Over 300 hundred people gathered in the Mount Errigal Hotel on Friday night for “A Night for Charlie” to honour Charlie Collins who has been the voice of sport for almost 40 years. Charlie Collins had a natural flair and a matching flow of narrative to paint a picture when he was commenting on a match. Having been involved with Letterkenny Rovers long before local radio, he built up a depth of knowledge and it stood him really well in his future career. HIs retirement, well earned and well deserved will be missed by sports followers across Donegal and much further afield. He also had a keen interest and knowledge of politics and his input for ‘Donegal Daily’ on election days is well remembered. Charlie had a huge interest in his work, in the people in sport and for those listening far from home on the big Ulster Finals and All Ireland Days. He had that unique connection with the exiles to bring them all back home, regardless of where they were. A psychiatric nurse by training, Charlie worked in St. Conals for many years, joining DCR on a part time basis before joining Highland Radio. As Managing Director, he led them in their most successful period as Ireland’s most listened to radio station. He then set up the Donegal Sports Hub with Chris McNulty and joined Donegal Daily in later years before announcing his retirement this summer. Great credit must go to Stephen Maguire and the staff from Donegal Daily who organised Friday night and they were delighted with the success of it, with almost every group that Charlie worked with well represented.
