Pat Falvey: ‘I want to be a small cog in the wheel that gets Kerry to win an All-Ireland’

“Páidi Ó Sé said the difference between winning and losing at the top level ‘could be a grain of rice’. I want to be that grain of rice.” 

GETTING TO THE TOP: Newly appointed Kerry football performance coach renowned climber Pat Falvey wants to help to inspire and motivate players as individuals and then as a team moving forward as a unified force, to do their utmost best to be their best. Picture: Sally MacMonagle

Renowned explorer Pat Falvey hopes the lessons he has learned and developed in conquering the most inhospitable terrains will help inspire and motivate Kerry’s footballers in their quest for All-Ireland glory.

On Monday night Falvey was unveiled as the “sports performance coach” with Peter Keane’s senior squad.

Speaking yesterday, Falvey admitted: “I would never have thought of a role like this before Covid-19 and lockdowns. In any given year I could spend seven or eight months travelling around the world giving leadership talks and speaking at conferences.

“In fact I have been asked to work with Irish teams before this but I couldn’t do it because of my global commitments. I am looking at this as a great opportunity and a great challenge. 

“This is not about me, this is about helping Kerry football. I am so delighted to be at home for the year and am delighted by the opportunity presented to me by Peter Keane and (county chairman) Tim Murphy.” 

Falvey was the first person to complete the Seven Summits (the highest mountains of each of the seven continents) twice by reaching the summit of Mount Everest from both the Tibetan (1996) and Nepalese sides (2003). Other extreme achievements include walking to the South Pole, crossing South Georgia Island and traversing the Greenland ice cap.

When asked to explain his role with the Kingdom in 2021 he said: 

As Páidi Ó Sé famously once said the difference between winning and losing at the top level ‘could be a grain of rice’. I want to be that grain of rice. I want to be a small cog in the wheel that gets Kerry to win an All-Ireland.

“My job is to help to inspire and motivate players as individuals and then as a team moving forward as a unified force. It is about creating resilience in ourselves. The key message is that on every occasion, every player has to be at the top of their form.

“I will work with the lads in relation to having an unified purpose doing their utmost best to be their best.

“This is a good team to work with. They are hungry and determined and they have made their mistakes. It is all about how you come back from those mistakes that matters.

“I remember being one hour from the summit of Everest and nearly dying but I came back the next year and succeeded in reaching the top.” 

Pat Falvey has walked to the South Pole, crossed South Georgia Island and traversed the Greenland ice cap

He insists the core lessons learned from his extreme adventures are easily transferable to Gaelic games.

“In terms of my achievements I did what a lot of people said was impossible.

“The key attributes in my achievements were things like resilience, leadership, self leadership, determination and hard work.

I’m originally from Gurranabraher. I come from the same background as Roy Keane. Determination, hunger and focus are central tenets. It isn’t just enough to dream big, it is to achieve big.

“The most successful people in the world have the drive to be number one - not number 5 or number 10. And that is the mindset that is critical to success.

“Everyone has the choice to work with me but it is more than being about the individual; it is about the whole team, the squad, the subs, the management, the support staff.

“I’m just a cog in the wheel, there will be S&C, nutrition, football coaching and so on, but the hope is that everyone can be the best possible version of themselves.

“The whole thing is an opportunity that I’m very grateful to get.

“Peter Keane has done an amazing job and it is important that we get behind him and this team. My job as a performance coach is to create leadership and a winning mentality and I think we have a winning team.”