IT'S the voice. "It adds a lot to life to have things like that to look forward to." Miche�?l O'Muircheartaigh is talking about Cheltenham, but there's an obvious allusion to the GAA season as it stretched out before him and the rest of the country back in March. It wasn't a particularly wise or profound statement, but the lilt and warmth of the delivery made it so. My girlfriend, an Australian who had never had sight or sound of him before, decided that she loved him already. And all this after just five minutes.

The voice can make the most guttural of Irish phrases sound like music and make the most dreary of games come alive as a spectacle. Miche�?l - The Sound of Sundaywill be on your screens tomorrow evening, telling the story of our most famous commentator. It follows him to selected games throughout this year's championship and charts his own existence from Dun Sion near Dingle to the commentary box in Croke Park, with O'Muircheartaigh delivering his own attitude to life throughout.

Some of the games featured, most notably the season opener between Cavan and Down and the All Ireland quarter-final between Dublin and Westmeath, were generally accepted to be extremely poor shows, yet their edited highlights were infused with the vivid descriptions and breakneck pace of the voice. Probably the most enjoyable segments are just witnessing O'Muircheartaigh doing this, in Semple, Casement and Croke Park. Right at the beginning of the season, he is seen down at the dressing room door, greeting the players, looking for any information he can impart to his public, the prospect of a new season a clear source of excitement for a 75-year-old man.

"I prefer to be utterly involved in the game, almost among the players, running up and down with them." An eyeroller of a statement from almost anybody else in the trade, but witnessing him become red-faced while unleashing a tirade of enthusiasm makes it an absolute head-nodder when he says it. His famous quotes weren't trotted out by the makers, or repeated by the irritation of talking heads as there's little need for the audience to be told how good O'Muircheartaigh is.

The insights into his own life were thoughtful, recounting the stillbirth of his brother and the death of his mother while he was still young. He moved to Dublin to study teaching in St Patrick's College in Drumcondra, just a few minutes' walk from Croke Park. In 1948 he saw a notice advertising auditions to commentate for Raidi�? ةireann as Gaeilge. The audition was to give 10 minutes of commentary on a hurling match, a sport about which O'Muircheartaigh knew very little. But he did know one player, Tadhg Hanley, and knowing that his judges weren't looking at the action, he decided that Hanley would be the player doing everything.

He then let loose on what was, and wasn't, happening before his eyes. Of course, he got the gig.

His philosophy on life he likes to sum up with the phrase 'taobh eile', everything that exists outside of yourself, waiting to be discovered. Sport was the most enjoyable way he found of meeting other people, finding new experiences. He voices disagreement with the cosseting of players and their shielding by managers in the run-up to a big game. They should be allowed to enjoy the entire experience, he reckons, to talk to the press and help maintain the relationship between community and team for the benefit of the game. "The entity is the thing that matters."

The show finally arrives at the All Ireland, described as his "58th premiere" of the sport's annual play. His native Kerry hammered Mayo, but a goal-fest of a first half at least allowed him to flex the vocal chords one more time, sending out the customary greetings to people listening in all corners of the globe.

In the internet age, he can now provide for people abroad what Michael O'Hehir did for an entire country in the pre-television age - pictures that are often a better impression than what can actually be seen.

The entire hour is a pleasure, and though Christmas is about as far away as it is possible to get from the dizzy heat that emanates from the height of the championship, tomorrow's showing is an apt piece of scheduling. Because when you watch it and hear him, you're exactly where you should be on Christmas Day - at home.