'Teddy looks at the ball, the ball looks at Teddy': Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh's classic quotes

Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, the iconic voice of the GAA for more than six decades, has died, aged 93.

The revered broadcaster provided the summer soundtrack for hurling and football fans with his work for RTÉ Radio between 1949 and 2010.

In that time span, he uttered many legendary lines which have been repeated many times down through the years.

• “Seán Óg Ó hAilpín: his father’s from Fermanagh, his mother’s from Fiji. Neither a hurling stronghold.”
• “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.”
• “…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…”
• “Pat Fox out to the forty and grabs the sliotar. 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.”
• “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!”
• “The stopwatch has stopped. It’s up to God and the referee now. The referee is Pat Horan. God is God.”
• “Anthony Lynch, the Cork corner-back, will be the last person to let you down – his people are undertakers.”
• “Colin Corkery on the 45 lets go with the right boot. Its 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.”
• “Teddy McCarthy to Mick McCarthy, no relation, Mick McCarthy back to Teddy McCarthy, still no relation.”
• “Teddy looks at the ball, the ball looks at Teddy…”
• “There’s a streaker on the ground now. He must be a Kilkenny man because he’s quite happy with the situation right now.”
• “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, Ciarán Whelan goes on a rampage… it’s a goal! So much for religion.”
• “1-5 to 0-8… well, from Lapland to the Antarctic, that’s level scores in any man’s language.”
• “In the first half they played with the wind. In the second half they played with the ball.”
• “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.”
• “Mike Houlihan for Limerick. Houlihan, the cattle jobber. He had his jaw broken by a kick from a bullock two months ago. He’s back now. ‘Twas some bullock that broke Mike Houlihan’s jaw!”
• “And here’s Sylvie Linnane, who drives a digger on a Monday and turns into one on a Sunday.”

As well as his memorable one-liners, Mícheál’s words enhanced many historic moments down through the years.

The Double:

• “Cork are All-Ireland champions for 1990. They have done the magnificent double. They have won the All-Ireland in senior hurling. They have won the All-Ireland in senior football with 14 men. And Teddy McCarthy is a man apart.”

The Meath-Dublin four-game saga:

• “We’re within 30 seconds of the end of the most incredible series of football matches that were ever played in any code the world over. Liam Hayes to PJ Gillic to David Beggy. David Beggy kicks it, the ball is over the bar, and Meath are leading. Incredible. Incredible. The most incredible finale that I have ever seen in any sport.” 

The Five-Minute Final:

• “Johnny Dooley would be wise to tap it over the bar and hope for something to develop later on. Johnny Dooley looks as if he’ll got for the point alright. No, he blasts it low and he’s got the goal.”

His final hurling final commentary in 2010:

• “They’d love another goal. They might get it and it’s sent into the back of the net by Lar Corbett. Another goal. The drive for five has ended with that goal from Lar Corbett.”

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