IT was the ideal job opportunity at the time, she was living in Greece for the summer and would work in a bar there but when they found out she was from Limerick it all came unstuck.
It was something like imposter syndrome when Muireann O’Connell first moved to Dublin to work in radio. She was an “outsider” from Limerick and the Dublin-centric media had to accept her.
The landscape has shifted dramatically since and she has become the face of Virgin Media mornings, with her time as a presenter on Ireland AM catapulting her to the forefront of Irish public eye.
That has also opened up opportunities and while she says golf was a sport she always had her sights set upon, ‘The First Tee – Journey to Carton House’ gave her the chance to finally hit the golf course.
“I can see why people become obsessed with it, play their entire lives and it becomes part of their personality,” said O’Connell.
“One thing I am finding very interesting and I remember this, my father he would come home elated because my God, it is a love hate game.
“Everyone I’m meeting who has been playing for five minutes, five years or 50 years they are like; ‘Jesus it would break your heart’. It’s like it’s a lover that you don’t know if you are in love with or not.”
O’Connell grew up in Limerick before she attended University of Galway where she studied English and Sociological and Political Studies.
However she ended up going on her travels and after she returned from Australia, despite her parents’ best efforts at getting her into teaching she decided she would be more suited to a life on the road.
“It was a job, I love driving and the radio station needed people to drive their jeeps,” said O’Connell.
“But I had always loved radio, I used to listen to radio falling asleep, I still listen to radio falling asleep at night so it’s been a constant in my life.
“I just never thought that it was a job that anyone could ever have. I was just lucky, right place, right time.”
O’Connell came into the position at Limerick’s Live 95FM a year after Jacqui Hurley had begun to weave her own path. The two good friends debuted on air together for the first time too.
“She just showed me the ropes and then we went on air together for the first time when we did our first radio show, so it was great,” said O’Connell.
“Jacqui has been brilliant from day one, genuinely like talk about well-placed confidence because she’s so brilliant at what she does that she’s confident in her abilities and she was confident in her abilities back then.
“She underestimates how good she is sometimes.”
was 12 months ago when Lorraine Keane and Pamela Joyce visited the Ireland AM studios to talk about their latest venture with Golf Ireland.
Part of that feature saw the two new golfers hit their drives into a golf simulator net – which was followed by some of the staff from Ireland AM, including O’Connell.
One unfortunate miss-hit golf shot later and she delivered her call-out: “Hey Golf Ireland, want me?”
This June, O’Connell joined up with Kayleigh Trappe and Ailbhe Garrihy to begin their journey as part of ‘The First Tee – Journey to Carton House.’
The trio have spent the last two months getting a crash course in golf before they take part in the KPMG Women’s Irish Open Pro-Am on 28 August.
“I’m dreading it,” joked O’Connell.
“I was talking to Valerie Wheeler recently actually and she was saying get up there and just do it.
“I’ve got all these people being like, we were watching the Olympics a lot and saying, you’ve just got to back yourself and I’m not the sort of person who would be able to back herself.”
Hazel Kavanagh has coached O’Connell throughout her journey and she has noticed the progression from the frontline, and while the gruelling first tee looms large on the horizon, O’Connell is confident she has found a new sport for life.
“I absolutely love doing new things and this is something I always would have done anyway,” said O’Connell.
“A lot of friends are kind of like, let’s start doing this now because it is such fun and it’s a great way to go out and spend time with your friends and I’m hoping that it will be something that I will keep on doing, it certainly feels like it would be.
“There’s a few of them that have collected their golf clubs from home and are ready to go and then I am terrible at being a joiner, but I have talked to a few gangs that kind of get together and golf, so I’d hope that it’s not too late to make some new golf friends.
“I think I will keep it up.”
O’Connell would go on to work with Spin South West before she ventured to Dublin and the dream job came up with Today FM. She felt intimidated in the media world at the start and this move only amped up the pressure.
However, she worked hard to create a huge following on air and despite her devastating departure from Today FM, her relationship with Virgin Media allowed her continue to cultivate her ever-growing brand.
“I can’t explain how much fun it is to go into work with two people that you genuinely do feel like are your brothers,” said O’Connell.
“How great they are and just how easy going it is and that we’ve got each other’s backs and it’s just lovely. I adore every second of it bar when Tommy (Bowe) tries to make you pull an Anchorman on live television.”
