A national loss
For those of us for whom the GAA would be the number one sport to follow, we all feel a sense of loss following the passing of Michael Lyster.
If the late Micheal O Muircheartaigh was the voice of the GAA for my generation, Michael Lyster was its face. While fellow Galway man Jim Carney was the inaugural presenter of the Sunday Game, it was Michael Lyster who was synonymous with it, in a remarkable 34 year career from Centenary year of 1984 right up to his retirement in 2018.
Back when television coverage of inter-county GAA was still in its infancy, the Sunday Game highlights show at night was must-see with homes and pubs falling into silence when the clock turned to 9.30pm and the theme tune (the original should be brought back as the current version is nothing compared to it) came on. Indeed, people who would have attended a game earlier in the day would ensure they were home in time to watch the Sunday Game.
In the same way the late Bill O’Herlihy was for soccer, when Michael Lyster appeared on the screen you knew you were in safe and trusted hands in terms of Gaelic games. Both men were the same in that they knew their role, purely as the hosts to direct the debate but never giving their say, leaving the analysts to give their views. It’s something modern hosts and particularly commentators have lost in they are giving their opinion too much, or in some cases stifling opinion, which is utterly frustrating as a viewer.
Michael Lyster certainly has been missed as he allowed the pundits the lee-way to say what they had to say but always knew when to rein them in, particularly the likes of Ger Loughnane, Joe Brolly and Pat Spillane when they went on a rant. It is in contrast to what we are being served up nowadays where punditry is coming across very prescribed with very little scope for passionate debate, with League Sunday or the Sunday Game not being the must-see tv they once were.
It was kind of fitting that Michael passed away on the busiest weekend of the inter-county year with the final round of games in both the national hurling and football leagues, including in football where his beloved Galway got the better of Dublin, which was his home for over forty years.
Despite being on site with him numerous times across twelve years, I never met Michael Lyster personally as television and written media rarely came across each other on matchdays, but from everything that has been written and said in recent days, what you saw on the television is what he was off screen, a truly genuine person with no airs or graces.
One of the unique things about him was the Gaelic Games wasn’t all consuming for him professionally and personally. He started out as a music journalist, while he also has a passion for rallying, with whom Nenagh native and great friend Vincent Hogan was his navigator for many years.
During his working career, he had his health issues, particulaly his heart but still used it to promote the work of the Irish Heart Foundation, to implore others to look out of the signs of potential issues. That’s the mark of a great human being to use his own negative experience for the betterment of others.
To his wife Anne, sons & daughters Mark, Rebecca, Ellen & Jack, sister Anne, extended family, we extend our deepest sympathy.