In April 2026 McNamara was voted Commentator of the Year at the Sports Journalists' Association British Sports Journalism Awards 2025.[3]
Away from sport, he voices the character of 'Squawk The Parrot' on CBeebies show Swashbuckle.[4]
While still at university, McNamara did his first football commentary for Irish national radio station Today FM - the 1997 FA Cup Final.
He joined the Irish TV station TV3 in Dublin at its launch in 1998 as a sports presenter and commentator. His first commentary for national television was the Republic of Ireland versus Yugoslavia in 1998. He became TV3's UEFA Champions League commentator in 1999, before joining the BBC in 2002.
McNamara commentates on rugby union for BBC television, Amazon Prime Video and Sky Sports. He regularly covers Ireland's games for BBC radio. McNamara commentated on all 13 games TV3 Ireland covered for the 2007 Rugby World cup alongside BBC colleague Philip Matthews.[9] McNamara's first live TV commentary game for the BBC was Scotland versus Italy in the Six Nations Championship in 2011 and he has commentated on at least one match at every tournament since. McNamara returned to TV3 for the 2015 Rugby World Cup as a presenter and commentator as TV3 had exclusive rights to the tournament and covered all games on TV3 and 3e alongside Keith Wood, Peter Stringer and Stuart Barnes.[10]