Nemeton Spotlight Feature: Cathal O’Hare

This week in our Spotlight Feature series we chat to one of our most experienced producers Cathal O’Hare.

I am one of the Producers in Nemeton. Normally we are all working on an OB over the weekend so Monday is a day off for most of us. So the week starts on a Tuesday morning with a production meeting where the weekend’s programmes are discussed and dissected and then the upcoming programmes will be organised. There is a great team here and we all help each other with ideas for inserts and graphics so there is always plenty of brainstorming.

Wednesday would be a day for getting the Ord Reatha (Running Order) together and then on Thursday you would be sitting in with an editor getting the Inserts put together.

Friday is usually a day for getting the Data done (for Graphics) and also touching base with the analysts about the plan for the live broadcast ahead.

I just love sport in general but I also love how it’s covered on television. I remember one of my teachers back at school telling us all to read at least one thing from the newspaper every single day so I always read the sports pages of my father’s Evening Herald paper. I loved Jack Charlton’s Republic of Ireland football team back then, so was I always keeping up to date on the latest updates. Still now,I always buy The Irish Times on a Monday to get their Sports Supplement and catch up on all the GAA and soccer games that have happened over the weekend. At the other end of the scale, new innovative coverage like the Red Zone from the NFL is brilliant too and I love how that is so instant (and especially if the Miami Dolphins are doing well!).

It’s great going to games and to work behind the scenes. We are obviously not as close to the action as the players but we get close enough to things. We went over to Boston to cover the Fenway Classic hurling competition back in 2018 and it was a great experience. Our call-time was really early in the morning as we had to set up and rehearse with the new American crew. There was a bit of downtime after all that so I just wandered around on my own underneath the old stands. The stadium is over 100 years old and is really a shrine to baseball. There was absolutely no one around so I had the place to myself looking at all of the old photos and memorabilia covering the walls with all of the hot dog stands and popcorn machines lying silent before the crowds arrived.

I am happy that I have worked across a wide spread of sports in my time here in Nemeton. I started out on Sacar BEO, working on League of Ireland soccer and now I work mostly on GAA BEO with Gaelic Football and hurling as well as the Peil na mBan coverage. Down through the years I have worked on the likes of snooker, boxing, the Volvo Ocean Race and horse racing as well. I am currently involved in the production of the Rásaí BEO series and last year we visited 12 of Ireland’s 26 racecourses so hopefully we can get to a few more this year and maybe even hit the 26 of them eventually! That would be a good achievement I think.

You need to trust your colleagues and a love of sport is a must, but sure what would a day be without a bit of craic and there is plenty of that in the place!

Is maith liom An Rinn. Nuair a bhíonn an ghrian ag taitneamh tá an áit go hálainn. Tá teach agam i nDún na Mainistreach agus is maith liom an baile Dhún Garbhán. Tá an baile beo leis na daoine agus na bialanna agus tithe tábhairne. Is breá liom rothaíocht agus tá an Rian Glas na nDéise (Waterford Greenway) go hiontach! Is maith liom ag rothaíocht suas na Sléibhte an Chomaraigh agus an Cósta Chopair (Copper Coast).