Latest news with #ColmO'Callaghan
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Hell for Leather: How we made RTÉ's epic new GAA series
Colm O'Callaghan, RTÉ's Head of Specialist Factual Content, introduces Hell for Leather, an epic new 5-part RTÉ One series, delving into the role of Gaelic football in the sporting, cultural and social history of modern Ireland. RTÉ's history of hurling series The Game was first broadcast in May 2018. Made by Crossing the Line Productions and directed by Gerry Nelson, it was a cinematic and wide-ranging undertaking that, in its style, execution and ambition, resonated quickly. I've written previously here about why we commissioned it. As soon as the curtain came down on that series, our thoughts turned quickly to an obvious next step: a similar strand about Gaelic football. The seven years its taken to finally get that five-parter - Hell for Leather - to air, is worthy of a drama serial in itself and there were times when I felt we were never going to see it home at all. Needless to say, I'm glad we stayed the journey. As tends to be case with large-scale commissioned projects, I took many meetings and did an awful lot of talking before even formally asking RTÉ to consider supporting it. The primary issue was with what had just gone before it and with how effectively The Game had landed. Should we even bother, I asked the creative team at Crossing the Line, to attempt something similar with a sport often regarded by purists as the less aesthetic and less skilful of the family of national games? Any misgivings I had were quickly put to bed by a couple of trusted friends and regular sounding boards. Michael Moynihan and Diarmuid O'Donovan are fellow clubmen of mine from the fabled Glen Rovers on the northside of Cork city, even if Diarmuid is arguably better known for his involvement with the football side of that club, Saint Nicholas, and his work in a variety of roles at county level. Sharp, serious men both, they sketched out a provisional list of potential themes, topics, chapters and cast members for the team to chew over and flesh out. They didn't so much ease my mind as bend it in a variety of directions and, by doing so, turned much of what I'd ever thought about Gaelic football on its head. The game in Ulster, industry and All-Ireland success in the midlands, the eventual dawning of the women's game, Kerry's eternal majesty, the Jacks and the Culchies, Dulchies, Heffernan, Dwyer, the mighty men from Down, the mighty women of Cork. Seán Boylan, Mick O'Connell, the golden age of wireless, Sister Pauline Gibbons, Jim McGuinness and Jim Gavin. Bringing boardroom thinking to breeze-blocked dressing rooms. Renaissance, reformation, age of empires, true leaders and the days of our lives: it was up to director Gerry Nelson to shape the mine of history, some of it happening before him in real time, into tangible blocks. Sport is often seen as a reflection of life and, in this regard, its possible to trace the development of modern Ireland since way before independence through the prism of Gaelic football. Stitching this editorial thread into the heart of Hell for Leather was always a tall order but one that producers John Murray, Jessica McGurk and Siobhán Ward managed with typical elan. So in as much as the series tracks the evolution and history of the game as comprehensively as time allows, it also tells a story of Ireland. With The Game already under the belts of the production team – as well as 2020's one-off, Christy Ring: Man and Ball – the doors opened far more easily this time around. Jarlath Burns, who has since become the most recent Uachtarán of Cumann Lúthchleas Gael, was an enthusiastic voice from early on and helped unlock a variety of editorial lines. In every club and parish that we approached during the long gestation of this series – and there were many – the welcome was fierce and the humour was always good. So, what kept us? When we first discussed the potential for a series, I'm not sure if any of us expected the production period to endure for so long. But then neither could we have foreseen Covid, an All-Ireland final played during a lockdown and the consequences for sport, film-making and life in general during that time. Projects of this scale also require multiple funding and finance strands too and, to this end, we're grateful to Coimisiún na Meán, the Department of Finance, the Gaelic Athletic Association and to Collen, our generous sponsors, without whom the project could never have taken flight. And then there's the more mundane and practical stuff. Many of those featured in the series are proud, fabled former players for whom modesty has long prevented them from opening up about their own heroics and the scale of their achievements. The likes of Mick O'Connell, Seán O'Neill, Jimmy Gray and Seán Murphy are among many who decorate this production but for whom numerous site visits and no little persuasion was necessary. Others, despite our best and enduring efforts, just couldn't or wouldn't commit. All history is contestable, of course, and this too is the case with Hell for Leather. How can one realistically do justice to such a varied and complicated past in just 250 minutes of airtime? It is, therefore, to the credit of Gerry Nelson and series editor Andrew Hearne that the series delivers far more than the sum of its parts and still stays true to its purpose as agreed way back at the start. Gaelic football, flush with its recent re-enhancements, is enjoying a renewed sense of freedom, and talk of its latest existential crisis has abated, at least for now. As the former Kerry captain, Dara Ó Cinnéide told Nelson, "at the end of the day it's a game … but it's this bloody game we love so much". As a reminder about why Gaelic football's well-being matters, Hell for Leather is as good a starting point as any.
Irish Examiner
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Meath rebound, Cork pledge 'all guns blazing' for Kingdom test
All-Ireland SFC Group 2: Meath 1-13 (1-0-13) Cork 0-12 (0-2-10) IF Cork are to make the last 12 of the All-Ireland SFC for the third year in succession, it's a different path they must take. Beating either Kerry at home next Saturday or Roscommon at a neutral venue in the middle of June is likely to be required to make the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals. In the two previous iterations of this championship format, a first round win had set them on course but they were foiled Saturday by a Meath side who eventually overcome the Leinster final hangover. Cork had been economical in a first half that demanded patience facing a stiff breeze. A three-point trail, 0-5 to 1-5, would have been considered a job well done but they actually led by three before Meath discovered their shooting boots in the closing stages of the half. When the elements were in their favour, save for a couple of two-pointers, Cork simply didn't do enough. In Ian Maguire and Colm O'Callaghan, they have one of, it not the longest established, midfield partnership in the Sam Maguire Cup but they were constantly spoiled on their own kick-outs. Without that platform, Cork were in Meath's slipstream even though they cut the margin to a single point just before the hour mark. However, the hosts composed themselves with a Matthew Costello free. James Conlon followed it up with an effort from play and Costello provided the cushion with his fifth point in the 66th minute. The likes of Seán and Tommy Walsh around the middle were sorely missed by Cork not to mention Brian Hurley and Conor Corbett also being absent from the forward line. As Kerry return to SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh this Saturday, more resources will be required irrespective of how far Cork pushed them there in last month's Munster semi-final. 'Since that, Kerry have blown everyone out of the water and we've been beaten here today, so it might throw a different light on that,' said Cork manager John Cleary. 'But look, we will prepare the same as we did for the last day and hopefully we can manage things better than we did today. We'll just see how next week goes and look, we'll go in all guns blazing as always and see where it takes us.' Cleary, Kevin Walsh and company won't need to review this game to realise too many key players were too quiet. There was the midfield malaise, Seán Powter and Cathail O'Mahony made little impact on the game while Brian O'Driscoll, again one of his team's best players this season, wasn't cutting through as he has been doing. O'Callaghan's two-pointer in the 39th minute was Cork's last score for 17 minutes in which time Meath's dominance in midfield was key to them stringing together five points. Meath manager Robbie Brennan admitted the impact of losing Leinster was evident in his side's sloppy opening half – training sessions in the wake of the loss to Louth had been lax, he admitted – but he took something from the amount of chances they were creating. Aside from that, he paid tribute to Conlon who missed his grandfather Hughie Sherlock's funeral to play the game in which he scored two points. 'I don't know how he did it, but I was so proud of him, and I know his family are a big footballing family and they really wanted him to play, and they should all be very, very proud of him today. 'You wouldn't have known, his preparation was phenomenal. Obviously, we knew earlier during the week, but there was never a doubt that he wasn't going to play, and that's what you get I suppose when you have a football family. To actually go out and perform like he did, he got a brilliant score at one stage there in the second half, so absolutely delighted for him.' Meath kicked just two points from 12 scoring opportunities in the first 27 minutes but catapulted ahead when Jordan Morris struck for a fine goal on the half-hour mark. The genesis of the attack was unusual as Chris Óg Jones appeared to pull out of making a tackle believing he had breached the three-up rule when Cork had the required amount of bodies in the Meath half of the field. It meant Cork had to chase and while they caught up they never overtook. Both managers now face one-week turnarounds to next weekend's games against opponents who will have had an extra week's break. 'That's maybe the reward you get for winning your provincial and so be it,' said Cleary of Kerry winning Munster. 'And I think even what's coming down along the line after that, two weeks later there's a game, whoever goes into the preliminary quarter-final and then you have a quarter-final three weeks in a row. 'So that's very hard, particularly in the new game there. And, you know, the hits are hard there, particularly around the middle with the kick-out. So, but look, that's for another day. And we have the same rules as anyone else so we just have to brush ourselves down and go again next week.' Brennan added: 'I probably was assuming we'd be on the Sunday, even an extra day makes a big difference, but a week turnaround, to be honest, it looks like there's too many matches in a short space of time, and it's just how do you fit them all in?' Scorers for Meath: M. Costello (0-5, 1 free); J. Morris (1-1); E. Frayne (0-3, frees); J. Conlon (0-2); B. Hogan (45), S. Coffey (0-1 each). Scorers for Cork: C. Jones, M. Cronin (1tp, 0-2 frees) (0-4 each); C. O'Callaghan (0-2, 1tp); M. Taylor, R. Deane (0-1 each). MEATH: B. Hogan; S. Lavin, S. Rafferty, R. Ryan; D. Keogan, S. Coffey, C. Caulfield; J. Flynn, B. Menton; C. Duke, R. Kinsella, M. Costello; J. Morris, J. Conlon, E. Frayne (c). Subs for Meath: A. O'Neill for J. Flynn (inj), K. Curtis for E. Frayne (both 45); C, Hickey for C. Duke (50); S. Walsh for J. Conlon (64); J. McEntee for R. Kinsella (temp 67-69). CORK: M.A. Martin; S. Meehan, D. O'Mahony (c), M. Shanley; P. Walsh, B. O'Driscoll, M. Taylor; I. Maguire, C. O'Callaghan; S. Powter, S. McDonnell, E. McSweeney; M. Cronin, C. Jones, C. O'Mahony. Subs for Cork: R. Deane for S. Powter, R. Maguire for E. McSweeney (50); E. O'Hanlon for C. O'Mahony (56); C. Cahalane for P. Walsh (62); L. Fahy for M. Taylor (temp 64-ft); H. O'Connor for M. Cronin (68). Referee: N. Mooney (Cavan).
