Joe Murphy

One of New York's stalwart journalists, Joe started out as a sports reporter for the Cork Examiner Newspaper and later Irish World and Radio Telifis Eireann. By 1964, he had moved to New York and was writing for the Irish Echo newspaper. Before long, Joe became one of the paper's most popular writers as reflected in a survey conducted among readers. Joining the Echo staff on a full time basis in 1979, he held the position of Advertising Manager before becoming a Sports Editor for the Adrian Flannelly Show on WNWK. Drawing from his wealth of knowledge of sports, this issue Joe contributes to our story on the historic Celtic game of Hurling.

Ronald Quinlan

A native of Dublin, Ronald recently completed his Master's degree in Journalism at the Dublin Institute of Technology. Before joining the fourth estate, he attended Manhattan College in New York where he majored in English Literature. Upon graduation, he taught English for two years at Cardinal Hayes School in the Bronx before returning to Ireland in 1999. Ronald currently writes for The Dubliner and In Dublin magazines. He is a contributing writer for the Irish Independent and has also edited a the special freesheet newspaper, The Village Word. Ronald recently completed his first novel titled Tenure. He interviews playwright and novelist Hugh Leonard for this issue of IC.

Tara Mulvany

Graduating from University College Dublin with a degree in German and History, Tara completed a post graduate course in Public Relations and Journalism at the Dublin Institute of Technology. Initially employed by a Dublin public relations firm, she was responsible for some of the largest, high profile public information campaigns in Ireland. Moving to Australia in 1999, she became Press Officer for the Queensland Department of Sport. By the end of 2000, she had returned to Ireland and currently holds the position of Press Secretary for the Irish Farmers Association of Ireland. This issue, Tara takes a look at the social significance of the Showband phenomenon in Ireland.

Noel Weich

Journalist Noel Welch joined the Examiner group of newspapers in 1973, having started as a print compositor, he eventually made his way to the editorial desk. An established food critic, Noel writes a weekly food column for the Examiner's sister paper, The Evening Echo and has also traveled to New York to review many of the city's top restaurants. Noel also writes on entertainment and interviews some of the top show business names. If that's not enough to keep him busy, he is also a radio presenter and founding member of Cork city's hospital radio, Noel also has the envious task of interviewing contestants in the build up to the Cork Rose selection, part of the world famous Rose of Tralee.

Gary Murphy

A graduate of Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire in England, Gary previously held the position of manager of Nevada Smiths Bar in New York City before entering into a career in journalism. A former presenter on Nationwide (a current affairs show on RTE Television) he has also written for setanta.com and gaa.ie-two of Irelands largest sports websites. Now currently a reporter with Breaking Ball, an award winning GAA show on RTE Television, Gary also writes for the Breaking Ball Magazine--a recent GAA publication to hit the shelves in Ireland. Gary joins forces with Joe Murphy in the issue's story about Hurling.