Kieran McGeeney

Kieran McGeeney (born 18 October 1971) is an Irish former Gaelic football player and manager, who most recently managed the Kildare senior football team from 2007 to 2013.

McGeeney played football with his local club Mullaghbawn Cúchullain's in Armagh and was formerly a member of the Na Fianna club in Dublin. He was a member of the Armagh senior football team from 1992 until 2007, captaining the county to the 2002 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, their first and only title.

Playing career

Club

Born at Mullaghbawn, County Armagh, McGeeney was a member of Mullaghbawn's 1995 Armagh Senior Football Championship and Ulster Senior Club Football Championship winning side. He later moved clubs to Na Fianna on the northside of Dublin. With them he won the 1999 Leinster Senior Club Football Championship as well as three Dublin Senior Football Championships.

Inter-county

McGeeney, since captained the much revered Armagh to a historic first and only All-Ireland title in 2002. He won three All Stars Awards (1999, 2000 and 2002) and six Ulster Senior Football Championship medals (1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006). He also received the 2002 Texaco Footballer of the Year award.

International rules football

International rules football (Irish: Peil na rialacha idirnáisiunta; also known as inter rules in Australia and compromise rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed to facilitate international representative matches between Australian rules football players and Gaelic football players.

The first tour, known as the Australian Football World Tour, took place in 1967, with matches played in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The following year, games were played between Australia and a touring County Meath Gaelic football team, Meath being the reigning All-Ireland senior football champions. Following intermittent international tests between Australia and Ireland, the International Rules Series between the senior Australian international rules football team and Ireland international rules football team has been played annually since 1998 (except for the cancelled 2007 edition), and has generally been a closely matched contest. The sport has raised interest and exposure in developing markets for Gaelic and Australian football and has been considered a development tool by governing bodies of both codes, particularly by the AFL Commission.

The Sunday Game

The Sunday Game is Raidió Teilifís Éireann's main Gaelic games television programme. It is shown on RTÉ Two every Sunday during the Football Championship and Hurling Championship seasons. It is one of RTÉ Two’s longest-running shows, having been on air since 1979, one year after the channel first began broadcasting. It celebrated its 30th season in 2008.

Gaelic games broadcasting

Early years

The Gaelic games of Gaelic football and hurling have always been at the heart of broadcasting in Ireland from its earliest days. 2RN, Ireland's first radio broadcasting station, was established on 1 January 1926 and, from the outset, sports coverage, albeit infrequent, was a feature of the schedules. Early broadcasts consisted of team announcements and short reports on events of interest.

2RN, however, recorded a broadcasting first on 29 August 1926. On that day former hurler and renowned Gaelic games journalist, P.D. Mehigan, carried a live commentary of Kilkenny's All-Ireland hurling semi-final victory over Galway. It was the first live radio broadcast of a field game outside of the United States.