Fiona Murtagh named Sportswoman of the Month for June
Such has been Dominic Casey's record of coaching success in Irish rowing,
Fiona Murtagh
had long since learned to trust his judgement. But that trust wobbled a bit at the beginning of the year when he suggested that she go solo. 'I was like, 'what?'', she says.
For a woman who had always been used to company in a boat, like when she won
bronze at the Tokyo Olympics with Emily Hegarty, Eimear Lambe and Aifric Keogh
, or when she competed with Keogh in the pair at the Paris Games, it took some persuading that this was the right move for her.
But come the first day of June, she was standing on the podium in Bulgaria with a European Championship silver medal draped around her neck after her first ever single sculls final at elite level. And come June 29th she was at it again, adding another silver to her collection at the World Cup in Lucerne.
The moral of the story? Never, ever doubt Dominic.
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'Exactly,' she says with a laugh. 'He's so funny, he's very firm but he's subtle at the same time. But he was very, very firm on me being in the single right from the beginning of the year. And everyone trusts him so much – when he has an idea, a vision, he'll see it through and nine times out of 10 it's gonna work. He has the results to prove it, for sure.'
'It was daunting at first, I was really outside my comfort zone and I had a lot of learning to do, but knowing that Dominic had confidence in me brought the confidence out of myself. I didn't know how it was going to go, but I was like, 'why can't it go well?''
As it proved, it was just the kind of fresh challenge that Murtagh needed after she was left floored by the disappointment of Paris when she and Keogh failed to qualify for the final. Keogh, as planned, retired after those Games, but Murtagh, who turned 30 on Friday, didn't know what to do with herself. She was, she says, 'lost'.
Fiona Murtagh with family and friends after she won silver at last month's World Rowing Cup in Lucerne. Photograph: Benedict Tufnell/Sportsfile
'That was a very difficult spell,' says the Galwegian. 'So this was just the refreshing thing I really needed to happen. It was an exciting feeling, it had a newness to it. I'm about to enter my third Olympic cycle but everything feels fresh. And yeah, I needed to feel like that again. I've been training high performance full-time for six or seven years, but I was feeling like a first-timer almost. And that felt both nerve-racking and exciting.'
But how did it feel going from being a team player to a solo artist?
'Honestly, the only time I'm ever on my own is when I'm on the water. The rest of the time I'm surrounded by such a good group of people at the [national rowing] centre. There's a real closeness, it's like family, everyone goes out of their way to make you feel like you're part of a team, no matter the boat you're in.'
'But yeah, I've always been used to company in the boat, and I always took such pride in working for someone else, being part of a team. I never really thought about myself, I was doing it to help them, so this has been a complete shift – suddenly I'm just doing it for me. I've had to change my mindset, it's a vulnerable space. But I'm taking it in my stride.'
And then there were the more technical challenges, not least going from only having one oar to worry about [sweep rowing] to being in charge of two [sculling].
'And I always thought that I was closed in to sweep rowing. I limited myself, I never actually gave sculling a go. So this has really opened the sport up for me, there's so much more to it than I ever tried before. It's cool.'
Ireland's rowing medallists from the 2021 Olympic Games on their arrival at Dublin Airport. From left: Emily Hegarty, Fiona Murtagh, Paul O'Donovan, Fintan McCarthy, Aifric Keogh and Eimear Lambe. Photograph: Tom Honan for The Irish Times
'Still, I can remember how nervous I was going to the Europeans. Training was going really well, but you never know who's out there internationally when it's the first major event of a new Olympic cycle. Who has retired? Who is taking a break? Who's emerging? You just don't know until you're in it.'
'I was unconfident off the blocks. I was jittery. Little things. The boat is so sensitive, it moves so differently to what I'm used to. And anything you do in it is reflected straight away. Some of those girls have been sculling all their lives, it's their bread and butter. This was a whole new world for me.'
'But I went there with the attitude 'I have nothing to lose, no one knows who I am', it was as much about learning as anything.' After winning her heat and semi-final, though, her confidence grew. And just like in Lucerne at the end of the month, only Britain's Olympic gold medallist Lauren Henry finished ahead of her.
'I'm so competitive, I felt I should have been closer to Lauren, but in sport you can't take podiums for granted, they don't come around very often. I have to appreciate them, enjoy them while I have them.'
'The key for me was how much I learned. I know what was good and I know what needs work. Even in that one month, I improved my first k so much, but I'm still understanding my pace and that final sprint. That will come with time. What I do know, though, is that I'm a different athlete now than I was at the start of the year.'
Murtagh is in action again this weekend at the Irish Championships in Cork. The chief focus for all our rowers, though, is September's World Championships in China.
'The last cycle has taught me not to think too far ahead. You can want something really badly, but that doesn't mean you're going to get it. But we're such a successful team across the board, we all know what it takes to win. We've created an environment where podiums are the target. If you do it, and you do it well, you're gonna get there.'
Previous monthly winners
–
December
: Ellen Walshe (Swimming);
January
: Hazel Finn (Basketball);
February
: Lara Gillespie (Cycling);
March
: Kate O'Connor and Sarah Healy (Athletics);
April
: Aoife Wafer (Rugby);
May
: Katie McCabe (Soccer).
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