Why this week is different

Ger Canning (RTÉ Commentator)

“My work for the All-Ireland final doesn’t start this week, it begins back in May with the commencement of the championship. In RTÉ, we treat every match we cover with the same degree of importance as the All-Ireland final. Naturally there is more excitement and hype about a day like Sunday but I have been researching Kilkenny and Galway since the start of the season, as I do with every other team.

“There is a massive amount of work required for any commentary. I spend hours poring over tape after tape. I read as much as I can in papers in the build up, plus I talk to people on the phone for nuggets of information that may be of interest. I have little profiles of players which I update every week of the championship. 95% of that information may never be used but commentary is an un-scripted drama, therefore you have to be prepared to expect the unexpected. I always make the effort of travelling to the counties involved where possible and have attended countless training sessions around the country. You try to learn little things that could be of importance on game day, it could be a goalkeeper’s puck out strategy, a player’s preference for hitting left or right — basically you are trying to anticipate what may happen in a given situation. I’ve been very lucky over the years that most counties have been pretty good in making allowances and allowing me attend and for that I am grateful.

“Are helmets in hurling a help or a hindrance? Very much the former. In Gaelic football we love the bald player or the red head, or the guy who has perhaps made use of his sister’s peroxide bottle! Otherwise a lot of the hairstyles are so similar it is extremely difficult to differentiate between them. At least the colours of the helmets give you something of a guide when commentating. My worst commentary experience was hair related when I was covering a 1998 World Cup game and the entire Romanian team, with the exception of the bald goalkeeper, dyed their hair blond!

On Saturday night, I’m working at the Ladbrokes Irish Derby. It is my 21st year presenting the event, and though it makes for a very busy week, I really enjoy the experience.

Though the majority of my commentating career has been for television, as is the case on Sunday, I have enjoyed my radio work over the last three years. I actually started out doing matches on Cork Local Radio years ago so the wheel has come full circle. Radio is a massive challenge. On television you are reinforcing what people see whereas on radio, you are providing the complete picture to people wherever they may be.

On Sunday I will be in Croke Park around 10am. It may seem incredibly early but I like to have a look at our vantage point, at the equipment, where the monitors are positioned and make whatever tweaks are necessary. The technicians I work with are a great bunch and it is only fair that if I want to make any changes they are made earlier rather than later.

I work on my notes, to keep ticking over. I find it is better to have a fresh challenge on the day rather than be sitting there getting anxious about what lies in store. I never watch the Minor match, my mind is a million miles away. Instead I head down towards the dressing-rooms awaiting the buses as they come from the team hotels to get any last bit of information about the selections and any other news.

I can’t wait for the final. I am at it a long time so I am not deadly nervous but there is a tension, which is a good thing. You are aware that this is the biggest game of the year for these players, their families, their clubs and their counties. Your job is to help create the atmosphere and tell the story that unfolds.”

Interview: Colm O’Connor