‘When you stop believing in yourself, it places a huge mental strain on you’

Two years ago the combined weigh of well-known local GAA officials Martin O'Halloran and Ciaran Flynn was almost 55 stone.

The two friends knew it was time to do something about that; to make a change. Both were deeply involved in the local GAA community in 2020. Still are. Flynn was the PRO of the Co Board, a position he was recently re-elected to for another year. O'Halloran was chairman of the Hurling Committee, a role he also took on for another term just a few weeks ago.

They are GAA men, through and through, yet they also enjoy others sports. O'Halloran (55) - who is from Rathmolyon and works as an advertising executive - is a passionate supporter of West Bromwich Albion. Flynn (29) who works as a teacher, will watch most sports although he’s a GAA man first and foremost.

Both men are employed in different jobs and have different roles in the old Association, but two years ago these two friends joined forces with the same objective in mind - to shed the pounds. Big time.

MARTIN O'HALLORAN'S STORY

It was during the funeral of his mother Ellen two years ago that Martin O'Halloran finally decided he was going to REALLY to do something about the weight. On this saddest, bleakest of days he began in his own mind to take the first earnest steps towards grappling with a problem that had undermined his mental and physical health for years. At that time he was edging close to 30 stone.

"When you are overweight you are constantly thinking about it. You tell yourself 'Oh I'll do something about it tomorrow or next week.' It hadn't happened. The real moment I finally realised I had to do something about it was a few days after my mother Ellen died. There was a guard of honour in the village of Rathmolyon for her at the funeral.

"I actually had to get a lift down the street of Rathmolyon as we followed the cortege. I just felt embarrassed that day by having to do that. I said there and then that's it, I'm going to do something about the weight this time. I'm going to REALLY do something about it. I started straightaway, small steps, small walks and took it from there. I wasn't going to be diverted this time. My mother's funeral was a real turning point."

O'Halloran says that years of fast food, bad diet, a lack of exercise had combined to transform a natural propensity to put on the pounds into a problem that posed a serious threat to his health.

He enjoyed sport, went to matches on a regular basis from an early age but he didn't participate - and that was part of the problem. As the years passed the weight piled on causing all sorts of difficulties.

"I was getting to a stage where I wasn't able to walk anywhere. I was only doing a short walk and I would have to stop, I had breathing difficulties, circulation issues in my legs. I was concerned about diabetes and had tests, luckily I got it just in time. It got to a stage where I wasn't able to find any clothes in normal shops, I would have to go to specialist shops in Dublin."

He enjoyed going over to West Brom to see them play - but that too proved problematic. "I would get on a plane and it was embarrassing to try and squeeze into a seat," he recalls. "Psychologically all that has a massive effect, you start to lose confidence, your inward confidence. You stop believing in yourself, it places a huge mental strain on you."

While O'Halloran had resolved, really resolved, to confront the weight issue at his mother's funeral it wasn't just a seamless process of shedding the extra pounds.

"I started to change my diet, cut down on the fast food, try to replace it with some nutritional food. I cut out carbohydrates and replaced them with protein and vegetables. That was grand for the first year but last summer it wasn't working out too well for me, at least not as I hoped. I was doing the walking, the dieting but I needed to do more, find another way.

"I joined the Beat the Bulge group with 121 Fitness. That was a game changer, that brought me to the next level. I was part of a group of people. We worked together for 12 weeks. The programme included working in the gym and I could never previously have seen myself in the gym. There was no judgement. We got advice on nutrition. I benefitted greatly from being part of that group."

Martin is close to losing 10 stone now - and he intends to push on, lose more.

CIARAN FLYNN'S STORY

Back in 2018 Pope Francis visited Ireland and celebrated Mass in the Phoenix Park. Ciaran Flynn was one of those who went to see the Pontiff. He was around 25 stone at the time. To get to the Park he had to walk for 90 minutes or so. It wasn't easy.

"I had a history of involvement in sport and I was youthful but I still struggled. I wasn't able to run," said Flynn.

The following year, St Stephen's Day 2019, Ciaran Flynn did what he enjoyed doing from time to time and got on a plane to go and watch a football game in England.

“I went with a few of my friends to see Manchester Utd play Newcastle Utd and on the way over and back I couldn't close the seatbelt on the flight. I was too embarrassed to say it to anyone so I just put my jacket over myself."

The Pope's visit, the Man U game. Two important stop-off points on a remarkable journey that has seen Flynn lose over eight stone.

Flynn enjoyed playing football and as a younger man he turned out as a goalkeeper for football teams like St Pat's CS, Navan, Seneschalstown and later Dunsany as well as Kilmessan Hurling Club. He also enjoyed his food and often it was the wrong food.

"I used to stop in the shop and get a breakfast roll or sausage roll, that kind of thing so already your off to a bad start. Sometimes lunch wouldn't be too bad but you'd still get the odd chicken fillet roll from the shop and dinner at home was wedges and chicken breast, whatever was easy."

It didn't help either that the Dunsany man also took sabbaticals from playing.

"I stopped playing for Seneschalstown for two or three years and put on a bit of weight. I went back playing for Dunsany and we were beaten in a Junior C FC final in 2016. I played quite well in that final but it was my last game until 2020 so I took a four year break again. I was probably 18 or 19 stone at the time."

He had also been a referee, another role he enjoyed and that demanded a certain level of fitness. But he stopped that too.

Flynn didn't leave the GAA though. He became Meath GAA PRO, a role he enjoyed. It just didn't do much to help him in the now pressing need to control his weight.

"I wanted to be the best PRO possible and I really dedicated myself to the role. I was successful at that element of my life but it's not much good being hyper successful in one part of your life while the rest is falling around you. Being PRO was a very sedentary role."

Then, in the spring of 2020 he really began his journey to shed the pounds. He already had, he admits, "made a stuttering start" to losing the weight. He had started to eat a little healthier, cutback on the visits to the chipper, although he didn't eliminate such visits completely.

He steadily increased his exercise regime, he became more focused. He also had the advice of his girlfriend Rachel (a trainee dietician) to fall back on. Invaluable.

When the pandemic closed the country down he embarked on regular walks with Martin O'Halloran and they pushed each other on. He became a selector with Dunsany and that re-introduction to the active side of the GAA community was, he says, a huge help. He will be forever grateful to friend and cousin Niall Flynn for encouraging him to do so.

"That reintroduced me to the team ethos and team spirit which I had been away from. I was back in that and I felt the club culture was great.

"When Covid hit and everyone in the club started to do 5km runs for charity I felt very out of place because nobody asked me to do a run. They knew I wouldn't be able to do it. That became a massive challenge but I was able to complete that."

Now back refereeing Ciaran Flynn is down to 105kg. He has lost eight-and-a-half stone in two years. It's a remarkable turnaround. A remarkable personal journey.