sport that drives him on.

“The development of ladies' sport in athletics and football over the last 20 years has been tremendous,” Micheál said.

“But I would say the high point for me in sport was the emergence of new counties. There is something special about that, and it is something desirable that a county at last breaks through like Armagh, Tyrone or even Offaly.”

Micheál was both a primary and secondary school teacher before he took to the airwaves and his knowledge and history of games and players have become part and parcel of Sunday afternoons.

In his memoirs he has recalled a half century of fascinating GAA history with the same wit and finesse that is synonymous with his match reports.

But while listeners can rest assured he won’t be hanging up the mic in the near future a second book is still some way off.

“I don’t plan. I live in the present and look forward to the future. There might be a new book but I haven’t thought about it. Maybe a fictional one, it would be easier to write,” Micheál said.

From Dun Sion to Croke Park, by Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh, published by Penguin Books, is available from bookshops nationwide at €17.