RTÉ to air Westport production company's Mayo GAA documentary

The familiar faces of Willie Joe Padden, Dermot Flanagan and Kevin McStay and late John O'Mahony will share their own first hand stories of how Mayo came back into the mix for Sam Maguire glory on RTÉ next Monday night, June 23.

They will all feature in episode three of the 'Hell for Leather: The Story of Gaelic Football'.

The series took five years to make and features extracts from hundreds of hours of interviews and over forty intercounty and other matches were filmed for the documentary series.

READ MORE: Mayo man takes action and paints disabled parking spaces in Westport

The series is produced by Westport production company, Crossing the Line Productions. Its founder, John Murray, explains that the role of producer is to turn an idea into reality. They make it happen and are responsible if things go pear shaped.

He is hoping the series will have a broad appeal and “is kind of like a crash course in Gaelic football, so that actually, if you watch it, you come away going, ‘Okay, I have a grounding. I know who these key characters were at different phases of the development of the game’ and I can see the span of the years and the amazing positive impacts it's had in different parts of Ireland. So, yeah, so I'm hoping it will appeal to a much wider audience than the normal, just people who'd watch everything that’s going on over the weekends.”

Last interview

An extended forty minute version of the last ever recorded interview with the late John O’Mahony, where he discusses his life, will feature on the RTÉ website this week, ahead of episode three airing.

The interview with John O’Mahony was one of a number of interviews that moved John Murray because the fact is that “some of the best interviews were guys who are no longer with us.”

Interviews with Mick O'Dwyer, Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, Jimmy Gray and Seán Murphy were ‘pivotal’ in the story of Gaelic football as they were people who would have been around during this massive span from the 1940s and 50s through to now.

“Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh telling you first hand how he talked to Sean Lavin, the man who invented the solo run, that's is the foundational history of the game. In 100 years time, that'll be history so it's great to get that kind of material now.”

Sean 'Baller' Lavin, from Kiltimagh, invented the solo run

SEE MORE: PICTURES: Were you at the Mayo versus Donegal All-Ireland clash?

Exciting projects in the pipeline for Crossing The Line Productions include a new three part documentary on RTÉ on The Wild Atlantic Nature Project, which will look at blanket bogs and wildlife protection in Mayo, Galway, Sligo and Donegal and a two-part series on Wild Connemara.

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'Hell for Leather: The Story of Gaelic Football' will be broadcast at 9.35 pm on Monday night next on RTÉ One, and can be watched on the RTÉ Player.