Real Talks

As part of the First Fortnight festival, I recently sat down with Dublin’s double All-Ireland winning players Nicole Owens, Noelle Healy and Sinéad Finnegan for a live panel discussion in The Sugar Club, Dublin. We spoke about how sport can impact your mental health in both positive and negative ways, discussing vulnerabilities with teammates and in the media, living a balanced lifestyle and the rise in popularity of ladies football in recent years. It was an incredibly insightful and inspiring conversation that men, women, boys and girls will relate to. Noelle Healy is the first voice that replies to my first question, Nicole Owens is the second and Sinéad Finnegan is the third. Hope you enjoy, Alan

Philly McMahon is a five time All-Ireland winner with Dublin and leading advocate for addiction recovery in Ireland. We sat down in front of a live audience in The Sugar Club, Leeson Street to discuss his best-selling book ‘The Choice’ as well as his hopes for 2018.

Clare’s Carol O’Leary has become one of the leading voices that is both demanding and creating meaningful change for female sport in Ireland. Like many, Carol’s passion for GAA took hold at a young age but her development into the authentic and inspiring leader she is today wasn't without complications. On the podcast this week, she speaks about the search for self-confidence, the difficulty of trying to fit in and how turning to drink and failing college eventually forced her to look within for the answers that she craved. This podcast was brought to you by the Women’s Gaelic Players Association in conjunction with Pat the Baker. Their partnership, through the Be Healthy Wholemeal Loaf, actively supports Ladies Football & Camogie players in every intercounty squad. The WGPA player development programme provides services such as scholarships, careers advice and counselling to help members be their best in their personal and professional lives. If you enjoy this episode, don’t forget there are 17 previous podcasts with top class GAA heroes like Kevin McManamon, Oisin McConville, Eamon McGee, Briege Corkery and Noel Connors discussing so many different life lessons they have learned over the years. Find them on iTunes or SoundCloud by searching for 'Real Talks’.

Diarmuid Lyng wore the Wexford jersey for a number of years but after captaining his county in 2009 and 2010, his relationship with the game turned sour. In search for answers about himself and his relationship with the game, Diarmuid went and travelled the world. On that journey, which included a stay in a Buddhist temple, he found some of the answers he was looking for but he was also left with even more questions. Big thanks to Diarmuid for his honesty as well as his fascinating insight into sport, life, identity, meditation and a whole lot more. This is a conversation that everyone will be able to take something from. Thanks for listening to all our podcasts so far. We live in a society where we are constantly told shorter is better and we get soundbites forced down our throats but it is truly humbling that over 50,000 times, someone has sat down to press play on one of these conversations.

On the podcast this week, Leitrim GAA legend Colin Regan talked about what it was like to represent the county with the smallest population in Ireland, how being a protestant that thrived in the GAA jersey helped shape his identity and how now, in his role as Community and Health Manager in the GAA, he is adamant that the Association is about much more than just the games. If you are a first time listener, we hope you enjoy listening to a show that lets you see another side to GAA players by focusing on the person rather than the athlete. You can find us on iTunes or SoundCloud by searching ‘Real Talks’. There you can access previous episodes with Cora Staunton, Kevin McMamamon, Eamon McGee, Michael Fennelly and many more. If you are returning listener, thanks for the ongoing support. By the time you are tuning into this, will should have passed the 50,000 play count, so please keep spreading the word about the podcast to your friends, family and teammates. Last but not least, to help out Alan Kerins, who featured in Episode 13, our podcast host Alan O’Mara will be running through a bog on November 4th to help raise funds for a Children’s Home in Zambia that saves and changes the lives of many. It is a project that Alan Kerins and the team in Gorta-Self Help Africa have been supporting for over 10years. If any listener can spare a few euro, I’d really appreciate the support as any donation you make, no matter how big or small, will help to change a life. You can donate here - https://www.altruism.ie/fundraising_page/alan-o-mara-fundraising-page-for-gorta-self-help-africa