Jeff and Kammy’s Journey to Croker Episode 2 – Jeff & Kammy Meet the Master

AIB, sponsors of the All-Ireland Championship, have brought Jeff & Kammy to the next stop on their Journey to Croker.

 

Episode 2 in now available to view here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dio3BsRmjuQ

 

In the second episode the excitable duo start out with a lesson about commentary from Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh, the doyen of Irish sports broadcasting in his native Kerry. As the episode reveals, getting their heads around a game that involves 15 players a-side and scoring over and below the bar is a bit of a culture shock.

With the legendary Micheál on hand to help them commentate on a local U15 club game, they have the best possible muinteoir and were left in awe by his unique commentary style.

“He knew something about every single player, like who was a grandson or a great-grandson of who? It was just amazing!†said Kammy.
“He was talking about players like ‘his great, great grand-dad now, he was the first cab driver in Dingle!' He'd done all that homework on these kids!â€

Ó Muircheartaigh's beloved style and depth of knowledge, plus the length of his 62-year broadcasting career, mesmorised Stelling.

“Micheál is truly a legend,†he said. “His name may be harder to pronounce than David Attenborough but you can understand the comparisons, especially for someone to have done what he has done for over 60 years.

“The only commentators I could compare to him are Peter O'Sullevan or Micháel O Hehir when they did horseracing, where they had that same legendary status.

“If you go back far enough maybe you could compare him to someone like Kenneth Wolstenholme but even he didn't carry on for that length of time,†he said of the famous BBC commentator whose ‘They think it's all over' from the 1966 World Cup is as embedded in soccer history as many of Ó Muircheartaigh's famous phrases in GAA.

“You could see why Micheál is such a success because he appears to know something about absolutely every player,†Stelling observed.
“And the other great thing is that he's got humour. We hope and feel that our show is informative and opinionated but also that it's got some humour. That's what you need in a great commentator and Micheál has that too.â€

“He tried to give us some insights into the tactics and really stressed ‘know the rules and some of the terminology,'†he explained.

Kammy said the best tip Ó Muircheartaigh gave him was “learn the names…..so I'm leaving that to Jeff,†he laughed.

“If you're talking about commentary as painting pictures, well sometimes my pictures aren't what you actually see,†he joked.

“Yes, the picture is sometimes a bit fuzzy with Kammy,†Jeff quipped.

‘Jeff and Kammy's Road to Croker' will air each Monday at 5pm on www.youtube.com/aib and AIB's other social channels.