Hailing from Quilty, a former fishing village between Milltown Malbay and Doonbeg in west Clare, Marty Morrissey knows only too well the importance of people living in rural Ireland checking in on each other.
“My grandfather was a small farmer, he used to get up at four in the morning to milk the cows. I remember as a child coming home on holidays and hearing the hard nail boots on the flagstone floor at that early hour thinking; ‘why would you pick the farming life, the days are so long and can be tough’? But it was simply a love of the land, it was everything to him.
“Perhaps it was more of a simple life back then. There was also a sense of connection – tramming the hay, going to the bog together, visiting each other. People don’t do that as much anymore, which can make rural living isolating and sometimes, a lonely place to live,” he says.
The early years
Marty was born in Mallow, Co Cork – the home of his mother – and was then raised in the Bronx, New York where both of his parents worked.
At the age of 10, he and his parents, Martin and Peggy moved home to Ireland to the Kilmurry Ibrickane parish in Clare where his father bought a pub.
“I have often said that growing up in the pub was probably better than doing a PhD, you learn a lot. People come into a pub, whether it’s in the morning or the afternoon or night-time, and they want to relax.
"You’ve got to be in a good mood yourself seven days a week, close to 365 days a year so you can’t switch off. It does teach you about people, and how important it is to have a smile, if you can,” says Marty.
It was all hands on deck. Like any family business in rural Ireland, everyone played their part which meant Marty (as an only child) did his fair share of work.
“I had no choice because when we came home from New York, it was the only pub in the village. It was a grocery shop which my bedroom was over, all in one house.
"Then there was the Quilty Dance Hall, which was a beehive of activity in its day, attracting famous faces like Willie Clancey, Junior Crehan, Paddy Galvin and Michael Russel,” he says.
Living in Rathfarnham in Dublin now with a busy schedule, Marty enjoys returning to the Wild Atlantic Way when he can. However, since losing his mother Peggy in a road traffic accident in Co Clare in December 2021, it hasn’t felt the same.
“It is very different to go into the house now, because it’s empty. I still love it, and it is home, and I’m getting better. But I haven’t gone near her bedroom, I haven’t done anything, it’s only now I’m beginning to clean out an odd room and get her clothes together. You just have to think, I had her until she was 94, but you still don’t ever want to lose anyone.
“Grief doesn’t leave you. You get on with what you have to do but it doesn’t leave you that quickly or that easily.
“My father died in 2004, my mother had 17 years on her own, living in a house on the side of the road. I used to ask her ‘do people call in’? And she would say ‘no people weren’t calling in as often as they used to’ but our neighbours were always great.
"I think there is a lot of loneliness. I think we do need to start going back to visiting each other. Go in and have a cup of tea for five minutes,” says the RTÉ GAA correspondent.
Marty ‘being a country boy’ is very much aware of the loneliness, and it is not just in rural Ireland, but cities too.
“I love where I live, in Rathfarnham, I have a lovely King Charles called Sammy who has been the conduit for so many conversations. I realized people do want to talk,” he says.
Break the Cycle
The commentator is looking forward to heading to the Ploughing on Wednesday, 18 September, where he will be in the Irish Farmers Journal stand, encouraging people to get up on a bike, even for just a few minutes or a kilometre to help raise awareness for mental health in rural Ireland and to support Aware.
“I’m very happy to do this, because I think we need to spread the message. We need to visit each other, make the contact. You’re not intruding, people often love a bit of company. We need to mind each other and talk, talk, talk,” says Marty.
In terms of funding and government supports for mental health, he adds “there is a lot of great work being done at the moment, but there could probably be a lot more done.”
Finding his voice
When Marty went to college, he started medicine in UCC but realising it wasn’t for him, he switched to secondary school teaching and went on to do a Master’s in education in Galway.
As the local convent was becoming a co-educational school, he got a job there – not on his academic ability, but because of football – he was coaching the teams.
At an under 21’s county final in Doonbegg, a local postman asked him would he commentate on the match as he knew all the players on the team, reluctantly he said yes.
“We showed the VHS in the bar that we owned, and charged 50 pence in because the money went to the two clubs. I didn’t go in I was mortified because I didn’t know what I was doing,” he says.
Afterwards, Marty was persuaded to send up a tape to RTÉ in Dublin, which to him seemed 1,000 miles away from West Clare.
“I did that for three years and every time I got a rejection. I kept saying, ‘I’ll keep trying’. I wanted to learn,” he says.
Don’t be afraid to follow your dream. You have to keep working to learn your craft and get better
Eventually in 1989, they gave him two auditions. Marty failed them both until Frank Whelan who worked in the sports department said, ‘we’re either going to give you a chance or we’re going to tell you where to go’.
His chance came when he was asked to cover a Sunday match, Dublin was playing Armagh and it was going to be aired on Sunday Sports. “I was tested that night, and I ended up doing 13 matches that year,” he says.
In 1990, Marty got ‘Mary Wilson’s job’, as he calls it and went to RTÉ Cork where he was for four years.
Tim O’Connor wanted to meet him in Killarney and at this stage Marty was freelancing for five years. He offered him a job in RTÉ in Dublin and he has been there ever since.
“I found my niche in broadcasting because I loved it and, in all honesty, at the time, all I wanted to do was sports commentary. Now there are more ways of doing things, and there are more opportunities,” he says.
Getting rejected time and time again wasn’t easy and Marty acknowledges that not being where you want to be can be difficult for young people.
But he says, “Don’t be afraid to follow your dream. You have to keep working to learn your craft and get better,” he says.
Famous face
Being recognised everywhere he goes; Marty has some funny moments. At the beginning of his career, he just wanted to do matches and then he started doing a lot of sidelines, pieces to camera and people got to know him.
“I would have to say I enjoy it, but it isn’t my primary objective. I love my radio show on a bank holiday Monday, because you get to be yourself,” says Marty.
After a busy summer full of GAA coverage and sports, the broadcaster is looking forward to the ‘Marty Party’ as it heads to Benalmadena Spain on 1 October. It is sold out but there is a waiting list in place.
What began as an Oliver Callan sketch and a bit of gentle banter on Dancing with the Stars – the ‘Marty Party’ association stuck and turned into a stage show.
“I wanted to do something different,” he says of his motivations for the shows. “Last year, I ran five variety shows up and down the country with special guests each night. Then I was approached by Killester Travel to take the concept abroad on a week-long holiday.”
“I’ve never done it before, and we’re going to have great fun. I’m surprised how many people are going,” he says.
Before heading off to Spain, something Marty is really looking forward to is performing with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Gavin Maloney, taking place on 26 September in the National Concert Hall, Dublin and 27 September in Leisureland, Galway.
He is presenting his Sporting Life: the games, the music and the craic. “I am so honoured to be working with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, it’s a sports theme and it’s a bit of craic. I really hope people enjoy it,” says Marty.
For more information on these events check out orchestras.rte.ie/events and killestertravel.com
