In this heartfelt and inspiring episode, I have a conversation with Danny O'Sullivan from Tralee, County Kerry. Danny shares the profoundly emotional experience of losing his wife, Alison, at just 37 years of age to a sudden and aggressive form of cancer just 10 weeks after diagnosis. Despite the heartbreak, Danny has channeled his energy into organising a significant charity cycle from Malin to Mizen Head, aiming to raise funds for the palliative care unit at University Hospital Kerry. This fac...
May 12, 2025•23 min•Ep. 46
In this insightful episode, we delve into the world of sports coaching with Nick Walsh, a former Gaelic football player turned AFL high-performance expert. We explore the unique challenges athletes face when transitioning from Gaelic games to Australian Rules Football and discuss the importance of mental health support for both players and coaches. Nick shares his experiences in developing high-performance programs, emphasising the significance of player relationships, strategic fitness programs...
Feb 28, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 45
Listen in to this insightful episode as we delve deep into the world of coaching with Dr. Ed Coughlan, an expert in skill acquisition. Discover how to create the optimal environment for players to develop their skills effectively, beyond the traditional drills. Dr. Coughlan shares his expertise on the importance of practicing skills in context, under pressure, and with decision-making components to truly elevate player performance. Whether you're a novice coach or a seasoned professional, this e...
Feb 21, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 44
Welcome to an engaging episode where we delve into the psychological intricacies of coaching youth in sports. After a brief hiatus, we're back to explore how parents and coaches can create a nurturing environment for young athletes. Joining us is Dr. Ciara Losty, a lecturer in Applied Sport and Exercise Psychology. Dr. Losty shares valuable insights from her experience of working with Team Ireland at the Olympics and sheds light on fostering resilience and internal motivation in young athletes. ...
Feb 14, 2025•47 min•Ep. 43
In this thought-provoking first episode of 2025, we delve into the current state of physical education (PE) in Irish national schools, highlighting the challenges and opportunities for improvement. Host Mike engages in a compelling discussion with Stephen and Peter Lavin, the passionate educators behind Game Sense Coaching, renowned for their contributions to coaching. Throughout the episode, we explore the stark contrasts between government funding allocation for various educational initiatives...
Jan 10, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 42
In this episode, I'm joined by Des Ryan, a renowned expert in youth athletic development and coaching, with a career spanning elite roles at Arsenal, Irish Rugby, and now as Director of Sport and Physical Activity at the University of Galway. Des shares his wealth of knowledge on developing young athletes, fostering effective coaching practices, and navigating relationships between coaches, parents, and players. From practical advice for coaches to insights on creating a positive environment for...
Dec 13, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 41
Kerry's Tommy Walsh is both an All Ireland winner and former professional Aussie rules player with both St Kilda and the Sydney Swans. Following commentary by Kerry GAA county chairman Patrick O'Sullivan recently about the need for the GAA to become more proactive about putting structures in place to help keep more of our young players at home, Tommy was generous enough to share his experiences of his GAA to AFL journey and gives some great insights into where the GAA can improve how the approac...
Dec 07, 2024•49 min•Ep. 40
Jason McGahan is the high-performance manager with Kerry GAA, and shares his journey from playing football in Armagh to managing performance for one of Ireland's top GAA counties. He provides valuable insights into building high-performance structures within sports teams, illustrating how clubs can improve their operations without hefty financial investments. In a compelling discussion, the conversation shifts to the concept of athletic development and the significance of supporting not only pla...
Nov 29, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 39
Join us in this episode as we delve into the world of coaching with Declan Quill, former joint manager of the Kerry Ladies football team. Hear inspiring stories and insights from Quill on how he and his team transformed the coaching approach, leading the Kerry Ladies to All-Ireland glory. Discover the challenges, triumphs, and lessons learned along the way. Whether you're a coach, parent, or sports enthusiast, this episode is packed with wisdom and practical insights to help you foster success i...
Nov 22, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 38
In this episode, I’m thrilled to introduce Tony Holler, a Hall of Fame sprint coach from the United States and the mind behind the revolutionary “Feed the Cats” training philosophy. Known for challenging traditional approaches to speed training, Tony has transformed the way coaches think about developing sprint performance. Today, he’ll share his insights on prioritizing speed, avoiding burnout, and rethinking what it means to train athletes for peak performance. Whether you're a coach, parent, ...
Nov 15, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 37
In this insightful episode, we delve deep into the world of coaching with the legendary Wayne Goldsmith. A highly respected Australian coach, Wayne has spent over 30 years revolutionising sports coaching across various disciplines, including swimming, rugby, triathlon, and cricket. Join us as Wayne shares his innovative approach to coaching, focusing on athlete development, high performance, and youth empowerment. Wayne's passion for fostering environments where young athletes can thrive is evid...
Nov 08, 2024•59 min•Ep. 36
Welcome to Season 4 of the Mike Quirke Podcast, where we dive deeper into the realms of sports coaching, performance, and the psychology of being a sports parent and plenty more. In this episode, we explore an inspiring story of change and resilience. Meet Louise Quill, a remarkable woman from Tralee, County Kerry, recently named Kerry Person of the Year. Her journey began with a vision to create a better future for children in Tanzania. Louise founded the Tír na nÓg Orphanage, a sanctuary that ...
Nov 06, 2024•22 min•Ep. 35
In this week's episode, the last of the series, I wanted to provide a recap of some of the brilliant messages shared by all the various guests along the way. I'd like to say a sincere thanks to all of those people who have come on and shared their vast knowledge with us and I'd also like to thank all of you that have listened, shared, and contributed to the fundraiser along the way. I want to say a big thank you to PST Sport for their continued support as title sponsor for this project. Go to ps...
Dec 08, 2023•45 min•Ep. 34
In this week's episode, I got the opportunity to pick the brains of Dr Mark O'Sullivan, originally from Cork, the 'accidental' academic is now an associate professor of football at the Norwegian School of Sports Science and formerly head of youth development at AIK Stockholm who specialises in skill acquisition, coaching, as well as coach and youth development. Mark is regarded as being at the cutting edge of a new wave of thinking about how best to coach our young sports people. This is an epis...
Dec 01, 2023•50 min•Ep. 33
John McGrath is a former GAA player, an international rower, a circus strong man, a world record holder and so on... The 6'6" Irish man lives in Paarl, South Africa and has earned renown as a strength and conditioning coach working with rugby players, the South African women’s tug-of-war team, and, most famously, Olympic silver medal and World Athletics Championship gold medal long jumper, Luvo Manyonga. Luvo came from a poverty stricken local township, and John tells of the incredible story how...
Nov 24, 2023•51 min•Ep. 32
John O'Connor is this week's guest on the podcast - owner of Target Nutrition and head performance nutritionist with the Kerry senior football team. This episode is slightly different to previous efforts, where we talk all things food and nutrition information and misinformation. As parents, how do we fuel our young sports mad children? As coaches, how do help kids develop positive long-term associations with food, nutrition and hydration. I found this a really informative chat about a subject t...
Nov 17, 2023•58 min•Ep. 31
I want to say a big thank you to PST Sport for their continued support as title sponsor for this project. Go to pstsport.com for world class delivery of all your artificial grass pitch needs. Niall O'Mahony is this weeks guest - a lecturer and PhD candidate working in the health and leisure department of MTU Kerry campus who is currently coaching the Kerry minor football team. Previously he would have coached the Kerry under 20 side under Declan O'Sullivan, and before that he worked for 3 season...
Nov 10, 2023•58 min•Ep. 30
I want to say a big thank you to PST Sport for their continued support as title sponsor for this project. Go to pstsport.com for world class delivery of all your artificial grass pitch needs. Stephen Lavin played senior inter-county football for Limerick for the best part of 13 years. Having finished playing several years ago, the school principal now finds himself as the head of the Limerick GAA football development squads, following on from the foundations laid of Paul Kinnerk. Stephen coaches...
Nov 03, 2023•49 min•Ep. 29
I want to say a big thank you to PST Sport for their continued support as title sponsor for this project. Go to pstsport.com for world class delivery of all your artificial grass pitch needs. This week's guest is Liam McHale is a household name throughout Ireland for his contribution and prowess both on the football field and particularly the hardwood. Assisted by his brothers Sean and Anthony, brother-in-law Paul McStay and honorary Mayo man Deora Marsh, he helped to catapult his hometown Balli...
Oct 27, 2023•52 min•Ep. 28
I want to say a big thank you to PST Sport for their continued support as title sponsor for this project. Go to pstsport.com for world class delivery of all your artificial grass pitch needs. This week's guest was David Baird who has coached youth football for over 15 years and is currently a UEFA A Licence and UEFA Elite Youth A Licence candidate. He currently works as a Coach Educator and Football Development Officer for the Scottish Football Association. Prior to this he spent time coaching i...
Oct 20, 2023•47 min•Ep. 27
I want to say a big thank you to PST Sport for their continued support as title sponsor for this project. Go to pstsport.com for world class delivery of all your artificial grass pitch needs. Rob Mulcahy is a native of Kerry but has been the head of athlete development with Clare GAA for nearly 7 years. Initially, he worked under long-serving Clare senior football manager Colm Collins as a strength and conditioning coach, with his time now more focused on developing the physical characteristics ...
Oct 13, 2023•59 min•Ep. 26
Mick Bohan has travelled a fairly unique coaching journey from being a PE teacher for over 33 years to becoming a skills coach with Dublin under Jim Gavin before working with Colm Collins in Clare, winning Sigerson cups with DCU and eventually leading the Dublin ladies football team to multiple All Ireland senior titles as manager. He shares his thoughts here on coaching, on developing skills, the differences and similarities of coaching men and women, managing people and much more in a must-lis...
Oct 06, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 25
It's great to be putting out a third series of the coaching podcast and I'm delighted to link up with the Lily Daly Foundation to help raise much-needed funds for the heart centre in Crumlin's childrens hospital as well as Ronald McDonald house. Here, I chat with Lily's mom Caroline about her heartbreaking story and the promise she made to her daughter. The Lily Daly Foundation The Lily Daly Foundation (LDF) was set up in Memory of Lily Daly with the aim to support and help as many families as p...
Sep 28, 2023•16 min•Ep. 24
For this episode, the final one of the season, we take a look at some of the questions that you have asked during the series about different episodes or specific parts of the various conversations. (3.00) – Why developing people skills is so important (7.15) – Specific advice for coaching underage sport (12.15) – Another look at biobanding (29.50) – Skill acquisition Similar to season 1, I've set up this podcast with a dual purpose in mind, firstly to provide some thoughtful debate for coaches, ...
Feb 15, 2023•45 min•Ep. 23
With nearly 130 caps for the Irish rugby team, a British and Irish Lion, Munster’s all-time leading points scorer - Ronan O’Gara is one of Ireland’s sporting icons. From Munster to France, to New Zealand and back now as coach of LaRochelle, O’Gara talks with great honestly and openness about his experiences and lessons learned from the many different professional coaching environments he’s been a part of. (3.30) – A confidence player (11.11) – Good people make better players (17.00) – Consistent...
Feb 15, 2023•42 min•Ep. 22
Kieran Donaghy will be well known to listeners for his exploits as an All-Star player both on the football pitches and basketball courts of Ireland for the bones of nearly 20 years. In this episode he takes us through his fledgling coaching career having coached and managed Tralee IT in Sigerson cup football, as a performance coach with the Galway hurlers and currently as a forwards coach under Kieran McGeeney with the Armagh senior football team. He also has an interesting perspective on childr...
Feb 15, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 21
Paddy Tally is currently coaching the Kerry senior football team, having previously started his 15 years of inter-county football experience with Tyrone back in 2003. There have been plenty of stops along the road, including Sigerson success in St Mary’s Belfast, as well as stints in Down and Galway. As a lecturer in the PE department in St Mary’s for 25 years, he shares some of the gems he has picked up along the way in a lifelong journey through coaching, teaching and learning. (10.00) – lesso...
Feb 15, 2023•56 min•Ep. 20
Phil Kearney is a lecturer in Skill Acquisition, Coaching and Performance in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences in the University of Limerick. His research has examined human motor behaviour; that is, how humans control their movements and develop their skills across their lifespan. His recent research has concentrated on youth sport, in particular within the context of track and field athletics. (20.00) – What is skill? (32.40) – How long does it take for skills to stick? (...
Feb 15, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 19
Alan Keane is the Irish man carving out his own coaching path on foreign soil since leaving his home town of Tralee, and found himself coaching his way through UK basketball, from professional level in Reading, to working his way up to coaching England and Great Britain under 16, under 18 and under 20’s to European championships competing in the top A division and winning a silver medal in 2017. Alan is also co-founder of a company called MVMT Movement Sports, which is a mission-driven business ...
Feb 15, 2023•54 min•Ep. 18
Frank Dick has done most everything that can be done in the world of coaching. From being the British Athletics Federation’s director of coaching to becoming the high-performance director with the South African Olympic committee while helping to deliver several medals along the way. In 2016 Frank was invited to become a strategic consultant with England rugby’s leadership team ahead of the rugby World Cup in 2019. He is the author of four major publications including; ‘Winning Matters’ and ‘Wini...
Feb 15, 2023•58 min•Ep. 17
