 Many of the songs he would later record he first learned from Neilí during his childhood and from this time of learning.In 1974, when he was just twenty two years old, Mícheál became the first presenter of the RTÉ radio program "The Long Note", which featured Irish traditional musicians, many of whom had never previously been recorded.In 1974, Hanly and Ó Domhnaill recorded a single, "The Hills of Greenmore", and toured with the group Planxty as their supporting act.