Talking Sport
It’s all about the process in completing endurance feats
Talking Sport with Stephen Glennon
FOR now, there are only two things you need to know about Gerry Duffy. The first is that he ran 32 marathons in 32 days across 32 counties. The second is that he subsequently completed 10 Ironman events – 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile cycle and 26.2 mile marathon – over 10 successive days.
If you knew nothing else about Duffy, those two stats would be enough to give you a sense of the man. Yet, the motivational speaker will be the first to argue he is not defined by those events alone but rather the process that enabled him to achieve those incredible feats.
One of the most sought after and respected motivational speakers on the circuit, the Mullingar native has been employed by not only those of a sporting demeanour but also by multi-national firms such as Facebook to inspire their workforce.
Any of the 400 people who last week attended the first of Joanne Murphy’s excellent Tri Talking Sport evenings on inspiration and motivation in the Salthill Hotel will admit Duffy is a little bit special. Then again, his story is a remarkable one.
“I took up running at 27, so 21 years ago,” says Duffy, who earlier in the evening took time out to sit down for a chat. “For five or six years, I just ran 5km on my own along the canals of Mullingar but at the turn of the millennium I started to stretch it and got up to double figures for the first time.
“I then ran a half marathon, did a marathon and then I got into triathlon and went up the grid there from sprint to Olympic to Half Ironman to Ironman. It was when I did the Ironman, and it had such a profound effect on me in other areas of my life, that I started to bring the same strategies to achieve other stuff that I used to think was impossible.”
Some may call it an ‘eureka’ moment but Duffy realised that the most powerful tool an individual can have is the mind and he began to understand the power it can generate – not only in triathlon but also in business, education, ambition and health.
Consequently, the Gerry Duffy of today is a far different animal to the Gerry Duffy who found himself coasting through life for over a decade because he wasn’t aware that he was, indeed, alive. “From the age of 17 or 18, I was in college initially and then I worked in the travel business. Then I worked for the insurance industry and I worked for an insurance company in Galway.
“I got up every day and I did the same so I got the same. Life wasn’t giving me a huge amount in terms of experience but as soon as I made a change, everything changed and I started to get happier. So, when I took up running, it sort of woke me up to the fact that I was alive,” he continues.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
Connacht Tribune
Connacht raise the roof again with magnificent late heroics
Inside Track with John McIntyre
THE dramatic finale at the Sportsground on Saturday ought to have made the RTE Six One News sporting headlines, but there wasn’t a mention of Connacht’s extraordinary late heroics against Gloucester which keeps the province’s hopes of reaching the European Champions Cup quarter-finals alive.
Instead, the rugby spotlight was on Munster’s away defeat to champions Saracens. Later during the sports segment on the Six One News, Connacht’s never-say-die comeback was relegated to the last match of the Champions Cup wrap up. RTE, in their wisdom, believed that Munster’s 15-6 loss and Leinster’s routing of a makeshift Northampton on the same day were somehow more meritorious.
If Leinster or Munster had achieved what Connacht did in the latest round of European pool matches, can you imagine how gushing RTE’s coverage would have been? When a Tipperary man with a strong GAA background starts taking offence over Connacht not getting the coverage they are entitled to, it does give an insight into why rugby in the West feels hard done by in terms of national acclaim.
For all that, last Saturday was another thumping experience on College Road. With their European Championship knock-out ambitions on the line, it was victory or bust for Caolin Blade and company. But when Connacht trailed by 24-13 with less than six minutes remaining, it was impossible to see how they could salvage a result.
A pragmatic Gloucester already had the four-try bonus point in the bag. They may have trailed 10-7 at the break having faced the elements, but tries from Mark Atkinson (two) and captain Lewis Ludlow turned the game on its head. Connacht were remaining competitive but the breaks were going the way of a team they had never previously beaten.
The home fans in the crowd of 6,800 were understandably resigned to the worst. The yellow carding of Ludlow for a deliberate knock on meant Gloucester were reduced to 14 for the closing minutes, but nobody at the Sportsground thought much of it. Connacht were 11 points behind with time running out. They needed a miracle.
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Connacht Tribune
Being backed into a corner could help to ignite the Galway hurlers
Inside Track with John McIntyre
MICHEÁL Donoghue faces the biggest challenge of his management career so far after Galway’s latest subdued display of 2019 at Pearse Stadium last Sunday. A lot of the same personnel are still there from the team’s magnificent All-Ireland triumph of two years, but the form of a number of influential players has nose-dived since last September’s championship loss to Limerick.
After a late collapse against Waterford in the National League quarter-final, Galway had some questions to answer ahead of their Leinster campaign and not withstanding their significant injury problems over the past few months, the Tribesmen’s stock has continued to decline judging by this month’s displays against both Carlow and Wexford.
Though it’s far from a full-blown crisis and we must keep a sense of perspective, there’s no point being wise after the event. On the evidence of what have seen to date this summer, Galway are dicing with an unexpected premature exit from the championship unless the squad can rediscover the hunger, intensity and quality which characterised many of their performances in 2017.
The continued absence of Joe Canning – and it is a mighty blow – can’t explain everything. Sure, Daithí Burke, Joseph Cooney, Jonathan Glynn, Adrian Tuohey and John Hanbury, an important introduction against Wexford, remain short of competitive action, but as a package, Galway should still be better than this.
Failing to find the net against either Carlow or Wexford, together with the lack of fluency and sharpness, has some local alarm bells ringing, leaving the team management with plenty to ponder on ahead of Sunday week’s big collision with Kilkenny. Lose that and Galway’s season will hang on getting a result at Parnell Park – an unforgiving venue at the best of times.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
CITY TRIBUNE
St Thomas’ man behind the scenes typifies why club is going so strong
Talking Sport with Stephen Glennon
WHAT was meant to be a few minutes of soundbite ahead of St. Thomas’ All-Ireland senior club hurling semi-final clash against Cushendall on Saturday has metamorphosed into a full-scale Talking Sport interview. Simply, because, Claude Geoghegan is an interesting guy.
For the past decade, Geoghegan has been the man behind the scenes and in his own inimitable way he has contributed just as much to St. Thomas’s success story as anybody else in Kilchreest and Peterswell. Perhaps, even more so.
As club secretary, he presided over St. Thomas’ historic county and All-Ireland club victories in the 2012/2013 season while, in the past three years, he has served as selector under managers John Burke and Kevin Lally, winning a county senior crown with each in 2016 and 2018 respectively. It is a proud record.
“I have held a few positions alright over the best part of a decade now — four or five years as secretary — and this is my third year involved now with the senior team. It is a way of life, I suppose, more than anything else,” begins the 31-year-old.
“When you are from a rural locality, it is what you are brought up with. It is what you know. If I wasn’t involved in the club in some capacity, I would feel I had a bit too much spare time on my hands. I would feel a bit odd without it, being honest.”
A history teacher at Presentation College, Athenry, Geoghegan explains his family are steeped in GAA tradition. His father Seamus hurled with the club before managing the intermediate team, as it was back then, while his older brother James has also done his duty as club secretary.
“Also, when the club amalgamated in 1968, my father was on the U14 team that won the county championship that year. We actually haven’t won the ‘A’ championship at U14 since. We have won plenty, but not that.”
Indeed, three SHC county titles in the last seven years would suggest that St. Thomas’ is a very special club but Geoghegan argues they are no different to any of the other clubs around. “Every other club is putting in the time that we are putting in. We are not special in any way in comparison to anyone else but we are incredibly fortunate to have a special group of players who have come together at one time.”
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.