Murphy’s backing Jackman to deliver
JOSEPH Murphy is backing Bernard Jackman to deliver the extra few percent to deliver Olympic success for Ireland’s showjumpers.
Former Ireland rugby international Jackman (inset) has no background in equestrian sport.
But the 47-year-old was appointed as Horse Sport Ireland’s new interim head of high performance in November.
Murphy, who competed at London 2012, was the reserve for Tokyo and is on course for the Paris Games this summer, believes HSI have made the right decision in bringing Jackman on board.
Keynote
The Carlow man was a head coach with the Dragons in Wales before moving into TV punditry and keynote speaking in sport and business circles.
Jackman has also spent a lot of time in high performance sport environments, with the All Blacks, Manchester United, Barcelona, the
ING Tennis Academy in Florida, and AFL club Carlton.
“Bernard blew me away the first couple of times I met him with his enthusiasm and what he would like to do — he wants to achieve and I think this momentum is going to drive us forward,” said Lynch.
“With the Olympic Federation of Ireland and Bernard and Dag (Albert, Ireland’s Event team manager) behind us now, it’s definitely a big positive. Bernard is a big positive in the team now.” Murphy does admit that there were some concerns expressed outside of the Team Ireland set-up about the appointment of someone with no specific experience in the sport.
“It serves us well if we have somebody coming in with new ideas and has no real focus on one rider or one person.
“We want somebody to come in and bring other sports into the mix in terms of how we can improve fitness, mentality and so on.”