Tommy Martin: Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh described games and an Ireland that's now gone

The beloved broadcaster's death gave Irish people another chance to marvel at how one man’s voice served as a singular national soundtrack.

Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh died on Wednesday at the age of 93

It was fitting that the death of Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh was announced on the day that RTÉ launched its new strategy, one that the public broadcaster hopes will make it fit for the digital age. If one thing is clear from the tributes paid to the legendary commentator, it is that the broadcasting era his incredible career spanned is gone forever.

Ó Muircheartaigh’s death gave Irish people another chance to marvel at how one man’s voice served as a singular national soundtrack. He was one of the totems of a monoculture, a time when the national games and the national broadcaster were entwined, when it seemed there was one voice audible on summer Sundays and that voice was Ó Muircheartaigh’s.