Episodes
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This week Breifne Earley was joined by Paul Kilgallon, an overweight guy who went through a personal transformation from 21 stone (295 lbs / 133 kg) to 12 stone and a professional journey which has led to him opening his own fitness business, Fit Kicks, a new gym in Mohill, Co. Leitrim.He talks about not being too unfit to catch his 2 year old child when playing and realising that he needed to improve his fitness and starting by walking, leading to jogging before an opportunity of a Community Employment Scheme with Leitrim Sports Partnership saw him get more involved with the fitness world.Paul talks about his experience of being overweight, a regular gambler who enjoyed the occasional pint of Baileys, and how these problems came to a head when an innocent neighbour was killed during a driveby shooting involving Dublin drug kingpins and himself and Martina, his now wife, moved to the north west to create a more suitable home for their young family.Losing his betting shop assistant manager job in 2009 while Martina was expecting their first child, left him in a scary situation not knowing where his next pay cheque was coming from. Dealing with the problems of unemployment, being overweight and the all too easy access to gambling all led to a bout with depression and generally being unhappy.Looking back from his current situation of owning a double unit fitness suite in Mohill, Co. Leitrim, he credits the employment scheme with giving him the encouragement, experience and enthusiasm to forge ahead with his own company at the end of the three year scheme with the Local Sports Partnership. -
This week Breifne is joined by former Irish Athletics manager, a veteran of 5 Olympic cycles, Patsy McGonagle fresh from the launch of his new book. The Donegal man shares his experience of growing up in Ballybofey with a strict pharmacist mother and an army officer father. Like most Irish families his Mother ruled the roost and he shares tales of his school days in Donegal and Derry where he discovered his love for Athletics, which would become his life long passion.Becoming a father and marrying his sweetheart Rosaleen while studying physical education teaching in St. Mary's, Twickenham proved challenging for the young couple but it would help form the resilience and determination that would see him lead the Irish athletics delegation to 4 Olympic Games (Sydney, Beijing, London and Rio), 6 World Championships and a total of over 68 international meetings. A record for any manager in Irish Athletics.The medals earned on his watch also make impressive reading with no less than 49 medals secured by Irish athletes in that time with Sonia O'Sullivan and Rob Heffernan's Olympic medals top of the pile.He shares his experience of the Irish sporting boardroom and how politics can affect the world of elite sport both positively and negatively and outlines his thoughts on where resources should be directed to ensure future successes in the sport.He also outlines the changing face of his own life having, like most fathers, missed out on stages of his own kid's lives he's now making up for lost time as a devoted retired grandfather.Patsy discusses the various athletes he worked with over the years and how prioritising developing good working relationships allowed Irish athletes to achieve a higher standard within their own disciplines.Through the entire conversation Finn Valley AC was never too far from his thoughts and the fantastic facility in Ballybofey is a testament to his never say die attitude and his ability to bring an entire community along with his dreams."Relentless: A Race Through Time", Patsy's book, with Chris McNulty (Hero Books, €20) is now available on Amazon and Kindle. -
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This week Breifne Earley is joined by Michelle O'Donnell, an inspiring lady who decided she needed to change certain things in her life as she approached the half century point in her life. In October 2018 she decided to set herself a bucket list of challenges which she would attempt to accomplish to celebrate her 50th Birthday which actually occurs today.The list includes learning new skills such as the piano, visiting tourist hotspots at home and abroad, running a marathon, kayaking and swimming, experience a live comedy show as well as attempting to make new friends by getting people to join her to mark each item off the list. Already mostly through the list with a few months to do to complete the year, she's danced with Nathan Carter, been sung to by Derek Ryan, climbed Scaffell Pike, night kayaked, run a half marathon and reconnected with an old school friend.Originally from Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, she has been settled in the rural countryside of County Leitrim for the past two decades and with her children now reared she decided to do some things she'd always wanted to do but just hadn't quite managed to find the time for.You can find full details on Facebook on Michelle's "50 Firsts by Shelly". -
This week Breifne is joined by environmentalist, marine biologist, surfer, author and baker Finn Ní Fhaoláin to talk about her life long travels and her portfolio career.Growing up as the child of creative parents, moving between Dublin, Donegal, Galway, Monaghan and Sligo before settling in Bundoran, Co. Donegal.After running down a blind alley into her college years from her leaving cert which turned into a gap year, she found her route into the world of marine biology, the joys of learning mathematical theorems in both the English and Irish languages. She talks about hounding businesses for part time jobs, requesting work each and every week until they offered her hours. How she ended up spending months researching corals off the coast of Ireland in the Atlantic Ocean.While stuck on a floating town for her day job, she found both fitness and food which became her first foray into the world of blogging. The joy of this endeavour lead to her first cook book, Finns World, to suit her celiac inspired gluten free requirements.Finn details how a number of world's collided to see her collection of recipes become that book over the course of just over a year.Ní Fhaoláin talks about how applying for and accepting a food course in St. Angela's in Sligo brought her to live in Bundoran, where she managed to continue her love of surfing and the town where she's made her base for the last three years.Finn finishes the hour by talking about the future, her self predicted mid life crisis, her new gluten free bakery "Milish" and what opening her own business means for her future. -
After a prolonged hiatus the weekly show is back with Breifne Earley joined by a motivational and inspirational guest to talk about their own life and times.This week Breifne is joined by a League of Ireland veteran of 20 years, Raffaele Cretaro. Mostly associated with Sligo Rovers after 17 years playing for the Bit O'Red, he's currently plying his trade at north west rivals Finn Harps.The conversation includes talking about spending the summer of 1990 in Italy soaking up Schilacci's skills, the importance of fast food in his family's life in Tubbercurry and how he ended up at Sligo Rovers as a teenager.The Italian descendent discusses the perennial debate about choosing between football and other sports before delving into the lessons learned from sojourns at Galway United (2006) and Bohemians (2010).Having missed out on an FAI Cup in 2009, the hurt at watching his former team-mates lift the trophy in 2010, fueled his ambitions and a return to The Showgrounds for what would become the golden period for Rovers with a league title to go with another two FAI Cups and a Setanta Cup title.Raff discusses losing the 2010 League title race when at Bohs and not making the same mistake in 2012 with his hometown club. He scored the opening two goals in that crucial decider against St. Patrick's Athletic but wouldn't have wanted anyone but Mark Quigley stepping up for the last minute penalty, hat-trick opportunity or not.He goes into detail about the feeling behind scoring the winning penalty in the 2011 FAI Cup final shootout.Off the field, Raff talks about the development of the league since his debut almost 20 years ago and credits Sligo Rovers with the development of facilities over this period to become the best club ground in the league. He details the perils of playing in the league with 40-42 week contracts for a single season the norm for most clubs and players, players being forced to sign on for social welfare in the off season and the uncertainty that creates.Raff also goes into the details of how he left Sligo at the end of last season and how despite the results this term, he's enjoying his football and working with Ollie Horgan. He's particularly excited about the opportunity to bring his coaching experience to Ballybofey and Harps in a small way with the first team there and wouldn't rule out management or coaching in the league in the future.He looks back at the recent fixture between the two sides where he captained the away side in The Showgrounds and takes pride in his input with a number of his former U19 players having stepped up to the first team in recent years.Finally Cretaro talks about the future and how this is probably, definitely his final year as a League of Ireland player.This episode was a particularly pleasing one and a perfect way to restart the show after a lengthy hiatus. A true icon who needs no introduction in the North West of Ireland. -
This week I am joined by Clisare who talks about her rise to the top of the Irish YouTube community.During our conversation Clisare shares stories about how she was inspired by Jenna Marbles to create content in a similar fashion, starting with a video recreating a music festival in her house as she couldn't afford a ticket to Oxygen, how living with a decision as a 15 year old to adopt a ill fated nickname which she then couldn't change has become her identity to millions of people who have seen her sketches online.Clisare talks about how she made the video 'Shite Irish Girls Say' simply to make herself laugh and wasn't sure about whether anyone else would even find it funny before it simply took off and pushed her unexpectedly into the limelight with national radio and press coverage and she became a national figure overnight with 700,000 views on her video within a matter of days. She shares the story of how at that time, due to her inexperience, she failed to really capitalise on the coverage but through persistence and dedication she has managed to keep millions of people across the globe laughing at her antics, including hilariously posing as 'Ireland' to suggest to her friend 'America' that maybe Donald Trump just isn't the right guy for her. She also shares the constant online grief that came with The Donald's supporters becoming aware of her comedy. The nature of her content has constantly evolved as she herself has grown over the last 6 years and topics like World & Irish Politics and the Irish Language feature albeit usually with her own unique comedic twist.It's hard to imagine that any Irish person who's been on the internet in the last six years hasn't seen her face in her comedy sketches, her Irish bucket list series or dissing Donald Trump's boyfriend potential. What next for Clisare? She recently made her live comedy debut, which she recorded and featured on her channel despite not having watched it back herself, and she has signed up for another go at the live comedy world in the not too distant future, her podcast "Storytime" is booming and the creator has plenty of other projects in the pipeline into the future.You can find Clisare all over the internethttp://www.youtube.com/Clisarehttp://www.facebook.com/Clisarehttp://www.Twitter.com/Clisarehttp://www.instagram.com/clisareSnapchat: realclisareStorytime Podcast LinkVideo: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmgo4q_gbWJvfcYSNFUZcSgAudio: https://soundcloud.com/clisare -
Irish Model & Author Alison Canavan joins Breifne Earley to discuss her career, life and overcoming addiction to inspiring and motivating others through her work.Over twenty years since she lied about her age to enter and win a modelling competition on Irish TV her career has taken her to periods living in New York, London, Paris, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand. Alison talks about the routine of working, casting, travelling and adjusting to life in the major fashion cities with just a list of appointments and a map of Paris before mobile phones.Alison discusses the feeling of being judged on her appearance, the competition for work at the top end of the business, how being on the world stage eliminated the bitchy aspects of getting into the industry, dealing with rejection and the dark sides of the industry with alcohol and substance abuse, castings where the agents didn’t even look at her book, not fitting the criteria for shoots, being the worldwide face of Lux, seeing her face on beauty products in a shop in Cuba.Alison shares how the fashion industry made it easier to get access to alcohol as a teenager, how self medication became a necessary device to function normally, how pharmaceuticals have become normalised in modern society and the dangers that poses, becoming a fully functioning alcoholic but still showing up for work despite the addictions, how she thought her situation wasn’t anything like the people around her at Alcoholics Anonymous and not able to identify which low point was her rock bottom.Despite the glamorous lifestyle Alison led through her twenties she found herself struggling to make ends meet after the birth of her son James, back in Ireland, working within two weeks of giving birth and struggling between odd jobs and single parents supports her world had turned upside down. Over the last seven years Alison has turned her life and career back around through taking personal responsibility for her actions and deciding her path forward.Alison explains her love of education and self development, her strong interest in meditation and spirituality, how she struggled as a single mum to deal with the experience and couldn’t find a book or manual to help her as a mum look after herself, resulting in her first book ‘Minding Mum’ and how she is now enjoying the freedom that comes with finally leaving her drinking days behind her. -
It's a very exciting week for the Breifne Earley Show as I'm joined by an old friend, TV Presenter & Actor Laura Whitmore, to talk about her eclectic career in a rare long form interview. Laura talks about her life and career and why treading the boards as Cleo Morey in the stage version Peter James' Not Dead Enough isn't as much of a career shift as it seems, growing up in Bray, Co. Wicklow and going to drama lessons to survive being shy and finding her calling there.We discuss her big break on MTV through winning "Pick Me MTV" and finding herself still working for them almost a decade after the year's contract expired. Laura talks about how her journalism degree and professional experience in radio was the key to taking that opportunity with both hands.She also shares her experience of losing control as part of "Strictly", dealing with the tabloid media around her personal life, taking part in the bushtucker trials on "I'm A Celebrity", how real life doesn't really compare with social media and how important it is not to give away all of yourself and to protect yourself and your privacy.Laura explains how nice it is to have songs written about you, how obvious it is that people assume she's had a relationship with every man she's pictured with or linked to, being star struck by Gay Byrne and Glen Hansard while taking Coldplay and P Diddy in her stride, learning by doing on stage with her leading man Shane Ritchie and the pressures of the business side of the theatre and being responsible for putting bums on seats, her love of Murder She Wrote.Laura also reveals to Breifne about meeting the nicest people on the street who continue to wish her well with "Aren't you doing great?", dealing with people's preconceptions about who she is, what's next for her and whether she'd be interested in progressing her acting chops into movies or busting out her singing voice.To access the archive of episodes from the show, subscribe to "The Breifne Earley Show" in itunes or through your favourite Podcast Apps. (links below)https://itunes.apple.com/ie/podcast/the-breifne-earley-show/id1075121394?mt=2http://www.breifneearley.com/podcast/ -
This week Breifne is joined by the new director of the Sport Ireland Institute Liam Harbison. He talks about how his father's love of sport didn't fall far from the tree. A fall from a horse during a holiday in Hungary at 19 resulted in the loss of feeling below the neck for a few hours until the pain and feeling returned. The experience created an interest in the role that sports plays in rehabilitation, this led him to take on the role of manager of the Irish Boccia team, without actually realising he'd done so. The unexpected qualification for the Paralympics saw the beginning of the High Performance programme which he led through to the World Paralympic Games in Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.Moving into the CEO of the organisation soon after the multiple medal performance in China, he was the Chef de Mission (Head of Delegation) for the London 2012 games where Ireland brought home 16 medals including 8 gold medals.He shares his memories of those achievements and the people who made it possible. He explains why Ireland will never host an Olympics or Paralympics as well as looking forward to his new role and the unique challenges that comes with that.(This interview was recorded before Liam started his new role) -
This week Chef Neven Maguire talks about forming his love of the kitchen growing up in the border town of Blacklion during the troubles in the area. Being content with his life at home in Cavan with his wife Amelda and the twins. He shares about his worst nightmare of trying to add more restaurants and not being able to pour your heart and soul into it, turning down offers in London, Paris and Dublin over the years. How not getting accepted into his first choice course in college would turn out to be a blessing in disguise.His first role in a Michelin star restaurant included emptying the bins, preparing the veg and scrubbing the cooker tops without pay, just for food. Getting his big break on RTE with prawn cocktail and desserts. The process behind his award winning and bestselling cook books. Neven shares his belief that food is the future of the country.His cookery school, attached to the restaurant in Blacklion, mirrors his own view that it’s about people enjoying simple food cooked well. He talks about how his family are his biggest critics but also his best friends and offer the best advice. Neven outlines how important it is to have the strong hand of his wife on the tiller of the office side of the business while he does his thing in the kitchen.He beams with pride talking about his wife Amelda and her Celebrity Mum of the Year award in 2015. His twins Lucia and Conor are the apple of his eye, he talks about spending as much time as possible with them and the happiness they bring into their loving home on a daily basis. Taking 3,500 bookings in a single week when they opened the diary for two years. His staff feel like part of his family, but the progression of staff through the business from the kitchen, housekeeping, the bar and front of house.The importance of having a consistent quality offered each and every night. He talks about how the recession played a major role in the food industry in recent years. The lack of finance in most homes meant a higher volume of people cooking quality food at home and really appreciating the quality food available. Bad restaurants fell by the wayside and the quality establishments thrived through the worst years of the international banking crisis. The re-emerging competition across Dublin is both good and bad for the restaurant industry. -
This week Laura Maisey joins Breifne Earley to discuss her upcoming adventure of Running Home From Rome which starts in September 2016. The run will retrace, in reverse, the ancient pilgrim route "Via Francigena" which was first mapped out in the eighth century from the English cathedral city Cantebury to Rome.Laura shares her story of a chance encounter with the leaders of Project Awesome who convinced her to try her hand at exercise and a love of running grew to place her at the start of a 1,200 mile odyssey across the Alps and covering most of Europe.Raising funds for The Ronald McDonald House to help the families of sick children after her own childhood illnesses were relived through the experience of one of the children of a Project Awesome friend.Months before the start of the run she has already smashed her fundraising target of a pound per mile, resulting in her doubling her inital target.Laura shows that even the most unlikely people can undertake massive physical challenges and create a positive example for others. -
This week's guest Bobby McCormack talks to Breifne Earley about his teenage years where dropping out at his first attempt at third level education saw him travel the globe and gain the experience that would see him create a NGO called Development Perspectives in the mid noughties.Visiting Sri Lanka immediately after the devastating tsunami in South East Asia his naive expectations of the work done by aid organisations in such circumstances were dashed by the number of and lack of impact from these entities.Eager to help in a meaningful way and to try and restore normal life to the people of Sri Lanka, Bobby and his now wife felt they were a hindrance rather than a help to the clean up and restoration effort.When they came home to Europe they were invigorated and drafted a strategy to make a significant improvement in the lifestyle of people in less developed countries through education both in Ireland and in those countries challenging their perceptions of each country.Starting by bringing fifteen Irish people to Sri Lanka in 2006 for three weeks to experience life there with a reciprocal visit later that year they continue to challenge those participants to open their eyes to different ways of living.Now with a staff of five people and a core of dozens of volunteers working year round to create the opportunity for hundreds of participants each year to challenge their own perceptions. -
This week the Queen of Europe joins Breifne Earley on the podcast to talk about her life as a champion racing driver on the European Drift Racing circuit. She tells us about the teenage transition from equestrian events into a petrol head and taking on the best of Europe.Twice the champion of the women's circuit, Murphy shares the stories about the challenges faced by a woman in what is generally seen as a man's world, learning how to strip and refit an engine by watching videos on Youtube and dealing with the jealousy of the attention her heels brought to the track.The logistics of keeping a competitive car on the road across Europe places a large financial strain on Murphy with minimal sponsors in her corner, she has travelled around the entire continent on a shoestring, leaving Ireland, knowing she doesn't have the money to get home from that event, but finding the means to make it happen.She opens up about dealing with the insecurities and jealousy of her rivals where the bullying behaviour was so openly bad towards her that other mechanics at the event felt the need to check her truck's brakes before she left the event.Murphy's route to success, especially given the obstacles in her way, is hugely impressive and will not fail to impress anyone listening to the show. -
This week adventurer James McManus joins Breifne Earley to discuss how his early years spent traipsing through the hills of Tipperary would become a life long addiction to exploration and adventure.He talks about the value of children enjoying unsupervised outdoor play and how, for him, that led to kayaking through the Grand Canyon of Asia, staying in remote monasteries, his first cup of tea being made with a special ingredient of Yak's butter, climbing in the Himalayas, amongst many adventures.Almost ten years ago James took his shared love of travel and adventure and founded Earth's Edge, an adventure travel company who specialise in climbing Kilimanjaro, trekking Macchu Pichu, reaching Everest Base Camp or whatever adventure you feel like attempting.James outlines his dreams for the future which include growing the business and helping more and more Irish people experience the joy of the outdoors, living on the edge. -
This week Breifne Earley is joined by Galway adventurer Gavan Hennigan about how he survived drugs and alcohol addiction through his late teens and early twenties to learning to surf and starting to experience adventures most people only dream about.A decade spent working as a commercial diver on oil rigs in Australia, south east Asia, west Africa and numerous other places across the planet.Having set foot on all seven continents, climbed to the top of a number of Himalayan peaks, finished second in the world's toughest adventure race, the Yukon Arctic Ultra, over five hundred kilometres of running across frozen ice.Gavan's next adventure will be to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, starting in December and hopefully reaching Antigua sometime in February of March 2017.Hearing Gavan's story of reaching rock bottom and clawing his way back out of the mess his life had become is both inspiring and hugely inspirational. -
This week Jen Feighery joins Breifne Earley on the morning after the night before, yes they went on a date last night, to talk about how her first steps into the world of business as a fresh faced and arrogant twenty one year old are helping to shape her latest venture.One of the countries premier fitness instructors she used the failure of her initial endeavour to shape how she progressed through her latest initiative of MindHerBody.com, an online programme designed to empower women through improving their mind and body.They also talk about the specific mistakes that were made in the original bootcamp business and the lessons that Jen learned in the aftermath.Reaching out to the experts in her field she found inspiration and guidance from some of the leaders in the country and rebuilt her confidence to a point where she is launching her new business, pitching projects such as Trek2Tralee where she convinced Maria Walsh, the Rose of Tralee, to forget about her sponsored car and ran and cycle for four days to the festival last year.Jen's enthusiasm is infectious and she'll certain motivate, inspire and interest you in this weeks show. -
This week's guest gave up her career in medicine to try and inspire others to Get Up & Go through her inspirational diaries.Breifne talks to Eileen Forrestal about her complete turn around in career, leaving the security of a financially sound position to pursue her dreams of inspiring others.They also discuss how Get Up & Go publications went from sales of less than a thousand to over 40,000 sales last year across six different products aimed at teenagers, busy women and more.Eileen shares the story of a chance encounter while on a 350km cycle tour in Cambodia, with a man who had grown up an orphan, led to her involvement with his new school which aims to giving a future for local orphans.She also gives her thoughts on the Easter Rising celebrations and how wars affect the world around us and who would be her three favourite dinner guests. -
Six months after her ninth child was born this week's guest, Kathleen O'Connor, found herself diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and faced the rest of her life with the disease.Despite this setback in her life, as well as raising her young family, she chose to get involved with local charities and groups around her home town of Carrick on Shannon.In 2015, after years of being restricted to a wheelchair and a mobility scooter to move around, she took her first steps with the assistance of a mechanical exo skeleton supporting her body.After her retirement last year she made the decision to start a campaign to bring an exoskeleton to the north west of Ireland and created Step West, a fundraising initative to raise the €150,000 required to make this essential, inspiring and life changing facility to her region. -
This week's guest Fr. Dermod McCarthy has worn a number of different hats in his time including documentarian, kidnap negotiator, television producer, priest.He also happens to be my uncle. Once we get started with him reminding me that I haven't given him to opportunity to administer the sacrement of marriage upon me and some unsuspecting victim, we get talking about his long and illustrious career.A major player in the early days of television production in Ireland as part of the first independently produced television series for RTE, Radharc.Over 400 programmes were filmed across 75 countries and resulted in this week's guest experience a vast range of unique events including the first televised famine in Nigeria where the Biafran people were starving to death in the late 1960's, sleeping in JFK's childhood bed in Hyannis, Massachusetts, smuggling film out of Brazil and flying through anti aircraft fire over Africa.In scenes more associated with John McClane of Die Hard fame Fr. Dermod was personally invited to negotiate the release of supermarket magnate Ben Dunne when he was kidnapped in 1981.He tells about how some of his talented clergy friends pooled their resources to form the 'All Priest Show' performing across Ireland, England, Scotland, Australia and America including the famed Carnegie Hall in New York raising more than $4 million for charity. -
On this week's show Jason Zook tells Breifne Earley about how he managed to make $1,000,000 from simply wearing other people's T-Shirts.Other ideas which have made Jason as well as selling his last name on two occasions for a total of almost $100,000 and how he sold his future to complete strangers in 2015 for $165,000.Jason will explain how he has turned some pretty crazy, out there ideas into cold hard cash as well as telling a few stories about sing songs with strangers in North Dakota, changing his morning rituals and getting out of a $100,000 debt.He now teaches these skills as part of online courses. All the information and discussion are included in the show. - Show more
