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Sporting Spotlight

English, Sports, 1 season, 18 episodes, 8 hours, 10 minutes
About
Each week Breifne Earley talks to a different sports star from across the Irish sporting world. Including Olympians, Paralympians, World Champions, International athletes and the hottest sporting prospects for the future. Each week we put our guest to the Spotlight Sweat our own Sports Quiz to see which star knows the most about Irish Sport. Each guest also gets to demonstrate their musical taste by selecting the closing song of the show.
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Episode 31 - Gary O'Hanlon - Athletics

This week's guest on the show is one of Ireland's top marathon runners. Clonliffe Harrier's Gary O'Hanlon chats to Breifne Earley about disliking athletics until he started to win races at fourteen. The car accident that nearly ended his running career at seventeen and his return to competitive action almost fifteen years later, egged on my his Amphibian King colleague Kevin English, before winning a bronze medal in the Irish Cross Country Championships in 2012. Winning four marathons (Connemara, Limerick, Kildare and Newry) in eight weeks back to back before a second place in the Cork marathon in June saw him explode into the public consciousness through his continued exposure in all the athletics media at that time of the season. He brought his good form into the end of the season and it rubbed off on the plenty of athletes he coached through the Dublin City Marathon. It was a personal disaster for Gary despite finishing 6th in the race, an incident the previous day with his phone being stolen resulted in a broken hand for Gary, who ran the race regardless. And finally the less said the better about his effort in the Sporting Spotlight, although with the amount of training required to be that competitive over the marathon distance we'll forgive him.
11/8/201327 minutes
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Episode 30 - Rob Costello - Endurance Runner

This week to celebrate the Dublin Marathon, Breifne chats to Rob Costello, a veteran of 20 marathons, about how he got into running in his mid twenties. He talks about playing social football through college and deciding to join a group from work in a marathon in Barcelona, how a 100km race is 'only two and a half marathons' and suffering in 42 degree heat during a 100 mile race attempt in the Western States Endurance Run in the USA. He has completed twenty marathons across the globe including Dublin, Barcelona, Sydney, Gold Coast, Melbourne, San Francisco amongst other exotic locations He also chats about how his swimming has held back his Ironman ambitions although he hopes to rectify that in the future.
11/1/201325 minutes
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Episode 29 - Stephanie Roche - Women's Football

This week Stephanie Roche is in the Sporting Spotlight talking about her sporting career with Peamount United, Dundalk City, Raheny United, Stella Maris, and learning her craft with Valeview Shankill, Cabinteely and Tony Pouchs Wicklow Academy. Starting from playing with the lads on her estate she developed into a Senior International and playing in the UEFA Women's Champions League & Bus Eireann Women's National League with Peamount Utd. She outlines the major influences on her career and talks to us about that goal which lit up the internet all week.
10/30/201328 minutes
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Episode 28 - Avril Copeland - Adventure Racer

This week Breifne Earley has Ireland's premier female adventure racer Avril Copeland in the spotlight. She talks about her initial sporting career as a senior international hockey player focused on reaching the Olympics, before pursuing a love of country music and finding herself rubbing shoulders with her favourite artist Garth Brooks living in Nashville, Tennessee. While there she found herself drawn to the new world of adventure racing and after attending a training camp knew it was where she wanted to be in a sporting sense. She has moved on to become one of Ireland's top athletes currently partaking in this growing sport and as an ambassador for the Killarney Adventure Race is urging everyone and anyone to consider getting involved in the multi-discipline sport.
10/24/201328 minutes
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Episode 27 - Cliodhna O'Connor - Ladies Gaelic Football

This week's guest is Dublin & Naomh Mearnog Ladies Gaelic Football netminder Cliodhna O'Connor. Having won an All Ireland and two all star awards with Dublin over a ten year career between the posts for the Jackies. She chats to Breifne Earley about getting her break at senior level after injuries and emigration gave her an opportunity and she's never looked back. Cliodhna mentions growing up through Naomh Mearnog with a great group of girls who all graced the blue jersey in either football or camogie at some level. She profiles disappointments with her club before the joy of finally bringing home the Brendan Martin Cup in 2011.
10/24/201323 minutes, 15 seconds
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Episode 26 - Kevin O'Brien - Cricket

This evening Breifne chat's to Irish Cricketer Kevin O'Brien who faces his turn in the Sporting Spotlight. He chats about growing up in a cricket crazy family and how he progressed from a kid playing with his brothers for his local club Railway Union to hitting the fastest one day world cup century in the victory over England in 2011. He talks about the tragedy surrounding the death of the Pakistan coach after their encounter in the 2007 World Cup as well as the progress of Irish Cricket since that debut World Cup.
10/24/201328 minutes
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Episode 25 - David O'Sullivan - Football

This evening's show features the top goal scorer in the entire Airtricity League this season, David O'Sullivan of Longford Town. We talks to Breifne Earley about playing schoolboy football in Wicklow and getting his first bite of the League of Ireland cherry with Bray Wanderers and Sporting Fingal only to fall foul to injuries. The rise, fall and re-rise of his career from Wicklow, Wayside Celtic and international honours at the World University Games and Gerry Smyth's Intermediate side and on to his first senior league appearances with Longford Town this season.
10/23/201328 minutes
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Episode 24 - Laura Reynolds - Athletics

This evening's show will feature London 2012 Olympics Walker Laura Reynolds. The Leitrim athlete who qualified for the Olympics and went on to secure a top twenty finish. She talks to Breifne about growing up in Leitrim, getting into athletics in primary school, community games before getting selected to represent Ireland at youth level. She discusses the process in selecting athletics over her other sports during her teen years including basketball and gaelic football. Laura discusses the professional setup of the athletics academy in Dublin City University which was one of the catalysts for her success at senior level. With one eye on the future she outlines her plans for the road to Rio in 2016.
10/23/201323 minutes, 50 seconds
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Episode 23 - Darragh McDonald - Paralympic Swimming

This evening's show will feature London 2012 Paralympic Swimming Champion Darragh McDonald. The Wexford teenager who burst on the scene at the Beijing Paralympic Games winning a silver medal before trading up for gold in the S6 400m Freestyle four years later. Darragh will be talking about his early success at just thirteen years of age in Beijing, the expectation which comes from such early promise, dealing with mixing his secondary education and full time training. We'll also be chatting about his future as he prepares to change clubs, moving to UCD for his education and what lies ahead on his 'Road to Rio'.
10/23/201328 minutes, 21 seconds
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Episode 22 - Chloe Magee - Badminton

This evening's show will feature Chloe Magee Ireland's top female badminton player who competed at both the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games. She outlines how her parent's influence got her into the sport at a young age, and moving to Sweden to coach badminton after her leaving certificate was the catalyst in directing her towards the Beijing games. With her success in Beijing, where she became the first Irish woman to win a badminton match at the Olympic Games, she decided to refocus her efforts at continue full time towards London 2012. Chloe talks about the challenge of keeping her personal & family life out of her badminton, a tall order considering her coach is brother Daniel and her mixed doubles partner Sam is another brother. The new Badminton high performance centre has allowed her to train at home in a proper environment and really compete on the global stage. She also gives her thoughts on the comments made by RTE's Olympic coverage about the sport of Badminton last summer.
10/23/201328 minutes
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Episode 21 - Mark Kenneally - Athletics

This evening's show features marathon runner Mark Kenneally who competed at the London 2012 Olympic Games. He talks about his love of athletics, how he'd love to be a sprinter, moving out of cross country onto the roads, dealing with injuries and how he ended up qualifying for London ahead of expectations. Mark also talks about hitting the wall in the final stages of his debut marathon.
10/23/201328 minutes
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Episode 20 - Stephen Martin MBE - Hockey

This week's guest on the show is Stephen Martin MBE, an Olympic gold medallist in Seoul in 1988 with British Hockey, and current CEO of the Olympic Council of Ireland chats to Breifne Earley about his sporting career. From playing many sports through his school days winning national titles in hockey and golf and progressing to play hockey at international level for both Ireland and Great Britain over a long and distinguished career winning Olympic Gold (Seoul 1988) & Bronze (Los Angeles 1984) as well as captaining the squad at stages of the Barcelona games in 1992. Winning a total of 229 international caps across both teams and a series of world medals he moved into the world of sports administration with Ulster Hockey, Sports Council NI, British Olympic Association and now as CEO of the Olympic Council of Ireland.
10/23/201329 minutes
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Episode 19 - Camila Speirs - Eventing

This week Breifne is joined by Irish Olympic Eventer Camilla Speirs who is discussing her Olympic success and disappointment, growing up on horseback, finding an Olympic level horse. How being in the presence of royalty doesn't phase her and it's all about the eventing disciplines of Dressage, Cross Country and Showjumping.
10/23/201328 minutes
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Episode 18 - James Cluskey - Tennis

This week Breifne is joined by Irish Davis Cup star James Cluskey who chats about his tennis career, studying in the states and the major influences on his sporting life. He chats about his life on tour on ATP Challenger and Futures events, and his ambition to play in grand slams and pushy parents!
10/23/201328 minutes
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Episode 17 - Ailis McSweeney - Athletics

Ireland's fastest woman, Ailis McSweeney, joins Breifne to chat about growing up in Cork, joining Leevale during her school years and dealing with the disappointment of injury setbacks. She discusses meeting her husband, All Ireland winning Dublin Captain Bryan Cullen, and how having two athletes in the family can only help both in their application of their training and dietary plans.
10/23/201328 minutes
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Episode 16 - Gerry Duffy - Endurance Athlete (2/2)

Gerry Duffy is put in the Sporting Spotlight to look at his sporting life and times. From a starting point of being five stone over weight, he started to run and eventually started to partake in triathlons and marathons. He progressed to a point where he decided to complete a 32 Marathon Challenge in all 32 Irish counties across 32 consecutive days, and with Ken Whitelaw he completed this goal in 2010. His next target was to complete 10 Iron distance triathlons in ten consecutive days in 2011, once again this was done, with Gerry finishing first out of the entrants in the event. He has chronicled his progress in that event in his second book 'Tick, Tock, Ten' which will no doubt scale the best seller lists just like his first book 'Who Dares, Runs' about his 32 Marathon endeavours.
7/5/201326 minutes, 28 seconds
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Episode 15 - Gerry Duffy - Endurance Athlete (1/2)

Gerry Duffy is put in the Sporting Spotlight to look at his sporting life and times. From a starting point of being five stone over weight, he started to run and eventually started to partake in triathlons and marathons. He progressed to a point where he decided to complete a 32 Marathon Challenge in all 32 Irish counties across 32 consecutive days, and with Ken Whitelaw he completed this goal in 2010. His next target was to complete 10 Iron distance triathlons in ten consecutive days in 2011, once again this was done, with Gerry finishing first out of the entrants in the event. He has chronicled his progress in that event in his second book 'Tick, Tock, Ten' which will no doubt scale the best seller lists just like his first book 'Who Dares, Runs' about his 32 Marathon endeavours.
7/5/201328 minutes, 1 second
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Episode 14 - Susan Moran - Basketball

This week’s guest in the Sporting Spotlight is one of Ireland’s top basketball players Susan Moran, a stalwart of Irish teams over the year, she chats to Breifne about her career, starting to play basketball in school in Tullamore, moving to Philadelphia to play with St. Josephs in the NCAA Championship. She discusses her time playing in the Women’s NBA, Europe, Australia and New Zealand as well as her coaching role with St. Joe’s. She reminisces about her time in a green jersey and looks forward to the day when Irish girls will once again represent the country.
7/1/201328 minutes