Daniel Carey
A RADIO programme made by two Mayo men has been honoured in the GAA’s prestigious McNamee Awards, which were announced last week. A Lifetime ‘til Sunday, by Liam Horan and Mike Finnerty, won the Best Local Radio Programme category. It was first broadcast on Midwest Radio in September 2006. The awards, which recognise outstanding contributions in the area of communications, will be presented at a function in Croke Park on July 22.
The judges described the show as a ‘well researched and presented review of the high points and disappointments of Mayo football from the mid-1930s up to the 2006 All-Ireland senior final’. It was, the citation added, ‘an informative and enjoyable programme that commands interest from start to finish and is radio presentation at its best’.
“We decided to look at Mayo football and try to chart the roller-coaster it has been,” explained Liam Horan, who won his first McNamee Award 10 years ago while working with the Irish Independent. “Through the barren years, through the years of plenty, and onto the time when plenty became ‘not enough’. We decided to talk to key people along the way and tell a story on Mayo football leading up to the All-Ireland final of the following Sunday.”
Horan wrote the script for the programme, which was narrated by Mayo News Sports Editor Mike Finnerty. Among the highlights of A Lifetime ‘til Sunday was the contribution of Johnny Mulvey, who died soon after it was broadcast. In what was his last interview, the former county secretary was asked ‘what would your life have been like without Mayo football?’ He replied simply: ‘It wouldn’t have been a life at all’. There was also a poignant tribute from Conor Mortimer to his grandfather George, who had passed away a few weeks previously.
The hour-long show also incorporated poetry from Seán Hallinan and Pat McGovern, while the McGovern trio – Pat, Tom and Aisling – sang ‘The Boys From The County Mayo’. In addition, there were interviews with Frank Noone, Noel Connelly, James Waldron, Paddy Muldoon, Peter Carney, Claire Egan, John O’Mahony and Colm Keys of the Irish Independent. The programme-makers wish to thank all the contributors, and had special praise for sound engineer Brendan Nugent, Midwest Radio Sports Editor Angelina McHugh, and all at the Ballyhaunis-based station.
“We went into the studio in Midwest at around 7pm and we didn’t leave until 3.30am or 4am!” Liam Horan told The Mayo News with a laugh. “Brendan and Angelina stuck with us rather than take short cuts. We’re delighted to get the award. The programme does chronicle an era. I suppose all that was missing really was for Mayo to win the All-Ireland!”
Hopefully that’s not a lifetime away.
