The Two Norries: Jimmy Barry-Murphy was the obvious guest for our Cork Opera House show
The Two Norries (left) are set for a live conversation with Cork GAA legend Jimmy Barry Murphy (right) in the Opera House in March of 2023
Cork-based mental-health podcast The Two Norries, hosted by the titular duo of Timmy Long and James Leonard, has announced a special live edition of their show for Saturday March 25, 2023, at Cork Opera House, subtitled ‘Changing the Conversation’, where the pair will be interviewing none other than Leeside GAA legend Jimmy Barry-Murphy, a multi-All Ireland winning, dual-sport athlete and one of Cork’s greatest hurling bainisteoirí, regarded as one of the GAA’s iconic figures.
It’s very seldom that Barry-Murphy sits down for an interview of any sort, and for Long, the opportunity to speak with an athlete of his stature at the Opera House represents a milestone for the show.
“Jimmy Barry Murphy is a Cork legend. He's been on everybody's tongue for decades, y'know, between being a player and a manager, and he's somebody that's not in the public eye very much.
“We sat down and asked, 'who do we know that's from Cork, that we haven't spoken to, they're actually a legend, but aren't in the public eye very much'? We sat there for a few hours, and we were thinking, and Jimmy Barry-Murphy came up. It was a no-brainer from there.
“So we looked into maybe a few people that we know in our own lives, that may have known Jimmy Barry-Murphy. And I had a good friend there, Paddy O'Shea, an ex-Cork footballer, he was on goal. Paddy made a bit of contact for us, and (co-host James Leonard) also made a bit of contact. We explained to him what we're about, and he had heard of us.
“We asked him if he would be willing to come on a live show at the Opera House, and have a chat with us about Jimmy Barry-Murphy, who he is, what he's all about, and why he is the Cork legend he is.”
For those unfamiliar with the podcast, the Two Norries are facilitators of discussions and conversations on mental health, addiction and other difficulties - but more importantly, looking towards recovery, re-evaluating dated attitudes and assertions, and taking the first steps out of fraught periods in life and into the next chapter.
In the case of this upcoming interview, Ring says the duo will be focusing on resilience and building and maintaining mental strength - tapping into Barry-Murphy’s legendary resolve and looking back on testing times on and off the pitch.
“We'll be letting the audience know a little bit about his background, where he came from, what it was like growing up, the clubs he played for, who his idols were, then we'll go into his own story - we'll ask him what it actually took for him to become one of the greatest hurling and football stars, not just in Cork, but in Ireland, and the history of the games.
“We'll ask him in terms of what kind of discipline, what kind of structures he had to have in his life. To be the best at anything you have to do a lot more than the average person. You have to get up earlier, train longer, be more disciplined in your head - when there's times that you want to stop training, normally, you know, you have to stay there.
“That's what makes the best person in any sport or any area of work, it's the person that just goes beyond their set limitations. That's what we're hoping to talk to Jimmy about - what it really, really took for him. He's obviously a person that was gifted at the sports themselves, you don't just get by on that you have to have a really solid attitude about what you're doing as well.
“We'll chat to him about that, and about his life, maybe how his life has been since he's stopped coaching, what interests he has in his life at the moment. The conversation could go absolutely anywhere - myself and James, when we have a conversation with anybody, Cork people are storytellers, anyway, we could be talking about absolutely anything, but it's just a chat, it's a good chat.”
The podcast’s return to the Opera House puts the hosts back on stage at the grande dame of big venues in the city, a central part of the city’s landscape and cultural life, and a building full of history.
For Long, whose own mental-health struggles have informed his and his co-host’s approach to the big conversations, to be back at the Opera House and bringing the kinds of conversations that the show facilitates to its historic stage, is a major moment.
“To even be able to do something like this in my own life is humbling - my life ten, twelve years ago, was completely different, and I would have never forecast anything like this in my life. We went into the Opera House the other day, just to make maybe one or two videos for social media.
“I was just looking at the size of the place, and the seating, and I just sat with myself for a few seconds, and I was just so grateful that I've been given an opportunity to be able to give people opportunities, and share their stories, where they can actually motivate and help others who are going through similar situations in their own lives.
“That's such a humbling, humbling thing, and the people that we sit across the table from, not just in the podcast, but on stage, all these people, I just absolutely love listening to them, being completely aware and mindful of every second of that chat, and just connecting with that person onstage. It's one of the best feelings that any human being could ever, ever have.”
Today (Wednesday) is also Irish Sign Language Day, marking five years since the language became an official language of the State, and for this week’s episode, the pair have teamed up with Cork Deaf Association to present a special conversation with Deaf academic John Bosco Conama - both in regular audio format, and in a video presentation released on their YouTube channel, including ISL interpreters.
“Just to be in John's presence, and listen to his story, and what he has done in his life, and accomplished from being a Deaf person. I was absolutely blown away by his resilience and his strength, going forward in the education route. The work that they do, not just John, but also the Cork Deaf Association, gives people a place to go, a place to feel welcome.
“Just to look at the way we worked it out in the studio, we had two people interpreting - one was signing back to John, from what myself and James were saying, and the other one then was voicing back sign language to myself and James. It took so much of our awareness to be completely in the moment, because sometimes people want to jump in on conversation, but because of the way we had to work, you had to really pace yourself and sit in the chair, just connect with your body, and allow those urges to go until it's time that everybody was finished, the sign language stopped - you couldn't cut into anybody's conversation while they were speaking.
“Myself and James are quite good at that, we do give people space and time to speak, and sometimes we come in when we feel the need is there to come in. With John, I was so humbled and I felt like I was part of something really, really special, and that this was going to be this was a real milestone in the podcast, where we had something like this, it worked so well, and everything turned out to be exactly the way it should have.”
2022 has been a big year for the podcast to say the least - from interviews with Taoiseach Mícheál Martin and Ryan Tubridy among many others, to receiving Pride of Cork awards, Cork Person of the Month (July) awards, the Rebel Spirit award, a Justice Media award, and the Lord Mayors’ Community award. Long looks back at a milestone year - and what the duo’s goals are for 2023.
“The last year has just been absolutely... ups and downs. We've been so busy trying to work our full-time jobs and do the podcast, talks in prisons, schools, companies and stuff. If there was any year in my life that showed me how resilient that I could be, it was definitely this year. I was juggling a lot of different stuff at the same time, with my family, my job, my business, the podcast. I'm doing a master's in mindfulness coaching, as well, at the moment.
“It's just been so much to juggle and we're hoping going into the new year that we could do this as our full-time jobs, if we were able to get the right funding, to be able to pay a salary for myself and James. That's our aim this year, to be able to do this full time, give ourselves to it completely, and really, really, genuinely give back to our communities, give back to our people and give back to our families.”
- The Two Norries: Changing the Conversation podcast takes to the stage at Cork Opera House on Saturday March 25, 2023. Tickets, €31, on sale now at corkoperahouse.ie.
- Find The Two Norries' video episodes on YouTube, and audio wherever you listen to podcasts.
