Donegal Daily’s coverage of the 2017 Joule Donegal International Rally was a huge hit and down to a team effort from our big crew – but every good team needs a leader.
The Donegal Daily rally coverage was spearheaded by the man at the nerve centre of the production – Glenties native Brendan O’Donnell of Jacksons Media TV.
The production was the first put out by Donegal Daily TV and saw live coverage of the rally for the first time in its history.
Picture caption: Brendan ‘Bradas’ O’Donnell (right) with Bernard Connolly, Theo O’Grady and Garrett Maguire during last weekend’s coverage of the 2017 Joule Donegal International Rally.
With almost half a million viewers, it certainly proved to be a popular decision and for 25 hours, spread over three days, Brendan was the go-to man. As John Gildea, Donegal Daily’s Commercial Director put it, he was ‘the glue that held it all together’.
“We broadcast for 25 hours over three days, which is the the equivalent of eight Late Late Shows – that’s unprecedented as a live stream,” Brendan explains.
“It’s been done before on satellite trucks but not broadband. Our three main guys – Charlie Collins, Chris McNulty and Toni Kelly – worked so hard and their passion, knowledge and commitment came across so well in their reporting.
“They left the viewers informed with all the results and updates all weekend, which made it instant and up to date.”
Despite having been the man to put most of the crew together, he modestly plays down his own role, adding: “Producing it was a team effort – all I had to do really was organise all the wee sections and provide the running order.
“We worked so well together as a team that everyone gelled. I’m proud of all our crew and that includes everyone.”
‘Brads’, as he is more commonly known around Donegal and beyond, studied film and tv in Tralee for two years before working for Channel 9 in Derry.
The Glenties man has been the man behind the lens at Donegal GAA matches, club and county, for the last 14 years and has been cameraman on several high-profile documentaries on RTÉ, most notably ‘Jimmy’s Winning Matches’.
His work has appeared on TG4, BBC and Sky while he was a long-time camera director and producer with the now-defunct Irish TV, working in the Donegal and Derry areas.
During that time, Brendan produced a six-part tv series on Irish magician Rodd Hogg and one on dramatist Brian Friel.
At the start of the year, Brendan met with Donegal Daily Editor Stephen Maguire and Commercial Director John Gildea – when the plans for rally weekend were hatched.
He said: “I mentioned that we should do the rally with a video as the guys from Donegal Sport Hub had done it on audio last year.
“We all agreed and, in fairness to Stephen and John, they jumped at it.
“The first place I went to was Maguire Media, who are brilliant at what they do and have the best outside broadcast facilities about. Garret Maguire was a huge help along with Glebe, Sean, Ciaran and Enda.
“Milestone Productions ran the live stream with Bernard Connolly at the help – and they are the leaders in their field.
“Talking about leaders, Aidan Cannon helped us to organise drivers, vans, food, drinks and anything I asked Aidan for, he helped get it. I can’t thank Aidan enough.
“He put me in touch with Gerard McCloskey of Communication Networks who provided our links on the stages via broadband. Gerard and his son Niall got us a signal for all the stages we covered.
“Only the two boys and God Himself could have got us signals in some places that Chris and Toni were located!
“We had Conor and Ronan to drive the crews and, of course, Manus Kelly allowed us to use his TFS premises as a studio. We are indebted to them.
“I knew Theo O’Grady from working with him before and we brought him on board. He worked as a vision mixer and a director on the Late Late Show and I knew his experience would be vital in a big show like this.
“He helped us along with his calmness and his knowledge.”
Ever the perfectionist, ‘Bradas’ is already thinking ahead to next year.
He said: “This was a first of its kind in Ireland to run such a big event like this without satellites – and it’s one we are keen to better next year.
“Next year we will have more cameras on the stages and more drone footage. We only had four weeks to put this altogether – we now have 12 months for 2018, so we might need less coffee next year!”
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