Tony O'Donoghue

Tony O'Donoghue is an Irish sports commentator and Group Soccer Correspondent for RTÉ, Ireland's national radio and television broadcaster. He reports on Republic of Ireland, League of Ireland, UEFA Champions League and English Premier League games, and occasionally presented RTÉ's ''Monday Night Soccer'' programme, as well as presenting and reporting on various live games for RTÉ Television.

Background

His grandfather, William O'Sullivan, was a sailor in the British Navy who was aboard the in 1918 when it was torpedoed by a German U-boat. O'Sullivan, it transpired, was a hero who saved the lives of a family who had been on board, according to a documentary about him made by O'Donoghue himself. The programme, entitled ''Black Sheep'', was later aired as the first of an RTÉ series in 2006.

While studying history and economics at University College Cork, O'Donoghue edited ''The Raven''.

Career

O'Donoghue became known for his reports on the events in Saipan that saw Ireland captain Roy Keane leave the Republic of Ireland camp before the FIFA World Cup in Japan and Korea. In an interview with Keane, the player with North West England team Manchester United outlined his frustrations with the manager, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the departure of Stephen Ireland from the Ireland squad during the Steve Staunton era. He has covered all the main stories involving the FAI since the ticket scandals of the mid-nineties.

Before becoming the station's first ever Group Soccer Correspondent he was previously sports news correspondent and later sports editor for RTÉ Television News.

Prior to his move to the RTÉ Newsroom he was a commentator and presenter of RTÉ's main radio sports shows, ''Saturday Two to Five'' and ''Sunday Sport''.

O'Donoghue also contributed to the music magazine ''Hot Press'' during the 1980s, and acted as manager of Cypress Mine, a rock group from his native Cork.

As a freelance he commentated on many Cork City Football Club games for RTÉ local and national radio, including Cork City v Torpedo Moscow in 1989 and Cork City v Bayern Munich in 1991.

He specialised in Gaelic games, athletics and association football and covered each All-Ireland hurling and football championship since 1987. As a sports commentator his first major broadcast was the Cork County Senior Hurling championship final between Sarsfields and Glen Rovers in 1989, and he went on to commentate on major inter-county championship matches for RTÉ radio including Munster hurling and football games, Connacht finals and one of the four famous Dublin v Meath clashes in 1991. He gave a sideline report on Feargal Logan's ankle injury to television viewers in between Charlie Redmond's first and second sending off during the 1995 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final.

He also wrote a regular column for the RTÉ Sports website on football related matters, ''The Inside Track'', the same title used for a ''Drivetime'' music and sports radio show he hosted for RTÉ Cork 89FM in the 1990s and a sports column he wrote for the ''Irish Examiner'' newspaper for a number of years beginning in 1996.

He covered the Olympic Games in Barcelona (1992), Atlanta (1996), featuring a memorable (and emotional) trackside interview with Sonia O'Sullivan, Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004).

He did ''not'' attend the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil but ''did'' present the afternoon highlights programme on RTÉ.

O'Donoghue had many heated interviews with Martin O'Neill when he was Ireland manager, especially during the (unsuccessful) 2016–2017 qualifying campaign for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

O'Donoghue had a run-in with Qatari police during efforts to film in the country on 17 November, three days before the 2022 FIFA World Cup began.https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/irish-journalist-qatar-police-filming-b2228139.html The Independent (UK)

Personal life

O'Donoghue has supported the London Borough of Haringey team Tottenham Hotspur since childhood.

He was once married to RTÉ's Mary Wilson and they have a daughter. He remarried in November 2013.

In 2011, he had a lump removed from his neck and underwent radiation and chemotherapy after being diagnosed with cancer. O'Donoghue was worried about his upcoming football commitments but his oncologist Professor John Crown said: 'Tony, I want you to be well for the World Cup in Qatar in 2022'."

References

Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Gaelic games writers and broadcasters
Hot Press people
Irish columnists
Irish Examiner people
Irish sports broadcasters

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odonoghue, Tony
20th-century births