Former Sky Sports pundit and former footballer Chris Kamara has paid tribute to legendary GAA commentator Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, who passed away at the age of 93 this week.
Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh is forever known as one of the GAA's greatest voices. The Kerry native began his sports commentary work in 1949 and retired in 2010 after many years of service.
Tributes across Ireland were paid to the GAA great this week, but condolences were also offered across the water in the UK.
Chris Kamara, formerly of Sky, along with fellow English pundit Jeff Stelling, previously met Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh for a TV show about the GAA in 2017.
Kamara recounted the encounter and said this week via his X account, "I just heard the sad news from @NickyByrne & @Cormac88 that the legendary commentator Michael O Muircheartaigh has passed away. Myself & @JeffStelling spent a cracking week with Meehaul as he educated us on the GAA. We went from grassroots to the All Ireland final. RIP Michael, you were a top fella."
Just heard the sad news from @NickyByrne & @Cormac88 that the legendary commentator Michael O Muircheartaigh has passed away. Myself & @JeffStelling spent a cracking week with Meehaul as he educated us on the GAA. We went from grassroots to the All Ireland final. RIP Michael you… pic.twitter.com/8K7LBEwt5W
— Chris Kamara (@chris_kammy) June 25, 2024
Back home in Ireland, Irish President Michael D. Higgins also paid his respects to the Kerry great and thanked him for giving so many fans so many great memories.
"His beautiful Irish, delivered with a love of its sounds and sense to Gaelic games, is a wonderful legacy that Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh leaves.
"Indeed, so many matches may in fact be remembered more for his commentary than for the action on the pitch. Mícheál turned every match into an epic tale, his commentaries capturing like no other the sense of occasion, the atmosphere in the stadium and on the terraces, the ebb and flow of the play, and of every movement.
"Mícheál’s encyclopaedic knowledge of players, their clubs, antecedents, and relatives, as well as his evocation of each parish and townland across the country, provided unparalleled insight to the listener and viewer.
"Over the 61 years during which he provided us with such fine commentaries, his unique and distinctive voice transformed sound into picture, effortlessly filling us with the atmosphere of anticipation of victory or defeat, but most of all, with immense suspense, excitement, and delight."
