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Humans of Gaelic

Humans of Gaelic

Kevin O'Brien

Conversations with experts, coaches and players, exploring elite performance in S&C and the GAA.

29 - Championship nutrition mistakes | Avoiding heavy legs | Truth about carb-loading
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  • 29 - Championship nutrition mistakes | Avoiding heavy legs | Truth about carb-loading

    Join 7k+ athletes - Gaelic Games S&C, Performance and Coaching newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://portal.humansofgaelic.com/newsletter⁠


    What should carb-loading actually look like for a GAA player? Can dehydration really explain calf cramps? And what should you eat after a late training session when you have no appetite?


    Performance dietitian Eva Hoey (@evahoeynutrition) joins Kevin to explain how players can fuel properly during the club championship.


    Eva has worked with Dublin hurlers, Ballyboden St Enda’s, Scotstown and other top sides, while also supporting athletes individually through her online nutrition practice.


    She explains why many players focus too heavily on match day while under-fuelling throughout the rest of the week, leaving them flat for training and struggling to recover between championship games.


    In this episode, we also cover:

    • Why nutrition information is useless without practical application
    • The most common fuelling mistakes made by GAA players
    • How work, travel and late training affect a player’s nutrition
    • What carb-loading should look like in the 24 hours before a match
    • Why eating considerably more food can leave players feeling heavy
    • How nerves can affect appetite and digestion before championship games
    • The possible causes of calf cramping
    • Whether regular coffee drinkers still benefit from caffeine on match day
    • The best half-time fuelling options
    • Sports drinks, gels, wine gums and Jaffa Cakes
    • What to eat after a late training session
    • Eva’s path from clinical dietetics into performance nutrition
    • What she learned while working with Daniel Davey
    • The realities of delivering nutrition support within a county setup


    Whether you are preparing for a championship match, struggling with energy at training or unsure how to recover between games, this episode offers a practical approach to fuelling your performance.


    We’ve got some great guests coming up. Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any episodes.

    Stay Connected

    Subscribe to the Humans of Gaelic podcast wherever you’re listening.

    ⭐ Leave a Review: If you found value in this episode, please give it a rating and review. It helps us hugely!

    📢 Share the Episode: Know someone who’d benefit from this? Share it to help us spread the word!

    Follow Along

    📍 Website: humansofgaelic.com
    📸 Instagram: @humansofgaelic
    📘 Facebook: Humans of Gaelic
    🎥 TikTok: @humansofgaelic

    Thu, 20 Aug 2026 - 48min
  • 28 - Sports psychologist behind Dublin's 5-in-a-row | Why teams collapse under pressure | Danger of 'gurus'

    Join 7k+ athletes - Gaelic Games S&C, Performance and Coaching newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://portal.humansofgaelic.com/newsletter⁠


    Why do talented teams suddenly collapse under pressure? Can players train concentration in the same way they train strength or speed? And are GAA teams taking risks by hiring unqualified people to deliver sports psychology?


    Anne-Marie Kennedy has spent more than a decade working in elite sport, including roles with the Dublin footballers, Galway footballers, Clare hurlers, Cricket Ireland, Cycling Ireland and Swim Ireland.


    She joins this week’s episode of Humans of Gaelic to explain what sports psychology actually looks like inside a high-performance team.


    Anne-Marie discusses the Mindful Athlete programme developed during Jim Gavin’s time with Dublin, how the players trained concentration and emotional regulation, and why visualisation must prepare athletes for realistic challenges rather than perfect performances.


    She also breaks down the psychology of a collective team collapse, what happens to decision-making when panic spreads through a team, and how coaches can prepare players for momentum shifts before match day.


    We also cover:

    • How Anne-Marie moved from finance into yoga and sports psychology

    • Why Jim Gavin was ahead of his time in developing Dublin’s mental preparation

    • The role of mindfulness, breathwork and visualisation in high performance

    • Why concentration may be the most important mental skill in sport

    • How routines can help free-takers perform under pressure

    • What happens inside the brain when a team begins to panic

    • Why teams must prepare for opposition purple patches and momentum shifts

    • The dangers of unqualified people working as sports psychologists

    • What an embedded sports psychologist does during a typical inter-county week

    • Why trust, relationships and time inside the environment are essential


    Whether you are a player trying to handle pressure, a coach shaping a team environment, or someone interested in how elite teams prepare mentally, this episode provides a rare look inside the work of a sports psychologist.

    ➕ I've got some great guests coming up. Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any episodes.

    Stay Connected

    Subscribe to the Humans of Gaelic podcast wherever you're listening.

    ⭐ Leave a Review: If you found value in this episode, please give it a rating and review - it helps me get more top guests.📢 Share the Episode: Know someone who’d benefit from this? Share it to help spread the word!

    Follow Along

    📍 Website: ⁠humansofgaelic.com⁠

    📸 Instagram: ⁠@humansofgaelic⁠

    📘 Facebook: ⁠Humans of Gaelic⁠

    🎥 TikTok: ⁠@humansofgaelic

    Wed, 05 Aug 2026 - 45min
  • 27 - Sleep coach for GAA | Stop chasing perfect sleep | The 8-hour myth

    Join 7k+ athletes - Gaelic Games S&C, Performance and Coaching newsletter:⁠⁠⁠⁠https://portal.humansofgaelic.com/newsletter

    Should you always go to bed at the same time? Is eight hours a myth? And why is your sleep tracker maybe doing more harm than good?

    With club championships now in full swing, I sat down with Emmett Lynch, a professional sleep coach trained in cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, to break down what's actually happening when GAA players can't sleep before or after a big game.

    Emmett works with county players, club players and elite boxers through his practice in Derry, and he's blunt about the myths doing the rounds: the eight hour rule, mouth taping, magnesium tablets, obsessive sleep tracking.

    His whole approach flips the usual advice on its head. Instead of chasing sleep harder, he tells players to try easier.

    In this episode, we also cover:

    • The most common issues GAA players bring to him

    • Why "tired" and "sleepy" are two completely different things

    • The truth about bedtime routines, screens and phone scrolling before bed

    • A simple write-it-down method for a racing mind the night before a game

    • Controlled rest periods versus naps on match day

    • Getting to sleep after a night game full of adrenaline

    • Whether elite athletes actually need more sleep than everyone else

    • Sleep trackers - are they helping or hurting your recovery?

    • The truth about melatonin, magnesium and mouth taping

    Whether you're a player struggling to switch off before championship or a coach trying to help your squad recover better, this one is worth your time.

    You can follow or reach out to Emmett on his Instagram

    Wed, 22 Jul 2026 - 41min
  • 26 - Inside a county footballer's mind | Visualisation & journaling | Meeting Djokovic

    Join 7k+ athletes - Gaelic Games S&C, Performance and Coaching newsletter:⁠⁠⁠https://portal.humansofgaelic.com/newsletter


    What does two years in the AFL system actually teach you that you can bring back to inter-county football? 


    Why is a call-out culture one of the hardest things a squad can build, and why does it matter so much? 


    And what was it really like sitting in a room with Novak Djokovic listening to him talk about discipline?


    Sligo footballer Luke Towey joins the podcast this week to break it all down.


    Luke spent two years with the Gold Coast Suns in the AFL before returning to inter-county football with Sligo, and has since built his own Performance Journal business used by loads of GAA players and teams.


    In this episode, we also cover:


    Reflecting honestly on a disappointing season with SligoWhat actually happens inside a panel once an inter-county season endsThe two years he spent in the AFL system during COVIDBuilding culture and standards in a professional sporting environmentComparing GAA and AFL strength and conditioningA breakdown of Sligo's weekly gym schedule during championshipMental prep, visualisation and sport psychologyThe story behind his Performance Journal and turning it into a businessMeeting the 'hyper-obsessed' Novak Djokovic at the SunsHow he resets after a bad performance


    You can get 20% off your own journal by using the code 'HUMANS' if you go here.


    And you can follow Luke's business page here.

    Wed, 08 Jul 2026 - 45min
  • 25 - Developing two-footed footballers: 'What we're currently doing is not working'

    Join 7k+ athletes - Gaelic Games S&C, Performance and Coaching newsletter:⁠⁠https://portal.humansofgaelic.com/newsletter

    Why are GAA players being dictated to by their dominant foot without even knowing it? Why does dominant-side kicking shape a team's entire tactical shape? And why is what we're currently doing to develop the non-dominant side simply not working?

    Dr. Karol Dillon has just completed his PhD on bilaterality in Gaelic football - five years of research - and he's back on the podcast to break it all down.

    After our first conversation, Karol has spent the last year visiting clubs and counties across Ireland sharing his findings. What he found surprised even him.

    In this episode, we cover:

    Why skill development in GAA needs to be treated like a lifestyle, not a drill at training

    What the research actually showed when Karol ran a three-month intervention - and why the result wasn't what he expected

    How dominant-foot kicking shapes team tactics across every division, male and female

    Why left-footed players are worth their weight in gold and are undervalued

    What David Clifford, Shane Walsh, Tomas Ó Sé and James O'Donoghue have in common that most coaches miss

    Why the games-based approach is what teenage players themselves say works best

    The role of parents in developing the non-dominant side - and why they matter more than the coach

    How S&C coaches can bring this into training

    How GAA's own 13-week coaching webinar only dedicates one week to skill - and what that tells us

    Why we're playing with half a pitch and what would change if this improved by 25% over 30 years

    You can follow Karol on X: https://x.com/KarolDillon8

    Wed, 01 Jul 2026 - 55min
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