O’Herlihy could have been first Cork president

Popular Cork broadcaster Bill O’Herlihy could have been the first ever Cork president, had he decided to accept an offer to run for the presidency in 1990.

Instead he anchored RTÉ’s football coverage over the epic Italia ’90 campaign when the Republic of Ireland confounded expectations to reach the quarter-finals where they lost to the hosts.

Bill O’Herlihy is one of Ireland’s most loved broadcasting figures today, but his life would have take a different turn had he accepted a request from Joan FitzGerald, the wife of former taoiseach Garret, to be Fine Gael’s candidate in that year’s Áras race. However, he didn’t take the request seriously.

Instead, Mary Robinson beat Brian Lenihan and became one of the country’s most popular presidents ever. 

Bill O’Herlihy was born in Glasheen and became a journalist with the Cork Examiner, later working for RTÉ in a variety of roles. He also owns a public relations company which advised Fine Gael from the late ‘70s to the mid ‘80s.