Louise Galvin Rugby

LOUISE Galvin has reason to feel a little envious when she takes her RTÉ pundit’s chair for the Tokyo Olympics.

The sportswoman from Finuge in north Kerry won 30 rugby sevens caps, featured in 96 World Series games, scored 22 tries and represented Ireland at the 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco.

But the one goal which eluded her is the same one which she had been chasing from the very beginning — to be an Olympian.

‘I took up rugby sevens in 2015 purely to become an Olympian,’ she candidly tells Magazine.

‘The idea of going to the greatest sports event of all was one that had always appealed to me but I dismissed it as all my sports were team sports and when you think of the Olympics you think of individual sports like athletics, swimming or whatever it is.

‘Then they introduced rugby sevens and with a background in basketball and football, I thought: “I can do this”.

‘I made my debut in Dubai six years ago.

‘We had a shot at qualifying, in a repechage we hosted in UCD, for Rio 2016 and didn’t get there, though we probably performed to our level at the time but not qualifying for Tokyo was the worst.

‘We peaked in Sydney in January, picked up injuries and didn’t even qualify for the repechage. That was devastating.

‘Up until then the All Ireland final in 2012 was the lowest point in my career but that was worse.’

Reared on a farm, Galvin came from a sporty family, and GAA in particular was all around her growing up.

At 22, she made the Kerry senior team and played on an All-Ireland final losing team.

She also captained the Ireland Under-20s basketball team and won one senior cap before teams were disbanded due to a lack of funding.

A psychotherapist, Galvin is now working in her native county, helping to rehabilitate Covid-19 patients among others who’ve come out of intensive care.

But she still maintains her training regime assisted by her husband, the three-time AllIreland winning Kerry footballer, Donnchadh Walsh, who is also a physiotherapist.

Ireland’s men’s sevens were the last team to qualify for the event at the Tokyo games and Galvin believes they have a chance of a medal.

‘Obviously they only secured their place a few weeks ago so they need to come down from that high and regroup.

‘They have a whole new challenge ahead of them now and some of the players who helped them qualify might not even make it on that plane to Japan.

‘They’re in a group with South African, Kenya and the USA, all big players in the rugby sevens but they shouldn’t feel intimidated.

‘Players like Jordan Conroy have the speed, power and pace. More than anything I hope this Olympics introduces rugby sevens to a wider audience. It’s a great sport with a much broader reach than rugby union.’