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Eugene McGee: proud champion of the local


By Fran McNulty It is sometimes difficult to separate the man from the myth. Not so when speaking about Eugene McGee. Anyone who knew Eugene, knew that the image of being gruff, direct and sometimes lukewarm did not explain Eugene McGee. It was a manifestation of his shyness: He was reserved, considered and charitable, but exacting. McGee was a tough newspaper editor. He demanded standards and expected his staff to perform. Alongside that he had an appreciation for how tough it was to work in local media. When he took over the Longford Leader it had come through a torrid and lengthy strike. He remained a member of the NUJ and when


veteran reporter and NUJ activist John Hughes died suddenly, McGee invited NUJ members to a gathering in his honour at his desk. Despite an extensive career in the national media he had a real love for local journalism, and the contribution it could make to communities. Eugene McGee earned his first pound in journalism in the Irish Press, where he worked as a sub-editor. He also worked with Brendan McLua in the Gaelic Weekly. When McLua moved to London to establish The Irish Post, McGee followed. But his time there was short and he returned to Ireland. On McLua’s recommendation he became the lead GAA writer for the Sunday Press, the biggest selling newspaper of the time, selling half a million copies every week. Despite this, McGee once recalled his mother remarking that she never saw his name mentioned in the paper and questioned whether he was working there at all! He, like many others, was writing under a pen name, which according to McGee himself, “was all the rage at the time”. In the 1980’s he worked under Editor Vincent


Browne at the Sunday Tribune, as a GAA writer, alongside Eamon Dunphy and David Walsh. Few might recall that for a period he was also a panellist on the Sunday Game on RTÉ Television. Having written at a national level for all those years in his own words, “I graduated then into the Longford Leader.” This speaks to Eugene McGee’s view of local media; he saw it as a step up. He would assume the title of Editor, which ranked high in rural Ireland, alongside County Manager, State Solicitor or Bishop, but rubbing shoulders with


Eugene McGee with Mick O'Dwyer at the 2014 launch of his book 'The GAA in My Time' by Eugene McGee. Croke Park, Dublin. Photo: Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE


the elite was not his wont. Those who worked under him as Managing Editor all speak of a tough but fair boss; a kind man, who took reporters under his wing and minded them. He could be searingly tough but tremendously kind and decent when it came to personal matters. Journalists think of Eugene McGee as one of


our own. The country thinks of him as a GAA man. He was both and he managed to marry both quite well. His time as Offaly manager – delivering All-Ireland winning glory – was mixed with his career as a journalist and he once described that as writing behind his own back. There was a conflict and it did not sit easy. It was a time as a journalist which McGee himself said, “I never enjoyed so much.” Eugene was a GAA man to the hilt. He could openly criticise the organisation because he was of it, he understood it. He started that apprenticeship as a young boy travelling to games in Croke Park with his brother, Fr. Phil McGee. Later in the 1970’s as a student in UCD he was involved in the administration of the club and training teams. In a sense he was a new broom in the GAA. In later years when the old guard was resisting the development of coaching, he became a huge advocate. McGee spent years selling the concept of coaching at grass roots level, some in the GAA saw it as a move towards professionalism. Eugene saw that as a good thing. Most of all things Eugene McGee was a family man. Through the years, I remember him a few ways. Sitting together in Gerry Greggs sharing a quiet drink of a Thursday evening. Behind the large desk in the old Leader office on the Market Square, resplendent with sleeve garters. In later years I see him walking up the Battery Road, with his beloved daughter Linda, breathing in the fresh air, at his happiest I imagine. Fran McNulty is the Chair of the NUJ RTÉ sub- Branch, an NUJ activist and Longford native.


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