Michael Lyster (born 11 April 1954) is an Irish radio and television broadcaster who works for

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

. He mainly covers sporting events, such as

Gaelic games Gaelic games ( ga, Cluichí Gaelacha) are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, th ...

and

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

. He is best known for presenting '' The Sunday Game Live'', which he hosted from 1984 to 2018.

Early life

The son of a member of the Garda Síochána, Lyster was born in

Dungarvan Dungarvan () is a coastal town and harbour in County Waterford, on the south-east coast of Ireland. Prior to the merger of Waterford County Council with Waterford City Council in 2014, Dungarvan was the county town and administrative centr ...

County Waterford County Waterford ( ga, Contae Phort Láirge) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Waterford. Waterford City and County Council is the local authority for ...

. When he was four years-old his father was transferred to

Barnaderg Barnaderg () is a village southeast of Tuam in eastern County Galway, Ireland. Barnaderg Castle was a 16th-century stronghold of the O'Kelly clan. In June 2008, a €1.5m extension was opened at Barnaderg National School, which has 87 pupils ...

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

, where Lyster spent his formative years. He was educated at St Jarlath's College in nearby

Tuam Tuam ( ; ga, Tuaim , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. Humans have lived in the area since the Bronz ...

. After leaving school, he started working in the lab of the local sugar factory.

Career

Journalism

Lyster began his journalistic career as a junior reporter with '' The Tuam Herald'' where he wrote a music column. He spent seven years with that newspaper before moving to television and radio.

Television and radio

In 1980, Lyster joined RTÉ as a sports bulletin broadcaster with Radio 2, however, as his career progressed he began presenting programmes and covering high-profile sporting events. In his first year at the national broadcaster he also covered the

on radio. One of the highlights of his early career was covering the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., Un ...

and

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

All-Ireland hurling finals for radio. In 1984 Lyster took over as presenter of ''

The Sunday Game ''The Sunday Game'' is RTÉ's main Gaelic games television programme. It is shown on RTÉ2 every Sunday during the Football Championship and Hurling Championship seasons. It is one of RTÉ2's longest-running shows, having been on air since ...

'', a post he held for 34 years. That same year he was one of the main presenters for RTÉ's television coverage of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, co-hosting the morning slot with

Moya Doherty Moya Doherty (born 1957, in Pettigo, County Donegal, Ireland) is a Dublin-raised Irish entrepreneur and the producer and co-founder of '' Riverdance''. Early life Doherty was born in Pettigo, County Donegal, and raised in Dublin. She attended ...

. It was RTÉ's first venture into

breakfast television Breakfast television (Europe, Canada, and Australia) or morning show (United States) is a type of news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts live in the morning (typically scheduled between 5:00 and 10:00a.m., or if it is a l ...

with the slot combining action from the Games with cookery and dance classes amongst other things. In 1988, Lyster won a Jacob's Award for his work on ''The Sunday Game''. Since then Lyster has covered a number of sports for RTÉ across all codes and has been an ever-present feature on RTÉ's coverage of Olympic Games. He remains, however, mostly associated with

and has been one of the main presenters of the All-Star and the RTÉ Sports Person of the Year awards shows. In 2007, Lyster took part in '' Celebrity Jigs 'n' Reels''. Famously, when a penalty was applied to Hannah Craig during the 2012 Summer Olympics, Carl Dunne, head of the Irish canoeing team, telephoned RTÉ's analyst to discuss the possibility of appealing the decision. The analyst took the telephone call live on television as a bemused Lyster watched on. After suffering ill health, Lyster decided to retire from ''The Sunday Game'' at the end of 2018, with the

2018 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final The 2018 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 131st final of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and the culmination of the 2018 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in Gaelic football. The match was played at Crok ...

his last as presenter.

Personal life

Lyster has been married to his wife Anne since 1985 and together they have two boys and two girls. They live in

Cabinteely Cabinteely () is a suburb of Dublin's southside. It is in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, County Dublin, Ireland. Geography Cabinteely lies around the crossroads of Johnstown Road / Brennanstown Road and the Old Bray Road, and on either side of th ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. Lyster has been interested in

rally driving Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...

which he has enjoyed since the early 1990s. He has partook in many main events including the Cork International Rally where he finished third in 1992, the

Circuit of Ireland Rally The Circuit of Ireland International Rally is an annual automobile rally, which was first held in 1931 making it the third oldest rally in the world. The most recent event was held in 2016. ''The Circuit'', as it is colloquially known, is org ...

and the Killarney Rally of the Lakes. His co-driver is ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet n ...

'' sports writer Vincent Hogan.

Health

On 5 June 2015 at 11:32pm Lyster had a major heart attack and was rushed to hospital. He had been playing golf in Galway with friend Vincent Hogan who drove him back to Dublin afterwards. He left his mobile phone in Vincent's car who he rang from his house phone asking him to return to the house with the mobile. Hogan returned to find him collapsed on the ground in the hallway. Lyster's wife Anne performed CPR while Vincent called for an ambulance. He had a pacemaker fitted after receiving treatment. Lyster later disclosed that he had suffered from a heart condition for a number of years prior to the attack.RTE star Michael Lyster tells of how his wife Anne saved his life with CPR after he had cardiac arrest
independent.ie; accessed 21 December 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyster, Michael 1954 births Living people Gaelic games writers and broadcasters Irish columnists Irish sports broadcasters Jacob's Award winners People educated at St Jarlath's College People from Dungarvan Sportspeople from County Waterford RTÉ television presenters RTÉ 2fm presenters The Tuam Herald people