Shane Ó hEochagáin ( ; (of the tribe of Uí Néill) born 17 August 1969), known

mononym A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. A mononym may be the person's only name, given to them at birth. This was routine in most ancient societies, and remains ...

ously as Hector, is an Irish television and radio presenter born in

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...

, and raised in

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town and largest town of County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Leinster Blackwater, Blackwater, around 50 km northwest of Dublin. At the ...

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

. He is best known for travel shows on

TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...

, the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

television station in Ireland. He previously presented ''The Tommy, Hector and Laurita Podcast'' from September 2020 to April 2024, '' Breakfast with Hector'' on weekday mornings on RTÉ 2fm from October 2010 to December 2013 and ''The Sunday Sitting Room'' on

Today FM Today FM is an Irish commercial FM radio station, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio Ireland Limited. Broadcasting since 17 March 1997, it broadcasts mostly music, with a daily news and current affairs programme. Today FM holds a licen ...

Career

Born as Shane Keogan in

, Ó hEochagáin attended St Patrick's Classical School in

at the same time as

Tommy Tiernan Tommy Tiernan (; born 16 June 1969) is an Irish comedian, actor, and writer. He is best known for his stand-up career, hosting '' The Tommy Tiernan Show'' (2017–present) and playing Gerry in the sitcom '' Derry Girls'' (2018–2022). Early l ...

and Dylan Moran. He first came to the attention of Irish viewers with his travelogue programme ''Amú'' on

. After a few series with TG4, he created and hosted two primetime series: ''Only Fools Buy Horses'', which took a satirical look at the world of race-horse ownership; and '' Hanging with Hector'', which featured Ó hEochagáin spending time with Irish celebrities. One episode featured Ó hEochagáin with

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 ...

Bertie Ahern Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, and as Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008. A Teachta Dála (TD) from 1977 to 2011, he served ...

. Others included a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

with goalkeeper

Shay Given Séamus John James Given (born 20 April 1976) is an Irish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest Irish goalkeepers of all time ...

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

; taking on

Ken Doherty Kenneth Joseph Doherty (born 17 September 1969) is an Irish professional snooker player who also works as a commentator and pundit on televised snooker broadcasts. From Ranelagh in Dublin, he is the sport's only World Snooker Championship, wor ...

in snooker; and, most recently, spending time with

Aidan O'Brien Aidan Patrick O'Brien (born 16 October 1969 in County Wexford, Ireland) Aidan O'Brien bio NTRA. ...

, one of the world's most successful race horse trainers. He has won multiple

Irish Film and Television Awards The Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) is an all-Ireland organisation focused on film and television. It has about 1000 members, and is based in Dublin, with branches in London and Los Angeles. The IFTA now holds separate ceremonies for the ...

(IFTAs) for his shows, and presented a radio show on

i102-104FM i102-104FM was a regional station in Ireland, launched on 7 February 2008. The station had won a licence – as part of a strategy by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland to create a network of regional youth stations across the Republic – ...

and RTÉ 2FM with close friend Tommy Tiernan. Ó hEochagáin worked as a mechanical effects assistant on films such as "The Haunting of Hell House" and "Knocking On Death's Door". He has also appeared in advertisements for Paddy Whiskey and

Horse Racing Ireland Horse Racing Ireland (HRI; ) is the governing body of horse racing on the island of Ireland. It is based in the Curragh, County Kildare, next to the racecourse of that name. HRI was founded in 2001, succeeding the Irish Horseracing Authority, ...

. Ó hEochagáin has filmed multiple series for TG4 which saw him travelling throughout Britain and Ireland and from Siberia to Saigon among others. He also presented two popular satirical documentaries on rugby, ''Chasing the Lions'', a TV3 documentary featuring '' Après Match'' star Risteárd Cooper that saw both men follow the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

rugby team on their tour of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

; and ''Chasing the Blues'', following the misfortunes of the Irish rugby team at the World Cup in France. In the 2010 autumn schedule of RTÉ 2fm, Ó hEochagáin was selected as the new presenter of the breakfast show, from 7 to 9am, starting on 4 October 2010, and broadcast from the

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

studios in Galway. The show was axed in December 2013, and in September 2014 Ó hEochagáin vowed that he would "never work for 2FM again". In January 2013 he presented a new four-part series called ''Hector Goes'' on RTÉ 1. Part One of the series, ‘Hector Goes Holy’, sees him discussing the role of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in the contemporary

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

(he didn't cover

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 ...

, or

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

more generally, in the episode). Part Two, called ‘Hector Goes Traveller’, has him discovering the Traveller lifestyle today in Ireland. Part Three, ‘Hector Goes Country’, sees him in the company of Mike Denver, and discovering the world of Country and Western music in Ireland. The final episode in the series, ‘Hector Goes Hunting’, sees him in the world of hunting and shooting in Ireland. The series was broadcast on RTÉ 1 and reached over 1.8 million viewers. A new series of Hector Goes started airing in March 2014. The first episode was called ''Hector Goes Fishing'', and the second episode aired on 10 March and was called ''Hector goes Courtin''. Ó hEochagáin has also covered for

Ian Dempsey Ian Dempsey (born 16 January 1961) is an Irish presenter of television and breakfast radio. He is the long-running presenter of the breakfast show on Today FM, self-titled ''The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show'', which runs from 6-9 am each weekday. ...

during 2015. In 2019 he presented ''Hector USA - Ó Chósta go Cósta'', where he takes on a road trip in the US from Coast to Coast, across the Southern States from

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

on the Atlantic to

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

on the Pacific, road-tripping from

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

through

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

and

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

into

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

and

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

before finishing up on the Pacific seaboard in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, covering 8 states and more than 5,000 miles on the road. He presented ''The Tommy, Hector and Laurita Podcast'' from September 2020 until it finished in April 2024. In November 2024, his non-fiction book, ''The Irish Words You Should Know'', won at the

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Irish Book Awards The Irish Book Awards are Irish literary awards given annually to books and authors in various categories. It is the only literary award supported by all-Irish bookstores. The primary sponsor is An Post, the state owned postal service in Ireland ...

References

External links

Official website
*
Galway Independent Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oheochagain, Hector 1969 births 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Living people Irish radio presenters People educated at St Patrick's Classical School People from Drogheda RTÉ 2fm presenters RTÉ television presenters TG4 presenters Broadcasters from County Louth