Former sports editor’s contribution recognised at annual awards
Conall Collier's 34 years of service to the Meath Chronicle recalled
To acknowledge the contribution of Conall Collier since 1988 to the Meath Chronicle, Celtic Media Group CEO Frank Mulrennan made a special presentation to the former sports editor at last month’s annual sports awards.
The former sports editor finished with the Meath Chronicle in October 2021 and the CEO acknowledged his contribution over a period of 34 years.
“Conall Collier joined Meath Chronicle in April 1988 as a sports journalist and over the intervening 34 years, which included 25 highly productive and innovative years as sports editor, he literally “chronicled” hundreds, nay thousands, of trophies won by the men and women of the Royal County on the national stage,” remarked Mr Mulrennan.
“Reports about local clubs from underage right up to senior grade, GAA, soccer, motor racing and at every sport conceivable with none giving him more joy than seeing the Aintree Grand National Trophy being lifted and returned to Meath by the father and son combination of Tommy and Paul Carberry with BobbyJo, Gordon Elliott and Robbie Power with Silver Birch and more recently the Elliott-trained Tiger Roll.
“Sport, however, is not all about winning trophies – and I know that the readers of the Meath Chronicle sports pages have very much admired and acknowledged Conall’s support for the “underdog”, the team that is participating without much chance of success on Final Day. “Making sure that every member of that team, indeed, that panel was named and that the names were correctly spelt.
“Nowhere was that more obvious that his launching of the Spirit of the Final Awards in conjunction with Cumann na mBunscol and its chairman Willie Lyons, featuring pull-out supplements with hundreds of young boys and girls making it to the print and now digital product.
“As far back as 2000, Conall began publishing a 40-page review of the year supplement, which is quite commonplace now but very innovative back then. “Working with colleagues like Mary McGuigan and Mary Smith and indeed, former editor, Ken Davis, Conall was central to launching the Meath Chronicle Sports Awards in 2007.
Over the years, in conjunction with the great Micheal O Muircheartaigh and more recently with Evanne Ni Chuilinn, the annual awards highlighted the achievements of all the Meath greats.
“Most importantly, the efforts of club managers and club PROs and those behind the scenes were also recognised, without them, Conall and his colleagues Fergal Lynch and Jimmy Geoghegan would be bereft of copy.
“On a personal note, as the CEO of Celtic Media Group, we embarked on a journey about eight years ago to migrate our titles – remembering that Meath Chronicle goes back to an 1897 start date – to being “digital first” publishers.
“Good business case study practice will always tell you that you need to win over the “key influencers” – those colleagues whom other colleagues look to for leadership – before you can embark on such a journey.
“I asked Conall to work with us and he proved to be the driving force in introducing Facebook Live reporting on sports events on meathchronicle.ie.
“Today we have a web and social media reach of over 560,000 page impressions for the month of February; and some 63,000 Facebook followers, along with a terrific print publication, all under our editor, Gavan Becton.
“It was a pleasure to be able to salute 34 years of very significant contribution to the sporting life of County Meath and to Meath Chronicle,” concluded Mr Mulrennan.