# A sad day for GAA fans - Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh retiring



## RMCF (16 Sep 2010)

I am not a big fan of GAA per se, but listening to this man was always a pleasure. He added so much to the games.

He will be missed. A living legend.

[broken link removed]



Some of this greatest quotes:

"Colin Corkery on the 45 lets go with the right boot. It's     over the bar. This man shouldn't be playing football. He's made an almost Lazarus-like     recovery from a heart condition. Lazarus was a great man but he couldn't kick points like     Colin Corkery. The ball is kicked out by Declan O'Keeffe it's dropping......"

"1-5     to 0-8. Well from Lapland to the Antartic that's level scores in any man's language"


     "Pat Fox has it on his hurl and is motoring well now....but here comes Joe     Rabbitte hot on his tail...I've seen it all now, a Rabbitte chasing a Fox around Croke     Park !"


     "Pat Fox out to the forty and grabs the sliothar, I bought a dog from his father     last week. Fox turns and sprints for goal, the dog ran a great race last Tuesday in     Limerick. Fox to the 21 fires a shot, it goes to the left and wide......and the dog lost     as well."


     "Sean Óg o Hailpín....his father's from Fermanagh, his mother's from Fiji,     neither a hurling stronghold. "


     "Teddy McCarthy to John McCarthy, no relation, John McCarthy to Teddy McCarthy,     still no relation. "

"... and Brian Dooher is down injured. And while he is, i'll tell ye a little story. I was in Times' Square in New York last week, and I was missing the Championship back home. So I approached a newsstand and I said 'I suppose ye wouldn't have the Kerryman would ye?' To which,the Egyptian behind the counter turned to me and he said 'do you want the North Kerry edition or the South Kerry edition?'... he had both...so I bought both. And Dooher is back on his feet..."


"Anthony Lynch the Cork corner back will be the last person to let you down - his people are undertakers"


"I saw a few Sligo people at Mass in Gardiner street this morning and the omens seem to be good for them, the priest was wearing the same colours as the Sligo jersey! 40 yards out on the Hogan stand side of the field Ciaran Whelan goes on a rampage, its a goal. So much for religion."


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## pixiebean22 (16 Sep 2010)

I come from a big GAA household and grew up listening to Micheál, going to miss him and wonder who they will replace him with.


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## Betsy Og (16 Sep 2010)

Maybe he's a bit old but I'd nearly bet he'd get elected if he went for the Aras.

Great guy, true legend, much loved. Met him once ever, years and years ago.


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## ney001 (16 Sep 2010)

Indeed, I knew it was coming but am very disappointed!.  Although.... I was listening to 2fm this morning and tuned in late, they were talking about him as though he had died, so I was quite relieved to find out that he was just retiring and not dead!.  Absolute gent, I genuinely hope he gets to enjoy a long retirement! 

He is on the late late tomorrow night as well by the way!

Love this one: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL5MIKP5468


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## bren1916 (16 Sep 2010)

Betsy Og said:


> Maybe he's a bit old but I'd nearly bet he'd get elected if he went for the Aras.
> 
> Great guy, true legend, much loved. Met him once ever, years and years ago.


 
+1

Lovely man and I would love to see him run for office, alas we'll have the usual pigs at the trough..best of luck in your well-earned retirement Micheál.


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## Mpsox (16 Sep 2010)

Always got the impression that he was a fierce nice decent fellow, some more quotes

I see John O Donnell dispensing water on the sideline. Tipperary, sponsored by a water company. Cork Sponsored by a tae company. I wonder will they meet later for afternoon tae.”

“Teddy looks at the ball, the ball looks at Teddy”

“Danny “The Yank” Culloty. He came down from the mountains and hasn’t he done well”

“He grabs the slÃ&shy;otar, he’s on the 50……he’s on the 40……he’s on the 30……………………..he’s on the ground”

“In the first half they played with the wind. In the second half they played with the ball”.

“He kicks the ball ard san aer, could’ve been a goal, could’ve been a point………….it went wide.”

“Stephen Byrne with the puck out for Offaly….Stephen, one of 12……all but one are here to-day, the one that’s missing is Mary, she’s at home minding the house…..and the ball is dropping i lÃ¡r na bpÃ¡irce….”

Teddy McCarthy to John McCarthy, no relation, John McCarthy back to Teddy McCarthy, still no relation

Sean Og O'Hailpin.... his father's from Fermanagh, his mother's from Fiji, neither a hurling stronghold


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## Ceist Beag (16 Sep 2010)

Mpsox said:


> Teddy McCarthy to John McCarthy, no relation, John McCarthy back to Teddy McCarthy, still no relation



Still cracks me up that one! Absolute legend, there's none like him.


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## missdaisy (16 Sep 2010)

Those quotes are brilliant! Very funny! I agree he always seems like he's a lovely man.


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## TarfHead (16 Sep 2010)

He said something off the cuff, in response to Des Cahill on Morning Ireland this morning, that cracked me up.

No point in describing it here - you'd have to hear it in his voice.

Something about the road taken from Cork to Dublin.


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## Caveat (16 Sep 2010)

RMCF said:


> "... and Brian Dooher is down injured. And while he is, i'll tell ye a little story. I was in Times' Square in New York last week, and I was missing the Championship back home. So I approached a newsstand and I said 'I suppose ye wouldn't have the Kerryman would ye?' To which,the Egyptian behind the counter turned to me and he said 'do you want the North Kerry edition or the South Kerry edition?'... he had both...so I bought both. And Dooher is back on his feet..."


 
 LOL

I heard a child's definition of eccentric once as being "someone who is a bit mad, but you still like them"

I think the above quote kind of sums that up.


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## VOR (16 Sep 2010)

With   Micheál even a bad match sounded great.


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## ney001 (16 Sep 2010)

"Stephen Byrne with the puck out for Offaly....Stephen, one of 12......all but one are here to-day, the one that's missing is Mary, she's at home minding the house.....and the ball is dropping i lar na bpairce...."

Nuff said!


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## fizzelina (16 Sep 2010)

Wow great quotes. What a legend..... Sure how could they replace that???


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## Sunny (16 Sep 2010)

fizzelina said:


> Wow great quotes. What a legend..... Sure how could they replace that???


 
I hear Brian Cowan is interested!


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## Betsy Og (16 Sep 2010)

Sunny said:


> I hear Brian Cowan is interested!


 
there'd be a lot of "going forward", thats for sure


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## TarfHead (17 Sep 2010)

Saw this _'MOM-ism_' in the paper this morning. It was new to me.

"_The stopwatch has stopped. It's up to God and the referee now. The referee is Pat Horan. God is God._"


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## onq (19 Sep 2010)

I have a great regard for MOM - he replaced the sports commentator I grew up listening to, Michael O'Hehir; -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O%27Hehir

Not to dimiish MOM's ability ot turn a phrase, but he definitely didn't oick it up from the stones.
Some of Michael O'Hehir's quotable comments are; -



_"And Tom Cheasty breaks through with Kilkenny defenders falling around him like dying wasps"_
_"And it looks like there’s a bit of a schemozzle in the parallelogram"_ - O'Hehir's ubiquitous euphemism for a fight
_"And if there's anybody along the way there listening in, just give us five minutes more"_ - O'Hehir saving the 1947 Polo Grounds Final for all the Irish listeners
_"The greatest freak of all time"_ - after Mikey Sheehy lobs the ball into the goal while Dublin goalkeeper, Paddy Cullen is arguing with the referee
_"And it looks as if they were winning the way the Offaly men are dithering and dawdling...and here they come. This is Liam Connor  the full-back...a high, lobbing, dropping ball in towards the  goalmouth...a shot and a GOAL, a GOAL, a GOAL FOR OFFALY! There was a  goal in it! Oh, what a goal!"_ - O'Hehir's reaction as Séamus Darby scores the winning goal for Offaly, denying Kerry a famous fifth consecutive All-Ireland title
_"And the bare-footed wonder with the ball now"_ - O'Hehir's description of Babs Keating who played some of the 1971 All-Ireland Hurling Final in his bare feet
_"And there he is, Alan Lotty. He may be bootless, he may be sockless, he may be stickless, but he is certainly not ball-less."_  - O'Hehir's unusual description of Cork's Alan Lotty after he discarded  his boots and socks and lost his hurley in a collision with another  player
_"And it is a penalty. And Paddy Cullen, heaven help him, in there in the goal"_
_"And the Jacks are back alright and the way they're playing right now the Galway backs are jacked!"_
 
I cannot pick favourites between them they were different times and different people, but IMO, MOM did O'Hehir's legacy proud.
As a nation, we tend to punch far beyond our weight class in terms of  the public speakers we produce both at home and in the diaspora.
I had a liking for O'Hehirs vibrant commentary but there is no doubt that MOM was a worthy successor, with a devastatingly witty turn of phrase.

I was in stitches reading out the quotable quotations above - thanks for posting them 
And yes, MOM already has his own Wiki page; -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mícheál_Ó_Muircheartaigh

Enjoy a few quotations from therethat I hope were not previously posted here


"1-5 to 0-8...well from Lapland to the Antarctic, that's level scores in any man's language".
"Pat Fox  has it on his hurl and is motoring well now ... but here comes Joe  Rabbitte hot on his tail ...... I've seen it all now, a Rabbitte chasing  a Fox around Croke Park!"
"Some players are consistent and some players are brilliant. _Colm McAlarney_ is consistently brilliant. "
"Colin Corkery on the 45 lets go with the right boot. It's over the bar. This man shouldn't be playing football. He's made an almost Lazarus-like recovery from a heart condition. Lazarus was a great man but he couldn't kick points like Colin Corkery."
"Setanta Ó hAilpín....the  original Setanta from the old Gaelic stories was ten foot tall, had ten  fingers on each hand and ten toes on each foot but even he couldn't be  playing better hurling than his namesake here today."
"Pat Fox out to the forty and grabs the sliothar. I bought a dog from  his father last week. Fox turns and sprints for goal. The dog ran a  great race last Tuesday in Limerick. Fox to the 21 fires a shot, it goes  to the left and wide… And the dog lost as well."
"There's a streaker now on the pitch, I'd say he's a kilkenny fan because he looks happy with the situation"
 Priceless.

ONQ.


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## ice (20 Sep 2010)

He should have one of Irelands 5 greatest people on the late late show !


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