From pitch to pavement: Louth man tells how running gave him a second cahnce at sport

My running journey brought my fitness to a whole new level and gave me a second chance at sport.

In my youth, I was a decent soccer and Gaelic player but felt I was a better soccer player.

I played for Quay Celtic and Dundalk Young Ireland’s GFC, and I loved both clubs. The managers and volunteers were fantastic.

We had much more success with Dundalk Young Irelands—every year; we won a trophy, and I mean every year.

I was a starter on the team, which was helped by the fact that I was tall, strong, and bigger than most of the other lads. I played in midfield. But as we hit 17 and 18, everyone else caught up physically.

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In Gaelic, we made it to the Louth Minor Championship final, and I had played every match, every minute leading up to it. Then, for the final, I was dropped. I was gutted.

A few talented young players came into the squad, and in the end, we lost the final.

Our under 18 team was very strong. The senior team was weak and in the Junior grade at the time.

We came in and our lads were added to the senior team.

In our first proper year, we won the Junior League and the following year we won the Junior Championship. Then in only three years we won the Intermediate Championship.

Time moved on, and although our first team was very successful, I wasn’t part of it—I was on the second team.

The competition for places was fierce, and I never really got a lucky break. But the group, the training sessions, and the craic were brilliant. I loved every bit of it.

In 2011, our second team won the league, which was a great way to have something to show for all the good times.

In 2011, my running journey began. I saw there was a big fuss being made for the “Dundalk 10k and half marathon”.

I signed up for the 10K race, and there was an option to do it as part of a football team—four in a group—with a chance to win a set of jerseys if everyone posted good times. That’s what we did. I was signing up regardless; but being with Young Irelands made it better.

To prepare, I trained with Young Irelands on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on two other nights, I did lap-post training—sprinting to one lamppost, then jogging to the next, repeating this for 5K. Come May I did the 10k, and I finished it in 41.41 min which I was very happy with.

A few days later, I went into McCrystal’s and asked to get my name and time engraved into the back of the medal.

I came back a few dayslater, picked it up and got chatting to the race organiser Bryan McCrystal, an athlete himself.

He said the next target was now to break the 40 minute mark, something I knew was going to be tough.

I kept playing Gaelic, though I still wasn’t in the first team like I had hoped. Then, around the same time in 2012 as my last race, I came across the Felda 10K and decided to sign up and go for it.

This race was a strange one. The whistle blew, and off we went on what happened to be one of the hottest days of the year!

After what felt like a long distance, I reached Sexton’s pub, looked down, and saw a yellow-painted 1KM marker. OMG, I thought—I still had another 9K to go!

At that point, I was actually leading the race, but I believe I finished 11th overall.

My final time was 40:57, nearly a full minute faster than my last 10K. I was getting closer to breaking the 40-minute mark.

This was in 2012, and I ended up playing Gaelic for one more year.

But after seven years of training with the senior team without getting close to making it, I decided it was time to focus on running.

With running, my progress was in my hands—I could control how fast I got.

In Gaelic, no matter how hard I trained, I couldn’t control whether the manager picked me or not. I got tired of showing up every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, only to realise I wasn’t getting any closer to the senior team.

I decided to take running seriously and started training with the North East Runners every Tuesday night at 7 PM at the bypass across from St. Helena’s Park.

I trained for the intervarsity games (college indoors) in Athlone, competing in the 1500m and 800m events. In my first-ever 1500m race, I ran 4:31, which was a solid start. From that moment on, my love for running has continued.