Humans of Gaelic

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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.
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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

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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 Sligo
What actually happens inside a panel once an inter-county season ends
The two years he spent in the AFL system during COVID
Building culture and standards in a professional sporting environment
Comparing GAA and AFL strength and conditioning
A breakdown of Sligo's weekly gym schedule during championship
Mental prep, visualisation and sport psychology
The story behind his Performance Journal and turning it into a business
Meeting the 'hyper-obsessed' Novak Djokovic at the Suns
How 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.

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

I’m joined by Jonny McGailey, a Louth native who has worked across elite rugby, GAA, basketball and high-performance sport in Australia, with the Sydney Kings in the NBL.
I played under Jonny for a season at Clan na Gael Sydney in 2023, so it was great to catch-up with him.
We discuss:
• Coaching NBA-level talent and managing elite athletes
• The realities of working in professional sport
• What GAA can learn from elite Australian systems
• GPS, load monitoring and the future of athlete tracking
• The rise of ADI and why traditional GPS may miss key movements
• Injury prevention, asymmetries and return-to-play monitoring
• The differences between GAA, rugby, basketball and AFL environments
• Building buy-in with athletes across different sports and cultures
• The challenge of making a career as a professional S&C coach
• The GAA scene in Sydney
• Lessons from working with professional teams in Australia
We also dive into Jonny’s incredible personal story of donating a kidney to a close friend, and how that experience changed his perspective on sport and life.
A great listen for GAA players, coaches, S&C coaches and anyone interested in elite performance environments, sports science and the future of athlete monitoring.
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