Sarah O'Flaherty (born 1973), known as Sarah O', is an Irish television presenter who has worked on Irish, English and Scottish television shows.The Afternoon Show RTÉ Television - accessed 1 November 2007 She began her career as co-presenter of ''The Grip'' (
Ryle Nugent
Ryle Nugent was born in Dublin and is an Irish sports broadcaster, reporter and former Head of RTÉ Sport. Prior to his appointment, he was RTÉ's commissioning editor for sport primarily specialising in rugby union. He is the resident rugby uni ...
also presented this).
Early life
O'Flaherty grew up in
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
, Ireland with her parents and three brothers. She was a member of the
Girl Guides
Girl Guides (or Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) are organisations within the Scout Movement originally and largely still for girls and women only. The Girl Guides began in 1910 with the formation of Girlguiding, The ...
, during which time she learned "good team player, listen to and help others" and put her in good stead for the workplace.Sarah O'Flaherty - TV and Radio Presenter Interview with Girl Guiding Scotland
Career
O'Flaherty began her career as a co-presenter of
RTÉ
(; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...
's ''The Grip'' enabling her to travel the world covering sporting events and allowing her participate in many extreme sports such as skydiving and bungee jumping. This was followed by a stint in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
as the host of
TV3 Ireland
Virgin Media One, also called Virgin One, is an Irish free-to-air television channel owned by Virgin Media Ireland (part of Liberty Global), operated through its subsidiary Virgin Media Television. The channel launched on 20 September 19 ...
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, Australia for the
2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...
.
Scotsport
O'Flaherty was signed to co-present
Scottish Television
Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...
's (STV)
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
show ''
Scotsport
''Scotsport'' is a Scotland, Scottish sports television programme, broadcast on STV (TV channel), STV in northern and central Scotland between 1957 and 2008, as well as on ITV Border in southern Scotland.
It was first broadcast in 1957 as ''S ...
'', along with
Jim Delahunt
James Martin Delahunt (born 1962 in Irvine, North Ayrshire, Irvine)Julyan Sinclair. The aim was to try to entice new and younger viewers to the flagship sport show but viewers tuned out and the presenters were criticised for their apparent lack of football knowledge. Over 2,000 fans signed an online petition calling for O'Flaherty and Sinclair's dismissal however with a view base of over 250,000 this was a very small proportion. After two years the pairs' contract was not renewed in 2006.
On the Radio and in the Paper
From 2003 to 2007, O'Flaherty worked for
Radio Clyde
Radio Clyde is a group of two Independent Local Radio stations serving Glasgow and West Central Scotland. Radio Clyde is owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK, Bauer, based at studios in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire and forms part of Baue ...
as their news, show business and sports reporter as well as DJing on Saturday nights with her own music show called the ''Mix Monkey''. She also wrote a weekly "Diary" column for the ''