Ger Canning is an Irish sports commentator with Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ).

Ger Canning
Born (1951-05-10) 10 May 1951 (age 73)
Cork, Ireland
NationalityIrish
OccupationSports commentator
EmployerRaidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ)

Career

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Ger Canning was born in Cork on 10 May 1951. He was a secondary school teacher at South Presentation school in Cork City when he began his broadcasting career with Cork Local Radio in 1978.[1]

Two years later in 1980 he joined the national broadcaster, Radio Telefís Éireann, as a member of the station's sports department. As a fluent Irish-speaker his first All-Ireland final commentary was on RTÉ 2 in 1981, because the station then had a policy of using the two channels for commentaries in both English and Irish. After Michael O'Hehir's retirement due to ill-health in 1985, Canning became the main Gaelic games commentator on RTÉ television. Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh took over O'Hehir's duties as a radio commentator. To date Canning has broadcast nearly 75 All-Ireland finals (including three in Irish).

Canning commentated on every All-Ireland senior hurling final from 1985 to 2016.[2]

Canning has worked on many sporting events for RTÉ, including:

He was assigned commentary duties for the 1985 European Cup Final, before which he witnessed the Heysel Stadium disaster.[5] He was assigned commentary duties for the UEFA Euro 2020.[6]

Other interests

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Canning played association football for University College Cork A.F.C. and College Corinthians and played minor and junior Gaelic football for St Finbarr's.[1]

He has lectured in Radio Broadcasting at Colaiste Stiofan Naofa in Cork.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ a b Moynihan, Michael (1 June 2009). "Three decades making the big calls for Canning". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  2. ^ "An Amazing Broadcasting Streak Will End During The All-Ireland Hurling Final". Balls.ie. 2 September 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  3. ^ "RTÉ Sport will broadcast live coverage of the Irish Women's Hockey Olympic Qualifier final". RTÉ Sport. RTÉ. 23 March 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  4. ^ Watterson, Johnny (26 March 2012). "Ibrox was bouncing - and this time it wasn't the cheques". The Irish Times. Irish Times Trust. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  5. ^ "Heysel: Ger Canning recalls nightmare from the stands". 29 May 2015.
  6. ^ "RTÉ announces details of UEFA EURO 2020 coverage – live and exclusive". about.rte.ie. 10 June 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2021.