O'Donoghue became known for his reports on the events in Saipan that saw Ireland captain Roy Keane leave the Republic of Ireland camp before the FIFA World Cup in Japan and Korea. In an interview with Keane, the player with North West England team Manchester United outlined his frustrations with the manager, the Football Association of Ireland and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the departure of Stephen Ireland from the Ireland squad during the Steve Staunton era. He has covered all the main stories involving the FAI since the ticket scandals of the mid-nineties.
Columnist
He also writes a regular column for the RTÉ Sports website on football related matters, The Inside Track, the same title used for a Drivetime music and sports radio show he hosted for RTÉ Cork 89FM in the 1990s and a sports column he wrote for the Irish Examiner newspaper for a number of years beginning in 1996.
Career
Before becoming the station's first ever Group Soccer Correspondent he was previously Sports News Correspondent and later Sports Editor for RTÉ Television News. Prior to his move to the RTÉ Newsroom he was a commentator and presenter of RTÉ's main radio sports shows, Saturday Two to Five and Sunday Sport. He specialised in Gaelic games, athletics and association football and covered each All-Ireland hurling and football championship since 1987. He gave a sideline report on Fergal Logan's ankle injury to television viewers in between Charlie Redmond's first and second sending off during the 1995 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final. He covered the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Atlanta, featuring a memorable trackside interview with Sonia O'Sullivan, Sydney and Athens. O'Donoghue also contributed to the music magazine Hot Press during the 1980s, and acted as manager of Cypress, Mine!, a rock group from his native Cork. As a sports commentator his first major broadcast was the Cork County Senior Hurling championship final between Sarsfields and Glen Rovers in 1989 and he went on to commentate on major inter-county championship matches for RTÉ radio including Munster hurling and football games, Connacht finals and one of the four famous Dublin v Meath clashes in 1991. As a freelance he commentated on many Cork City Football Club games for RTÉ local and national radio, including Cork City v Torpedo Moscow in 1989 and Cork City v Bayern Munich in 1991. O'Donoghue has supported London Borough of Haringey team Tottenham Hotspur since childhood. O'Donoghue had many heated interviews with Martin O'Neill when he was Ireland manager, notably during the 2016-2017 Russia World Cup 2018 Qualifying Campaign.
Documentary
RTÉ television History Documentary, Black Sheep, was a pilot made by O'Donoghue on the life and times of his grandfather, William O'Sullivan, a sailor in the British Navy who was aboard the RMS Leinster in 1918 when it was torpedoed by a German U Boat. O'Sullivan, it transpired, was a hero who saved the lives of a family who had been on board. The programme was later aired as the first of a series in 2006.
