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Bill O'Herlihy (26 September 1938 – 25 May 2015) was an Irish television broadcaster and public relations executive. He was best known for his broadcasts for Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), primarily in politics and sport. A presenter for ten
FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
s and ten
Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...
, O'Herlihy was noted for his "Okey doke" catchphrase. He retired from RTÉ following its coverage of the
2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...
. According to the ''
Irish Examiner The ''Irish Examiner'', formerly ''The Cork Examiner'' and then ''The Examiner'', is an Republic of Ireland, Irish national daily newspaper which primarily circulates in the Munster region surrounding its base in Cork (city), Cork, though it is ...
'' newspaper, "with the possible exception of
Michael O'Hehir Michael James Hehir (also known as Michael O'Hehir and ; 2 June 1920 – 24 November 1996) was an Irish hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and ...
, Bill O'Herlihy was the broadcaster most universally welcome in Irish homes over the last 50 years."


Early life

Born and raised in Glasheen in
Cork city Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...
, O'Herlihy was the son of a local government official and the grandson of William O'Herlihy, a '' Cork Examiner'' news editor. He was educated at Glasheen boys' national school and later at St. Finbarr's College, Farranferris.


Print journalism

After finishing his schooling at fifteen, O'Herlihy followed his grandfather into journalism and secured a job in the reading room of the ''Cork Examiner''. He was only seventeen years old when he subsequently became sub-editor of the '' Evening Echo'', a position he held for five years. He also graduated to the positions of news, features and sports reporter.


Broadcasting

In the early 1960s O'Herlihy began his broadcasting career when he started to do local soccer reports from Cork for Radio Éireann. In 1965 he made his first television broadcast in a programme commemorating the sinking of the ''
Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province encompassing most of modern-day Portugal (south of the Douro River) and a large portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and Province of Salamanca). Romans named the region after th ...
'' off the Cork coast. After three years O'Herlihy was asked to join RTÉ's current affairs programme '' 7 Days'' to add the required field-reporting skills to the studio-based interviews. The programme had a reputation for its hard-hitting investigative reporting and he reported on many varying stories from illegal fishing in Cork to the outbreak of the crisis in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. In November 1970 the ''7 Days'' programme came into controversy when O'Herlihy reported a story on illegal money lending. The report was unconventional as it was one of the first television pieces to use hidden cameras, it claimed the government were not responding to illegal moneylending. A tribunal of inquiry would follow, and O'Herlihy was forced to move away from current affairs. Following this controversy, while O'Herlihy wasn't sacked (as he had fifteen months left on his contract with RTÉ), he was moved to the RTÉ Sports department - where he worked under
Michael O'Hehir Michael James Hehir (also known as Michael O'Hehir and ; 2 June 1920 – 24 November 1996) was an Irish hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and ...
, who disliked O'Herlihy and his broadcasting style. In spite of this O'Herlihy fronted RTÉ's television coverage of the
Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
that year. He also became involved in the production of various sports programmes. O'Herlihy was not long in the RTÉ Sports department when he became a regular presenter for such programmes as ''
Sunday Sport The ''Sunday Sport'' is a British tabloid newspaper that was founded by David Sullivan in 1986. It mainly publishes images of topless female glamour models, and is well-known for publishing sensationalised, fictionalised, and satirical con ...
'' and ''
Sports Stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...
''. In 1978 he became RTÉ Soccer host alongside Eamon Dunphy, in 1984 John Giles joined the panel and Liam Brady did in 1998. Since 1974 Bill became RTÉ's chief sports presenter for such events as all Olympic Games until
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
,
FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
s until
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
,
UEFA European Football Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...
s until
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
and European and World Track and Field Championships. He hosted RTÉ highlights of the
Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States, with hosting duties alternating between venues in Europe and the United States for each edition. The cup is named after the English businessman S ...
in 2006 when it was at the K Club in Ireland and continued to present coverage of Ireland's soccer internationals for RTÉ, along with
Eamon Dunphy Eamon Martin Dunphy (born 3 August 1945) is an Irish media personality, journalist, broadcaster, author, sports pundit and former professional footballer. He grew up playing football for several youth teams including Stella Maris. Since retirin ...
,
Johnny Giles Michael John Giles (born 6 November 1940) is an Irish former association football player and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from management in 1985, Giles served as ...
and
Liam Brady William Brady (born 13 February 1956) is an Irish former footballer and pundit. He found success both in England with Arsenal, where he won an FA Cup in 1979, and in Italy with Juventus, winning two Serie A titles. Brady was capped 72 times for ...
. He hosted RTÉ's coverage of rugby union in the 1980s and early 1990s. However, when RTÉ attained the rights to cover the
English Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...
in 1992, Tom McGurk took over as host of RTÉ's coverage of rugby union. O'Herlihy covered the Premier League, Irish Internationals and the Champions League before dropping the Premier League in 2008. He continued to cover the Olympic Games and International Athletic Championships such as the European & World Athletics. He presented the first
Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...
on RTÉ television in 1987 and, with Jim Carney, co-presented the first edition of '' The Sunday Game'' in 1979. In 2012, while covering Chloe Magee's progress at the
2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
O'Herlihy remarked that badminton was once considered "a mainly Protestant sport". RTÉ subsequently received a number of complaints, and while Magee criticised the remarks, the argument was made that the incident inadvertently reflected a complex historical reality. O'Herlihy presented
RTÉ Sport RTÉ Sport is a department of Irish public broadcaster RTÉ. The department provides sporting coverage through a number of platforms including RTÉ Radio, RTÉ Television, RTÉ.ie, RTÉ Player, RTÉ Player Sport and RTÉ.ie, RTÉ Mobile. RTÉ h ...
's coverage of the
2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...
, his ninth FIFA World Cup. He fronted 18 European Championships and FIFA World Cups for RTÉ, the last of which came in
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
. This proved to be the final tournament with O'Herlihy at the helm; he retired at its conclusion and died the following year. At the time of his death, O'Herlihy was working on a sports version of '' Reeling in the Years'', which RTÉ immediately cancelled.


Public relations and political advice

As a result of the fallout of the ''7 Days'' tribunal, O'Herlihy appeared to quit journalism altogether in 1973, and established a new
public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...
company called Public Relations of Ireland (O'Herlihy Communications). In 2004, the '' Sunday Independent'' reported that O'Herlihy had lobbied on behalf of an Irish company, Bula Resources which was adversely affected by sanctions on
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
. Environmental lobbygroup and charity
An Taisce An Taisce – The National Trust for Ireland (; "An Taisce" meaning "the store" or "the treasury"), established on a provisional basis in September 1946, and incorporated as a company based on an “association not for profit” in June 1948, is ...
also claim that O'Herlihy's company, on behalf of a client, was involved in lobbying for controversial rezoning of land at Cherrywood in Dublin. O'Herlihy's PR consultancy was also involved in lobbying for the tobacco industry in Ireland, which came under scrutiny for attempts to influence government health and budget policy. O'Herlihy had grown up in a family that had strongly supported the
Fine Gael Fine Gael ( ; ; ) is a centre-right, liberal-conservative, Christian democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil Éireann. The party had a member ...
party and, in 1977, he became a media adviser to the party. He fulfilled that role for much of the next decade and was one of Garret FitzGerald's "handlers" during his two terms as
Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...
in the 1980s.


Death

O'Herlihy attended the 12th Irish Film & Television Awards on Sunday 24 May 2015. He died the following day at the age of 76 nearly a year after his retirement. He was survived by his wife Hillary and daughters Jill and Sally. Johnny Giles, Liam Brady and Eamon Dunphy appeared on '' The Late Late Show'' in tribute later that week.


References


External links

*
Richie Sadlier: Bill was the most kind-hearted man I ever worked with
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oherlihy, Bill 1938 births 2015 deaths 20th-century Irish businesspeople 21st-century Irish businesspeople Businesspeople from Cork (city) Irish Examiner people Irish public relations people Irish sports broadcasters Jacob's Award winners Broadcasters from Cork (city) RTÉ television presenters People educated at St Finbarr's College, Farranferris