Sports broadcaster Gráinne McElwain is the face of Sky Sport’s GAA coverage but while the Monaghan native always had a keen interest in sport, it’s by chance that she ended up taking the plunge and making a career out of her passion.
Gráinne was working as a secondary school teacher in Dublin when, having forgotten her notes for class one day, she picked up a copy of an Irish-language newspaper — and the rest, as they say, is history.
Gráinne told the Irish Daily Star : “I taught history and Irish in Monaghan and then I taught in Castleknock Community School in Dublin for a couple of years and I loved teaching — but I was just like, I don’t know if it’s something I can do for the rest of my life.
“Fate kind of stepped in then in that I had a fifth year’s Irish honours class and I was going to go through words and sentences with them and I had forgotten them at home in my house.
“And I thought, oh gosh, where am I going to get them?. So there was an Irish language newspaper called Foinse so I just grabbed that, there was an Irish essay in that, so I could go through that and pick out words that they could use in their essays for homework.
“So I photocopied that and then I saw at the bottom of the page that there was an ad, that they were looking for a sports researcher in a production company called Nemeton down in Co Waterford.
“So I thought, that sounds really interesting, so I applied for the job and within six weeks I had chucked in my full-time, pensionable job and moved counties from Dublin down to Waterford and started a totally new career.”
The career change wasn’t necessarily a huge culture shock for Gráinne, though, as she grew up in a family passionate about, and heavily involved in, gaelic games.
“I came from a really big GAA household. My dad would have been massively involved in our local club, Scotstown in Monaghan, so he would have been chairman of that club and very involved in everything at a local level,” Gráinne adds.
“So in terms of my trajectory, my two brothers would have been in football for Scotstown. There wasn’t a team for girls when I was growing up. I was 16 when a ladies team started so I think at that stage, while I went to the training sessions when it started I was very much out of my comfort zone and definitely didn’t have the skill set that some of the other girls had who would’ve have been playing since they were much younger.
“What I would have loved at that stage was someone to tell me to stick with it, that you don’t have to be brilliant at it, just have fun.
“But I took myself away from it and was more about watching it and being involved in the administration side of it.
“I was PRO of the club and as part of that I was doing match reports and I was going to games so you’d also be getting quotes from the players too and doing it up for the local newspaper which is The Northern Standard so I would have done that.
“And then when I was in college there was a job that came up in Northern Sound which is the Monaghan/Cavan radio station and they were looking for a sports presenter for a Saturday and I applied for that job and I got it.
“I had actually worked there for a week when I was in transition year and that was great so I was always interested in broadcasting.
“I had a week there in transition year and on my final day I actually got to talk on the radio and for me that was huge; it was probably only 20 seconds but I thought, oh my god, I’m on the radio!
“I really enjoyed that so when the job came up for a sports researcher there I applied and I got the job and that was great.
“It was a four-hour show and basically I was compiling all the sports from Monaghan and Cavan and interviewing players and managers — these were the days when you could actually talk to managers the day before a match so it was great training and I really, really enjoyed it.”
Now, Gráinne is well-established in Sky Sports, having first taken over from Rachel Wyse while she was on maternity leave before being offered the job on a more permanent basis last year.
“I was really humbled and really honoured to get the job. Rachel had done an amazing job with Sky over the years; she’s a really gorgeous girl and a really supportive person as well so she was very supportive and complimentary towards me so it was lovely to chat to her about the role.
“So when I was asked to stay on, I was really honoured. It was a huge ambition of mine to present and anchor on GAA and I was thrilled to be asked by Sky to do that.
“And I love working with them, they’re a great bunch of people. And you’re surrounded by such expert knowledge in hurling and football so I always feel like a fan in a way, too.”
Being from Monaghan, Gráinne’s allegiance is, of course, with her home county — but does she sometimes let her colours shine through in her reports?
“On camera you’re always very neutral,” says Gráinne, “but when the cameras are turned off you’re of course shouting and jumping for joy when Monaghan are winning and crying when they’re not!”
As for this year’s Championship, Gráinne tells us who she’s backing in both football and hurling.
“Obviously a few years back everyone thought Dublin was going to win the next 10 All-Irelands but obviously that does not look like it’s going to happen. You’re talking Dublin, Kerry, Tyrone, for me, I think that’s the standard there but there’s going to be lots of twists. I think it’s one of the most open football Championships we’re going to see in a long, long time.
“In terms of hurling, I think when we seen Limerick last year we thought, okay, this is going to be a Kilkenny-esque team in that they’re going to be dominating for the next few years... so Limerick are still the hurling team to beat but it’s going to be fascinating because Cork have been really impressive in the League so far and Kilkenny haven’t gone away so it’s really interesting. It’s quite open and I can’t wait to see who comes out on top.”
● Sky Sports Arena will be the home of GAA with a total of 20 fixtures broadcasting on the channel — 14 of which are exclusive to Sky Sports.
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