FRANK O'BRIEN, who has died aged 58, had a unique quality as a radio sports journalist in that he brought all the passion, excitement and enthusiasm of a diehard supporter to his popular commentaries on Munster rugby games.
His voice will be missed this evening on 96 FM when Munster line out against Leinster in the semi-final of the Heineken Cup at Croke Park. He was due to commentate on the game and his accreditation had been confirmed barely an hour before he died suddenly at his home on St Patrick’s Hill in Cork on Monday last.
To say he was something of a legend in media circles would be an understatement. He worked as a stringer (part-time correspondent) and researcher at the radio station and had an unerring nose for a good story.
He also had an intimate knowledge of the intricacies of local politics, which for 10 years informed his subsequent role as the producer of a spiky daily talk show.
Famously, in the course of one radio phone-in that he produced, a key supporter of Fianna Fáil TD Noel O’Flynn – whose comments on asylum seekers had been disowned by then taoiseach Bertie Ahern– was alleged to be masquerading as a neutral voter and attempting to vilify a rival candidate.
In his youth, O’Brien was an all-round local sports star, winning an All-Ireland colleges hurling medal with Farranferris and later playing soccer with Cork Celtic and rugby with Dolphin.
He brought an encyclopaedic knowledge to sports coverage and his commentaries proved so popular he became “the voice” of rugby on 96FM.
However, while his unbridled passion was palpable over the airwaves, and his comments, sometimes over the top and partisan, especially when Munster was playing, they were invariably tempered by the more measured tones of Cork solicitor and co-presenter Olann Kelleher. Kelleher had played in the famous victory of 1978 when Munster defeated the All Blacks, the only Irish side ever to do so.
If anything, O’Brien’s lack of French enhanced the quirky nature of his commentary when Munster played teams from France.
As fellow radio journalist PJ Coogan recalls, their pre-match phonetic French lessons went out the window once the game began. “An entirely different line-up of French players would suddenly take to the field”.
Likewise, when he encountered difficulty with Leifimi Maffi’s name, surprised listeners were treated to the emergence of a new Munster centre called Larry Murphy, a handy soubriquet for the Tongan player.
In a colourful life, he once ran a pub in the centre of Cork city named the Greyhound Bar and also managed the bar at Pairc Uí Chaoimh, the GAA stadium.
He was a close friend of the Cork musician and singer Joe Mac of the Dixies, and they would often organise gigs from time to time.
However, he was to find his true calling as producer of the often contentious Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s 96FM which has a large listenership in the city and county.
While Prendeville infuriates as many as he entertains, O’Brien was regarded as the driving force behind the show’s success.
He retired as a radio producer three years ago to care for his wife Mary.
True to form, he was actually preparing questions for a rugby quiz – with the winner scooping tickets to the Munster/Leinster game – shortly before he died. Motions of sympathy were passed at this week’s meeting of Cork City Council.
He is survived by his wife Mary (neé McCarthy) children Michael, Colm, Frank, Úna and Barry, grandchildren Alex, Sophie and Elena and sister Bernie.
Frank O’Brien: born October 4th, 1950; died April 27th, 2009