Valerie is Underdog boss in TG4 schedule
STRONG CORK FLAVOUR AS TG4’S AUTUMNSCHEDULE HAS ITS LAUNCH IN RECENT DAYS
THERE’s a strong local flavour to TG4’s new Autumn schedule which was unveiled last week at a glitzy event in Cork’s River Lee hotel.
Cork GAA star Valerie Mulcahy leads out a strong local line-out presenting some of the Irish language TV station’s flagship programmes for the coming season.
The winner of ten All-Ireland titles with Cork is joined by Tradfest presenter Doireann Ní Ghlacaín, whose mother Sorcha Ní Riada, a reporter with Nuacht TG4, hails from Cúil Aodha. Also, RTÉ Radio 1 presenter John Creedon, who also has roots in Múscraí, is going to be involved in the award-winning, chart-topping country music programme, Glór Tíre; and take-no-prisoners tv soccer pundit and former footballer Roy Keane will show his softer side in a new documentary about guide dogs, Saol an Mhadaidh Bháin/The Life of the White Dog.
TG4 has carved out a reputation for itself as a broadcaster of high-quality documentaries, and this year’s Autumn schedule features ‘ De Valera i Meirceá’, a docudrama series which brings to light several unknown facts regarding the War of Independence leader and later Taoiseach, Eamon De Valera, and his trip to America following his dramatic 1919 breakout from Lincoln Prison. The series is produced by Cork company Forefront Productions.
Underdogs, which gets underway tonight (Thursday) at 8.30pm, has launched several careers of leading GAA players, including Kieran Donaghy of Kerry and Cork’s Pearse O’Neill. Donaghy won four All-Ireland Celtic Crosses while Pearse was part of the Cork team which challenged for all Ireland glory in 2007 and 2009 before winning in 2010. Mulcahy will take the role of manager and will be flanked by former Kerry manager Mickey Ned O’Sullivan, who captained Kerry in 1975, and Donegal star Kevin Cassidy.
In previous years the series has featured tough talking between the management team and individual players as they whittled their way down to the final panel.
Mulcahy told The Corkman this week that she was confident a number of players who feature in this year’s series of Underdogs would be starring in county teams in the future.
“I’m optimistic that we will be seeing a lot more of two or three players in the future and that others will be getting trials at least,” she said.
“The Underdogs trials and camps are held in a number of venues so I get to see a lot of Ireland,” she said. “I really enjoy getting to work with players who train hard and are committed and honest.”
Doireann Ní Ghlacaín is one of TG4’s new discoveries having come into the spotlight during her appearances on Fleadh TV, the nightly programme broadcast from the streets of Drogheda during the Fleadh Cheoil. An accomplished musician herself who has just launched her first album of traditional fiddle-playing, Doireann is at present completing a PhD on the song-writing tradition in the Múscraí Gaeltacht.
A central plank of TG4’s Autumn schedule this year is a docudrama series about Eamon De Valera’s diplomatic mission to America, which made its debut this week. Starring Marcus Lamb in the role of ‘Dev’, De Valera i Meirceá by Cork production company Forefront brings to light several hitherto undisclosed facts. Among these is the tale of how Dev was kept a virtual prisoner on the ship which brought him to the US due to his ‘on-the-run’ status as he underwent the voyage in the aftermath of his breakout from Lincoln Prison in England.
He had been jailed there after being lifted by British forces in Dublin. During his voyage from Liverpool to New York, he stayed in the ship’s boiler room, subsisting on brandy and Bovril and with no company other than the vessel’s rats.
During a nationwide tour of the US – where he spoke to full houses in venues such as Boston’s baseball stadium, Fenway Park – De Valera was made a chief of the Chippewas native American tribe. His visit wasn’t as well-received by others in the US, including some in Washington DC.
Dev’s experience during his American adventure was to play a formative role in the evolution of the statesman and his ascent to becoming Taoiseach and President of Ireland.