For thousands of football addicts, and even lukewarm enthusiasts, Monday night now means compulsive viewing of Teilifis na Gaeilge, regardless of their grasp of the Irish language.
They're waiting for the pacy, adrenalin-boosting title shots and music of the programme Ole, Ole which brings them the actionpacked highlights of the weekend's matches in the Spanish and Scottish leagues. The programme is a riveting, tightly-edited sequence of the goals and the best attacking movements in these premier league games, all presented with a sharp, Irish-language commentary.
The immediacy and action of Ole, Ole would enhance the sports output of any television station, and there is no doubt that it has substantially lifted the viewing audience of TnaG. The surprise lies in the fact that this high-tech showcase programme was conceived, developed and is assembled weekly in the quiet rural environment of the Ring Gaeltacht in Co Waterford.
A large motorised satellite dish outside a building on the road to Ring is the only tell-tale sign of the sophisticated television production operation going on within. In what was formerly a small factory producing PVC windows, the independent company, Nemeton, uses state-of-the art equipment and skilled professional and technical personnel to turn out a range of high-quality programme material.
The operation is the brainchild of a young Ring journalist, Irial Mac Murchu, who started Nemeton in 1993 with his wife, Maggie, and a local businessman, Tadhg O Maoileoin. Their entrepreneurial coup lay in perceiving the potential for using the latest communications and television technology along with the local availability of native Irish speakers to develop a viable business creating Irish-language productions.
Nemeton began by securing several commissions from TnaG and developed from there. The big breakthrough came when, in consultation with the commissioning editors at TnaG, they decided to attempt a weekly soccer programme.
After securing the Irish-language rights for broadcasting Spanish premier league football, Ole, Ole was devised. It was further expanded recently when similar rights were negotiated with the Scottish league.
Advanced technology enabled the young team to overcome the apparent difficulties of operating in a remote location. "In television terms we're very isolated here, so we needed a satellite downlink, an editing suite and a studio," says Mac Murchu.
With substantial help from Udar as na Gaeltachta and expertise supplied by the specialist company, TVM Fermoy, the operation was equipped and set up, and Irish-speaking editors, producers, researchers and presenters were recruited.
Nemeton now employs eight full-time and five part-time staff, and Mac Murchu admits to getting a kick out of having established a business in his native Gaeltacht, and giving employment to local people.
Ole, Ole involves an intensive production effort each week. The coverage of the matches is downloaded live from the satellite stations as the games are played, and stored on videotape for processing. "We start editing at 2 p.m. on Sunday and continue until midnight. We start again at 8 a.m. on Monday and continue until 8 p.m.," he says.
Nemeton has also done a successful studio series Ard san Aer, involving sports celebrities. It produced five hours of live TV from the Gaeltacht football championships last year and is working on four or five series at present. Within the last 12 months it has supplied over 60 hours of television material broadcast on TnaG, Grampian Television and RTE.
Tomorrow the company will host a function in Ring at which the Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Culture, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, will formally open the studio and inaugurate a new current affairs programme series, Eorpa, which is a co-production by Nemeton and the BBC.
The company's facilities are operating seven days a week, and expansion plans are already under consideration.
"We have plans for a second editing suite," says Mac Murchu.