Mícheál Ó Cróinín (born 1977) is an Irish retired

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

er and current

sports broadcaster In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

. His

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

and

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

career with the

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

senior team spanned seven seasons from 1999 to 2005. Born in Baile Bhúirne,

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

, Ó Cróinín was introduced to Gaelic football by his father, a former chairman of the local club. He began his club career as a centre-back with the Naomh Abán under-21 team before eventually progressing onto the senior team with whom he won a county intermediate championship medal. While studying at

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of ...

Ó Cróinín won a set of

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

and county senior championship medals in 1999. Ó Cróinín made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of sixteen when he was picked on the Cork minor team. He enjoyed two championship seasons with the minor team, before later joining the under-21 side, however, he ended his underage career with championship success. Ó Cróinín made his senior debut during the 1998-99 league. Over the course of the next seven seasons, Ó Cróinín established himself as a key player for Cork and won two

medals and one

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

medal. He played his last game for Cork in July 2005. In retirement from playing Ó Cróinín has forged a media career as a co-commentator and analyst with

TG4 TG4 ( ga, TG Ceathair, ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television network. The channel launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was formerly known ...

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

Gaelic games show ''

GAA Beo ''GAA Beo'' (''Live GAA'') is the principal Gaelic games programme of Irish language-broadcaster TG4. Typically, it is shown on TG4 on a regular basis on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, as well as midweek, all year round showing live and deferr ...

''. His wife,

Nollaig Cleary Nollaig Cleary-Uí Chróinín (born 1981) is an Irish retired ladies' Gaelic footballer who played as a right wing-forward for the Cork county ladies' football team. Born in Castlehaven, County Cork, Cleary first played competitive Gaelic footb ...

, is a nine-time

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

medal winner with

Honours

; University College Cork *

Munster Senior Club Football Championship The Munster Senior Club Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the AIB Munster GAA Football Senior Club Championship) is an annual Gaelic football competition for the champion clubs of each county. It has been organised by the Mu ...

(1): 1999 *

Cork Senior Football Championship The Cork Premier Senior Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the Bon Secours Cork Premier Senior Hurling Championship and abbreviated to the Cork PSFC) is an annual club Gaelic football competition organised by the Cork Count ...

(1): 1999 ; Naomh Abán *

Cork Intermediate Football Championship The Cork Intermediate A Football Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as Bon Secours Cork County Intermediate A Football Championship and abbreviated to the Cork IAFC) is an annual Gaelic football competition organised by the Cork Count ...

(1): 1999 ; Cork *

Munster Senior Football Championship The Munster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship and shortened to Munster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It i ...

(2):

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

(1): 1998-99

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OCroinin, Micheal 1977 births Living people Cork inter-county Gaelic footballers Gaelic games commentators Gaelic games writers and broadcasters Naomh Abán Gaelic footballers TG4 people Broadcasters from County Cork