It has been the great good fortune of the Gaelic Athletic Association and its followers everywhere to have fostered – and enjoyed for decades – the work of not one, but two, of the world’s greatest ever sports commentators.

To adapt the words of Oscar Wilde, a man not noted for his affinity with Gaelic games, but whose prosecutor, Edward Carson, was reputed to have played with the Trinity College ‘Hurley’ Club: ‘To produce one world class sports commentator would be an accident, but to produce two is an achievement’. It is a stellar achievement that from our distinctive games, largely confined to Ireland and its Diaspora, emerged two commentators without peer in any of the world-wide sports.

Both of them named Mícheál. One surnamed O’Hehir. The other, Ó Muircheartaigh. It is one of the quirky ways of the GAA that one ‘great’ is perennially paired with another. Ring and Mackey. Stockwell and Purcell. O’Hehir and Ó Muircheartaigh. Trenchant, endless debates on such pairings and their respective merits help to while away the long, dark days after Samhain when only the hardy young men and women of the third level colleges are competing on muddy GAA pitches for iconic trophies like Sigerson, Fitzgibbon and Ashbourne.

Often, the difference of opinion is no more than a generational factor. Just as those of a certain age will always favour the claims of Ring over today’s Shefflin, there are many who still fondly recall the distinctive twang of Micheal O’Hehir carrying on the drowsy air of a Summer afternoon. Many younger followers have heard only Ó Muircheartaigh. However, to praise Ó Muircheartaigh it is not necessary to disparage O’Hehir.

Ó Muircheartaigh himself has always acknowledged O’Hehir as his inspiration. In 1930 he was born into a house without a radio, outside Dingle, in county Kerry. At the age of nine, he walked to a neighbour’s house to hear O’Hehir’s All Ireland commentary mediated through the wheezing of an old valve radio. Only nine years later, he himself – while still a trainee teacher - was delivering his first ever commentary from Croke Park. The rest is history. Broadcasting history. GAA history. Irish history.

Illness forced O’Hehir into premature retirement just one game short of his 100th All Ireland commentary but as Ó Muircheartaigh said on radio the other morning he is going in his own time: ‘I decided to go when you’re still enjoying it... There’s only a while in everything. Sin mar atá an scéal’. There is wisdom in his approach. Maybe it is the wisdom that comes with serene age. This way, he is indelibly fixed in all our memories at the very pinnacle of his career. He is enjoying a privilege accorded only to the very greatest who retire in any sphere of life, that of reading and hearing his obituaries while still alive.

His many superlative sayings and phrases will remain forever. Similar to what Jack Lynch said over the grave of Christy Ring, Ó Muircheartaigh’s sayings will live on 'As long as young men match their hurling skills against each other on Ireland's green fields, as long as young boys swing their camáns for the sheer thrill of the feel and the tingle in their fingers of the impact of ash on leather, as long as hurling is played... And that will be forever.’

But Ó Muircheartaigh is not just a man of words or of word-pictures. He is a man of action. He does not just speak the cúpla focal. He has worked tirelessly to advance Irish all his life. He was Chairman of the former Bord na Gaeilge and is an indefatigable supporter of Gaelscoileanna. He brings the sound and melody of Irish effortlessly into everyday life. With Mícheál it is all one seamless tapestry – games, music, song, traditions and language.

Later today, many of us – at home and abroad, from Newry to New York, from Ballingeary to Berlin – will tune in the radio, or will even turn down the TV sound, to let that rich, distinctive Kerry voice wash over us one more time. Childhood memories will come flooding back. We will be transported again to playing on sunny beaches feeling that we are safe and secure because Mammy and Daddy are sitting just a little bit away from us and we can hear Mícheal’s reassuring voice wafting over the sand. There will be a tear in the eye, a catch at the back of the throat. Young children will glance up and enquire in wonder ‘Why are Grand Dad and Grand Ma so upset about the match?’

Whoever lifts Sam later today, Cork or Down, the real winners are the players, members and supporters of the GAA who have been privileged to hear his commentaries. Go raibh maith agat, a Mhichíl.

This article first appeared in 'The Sunday Business Post' on September 19th 2010. It is reproduced by kind permission of the Editor.