#1 Heads Up - Interview with Ronan Loughney

Episode 1: Ed Daly,  speaks to former professional Connacht prop forward Ronan Loughney who retired from rugby in 2017. Since his retirement, Loughney has gone on to develop establish his own furniture-making business - RO Designs creating Custom Wood Fittings (http://rodesign.ie/).

Loughney made his Connacht debut in 2006 having come through the province's academy system before going on to spend 12 years at the Sportsground and play 191 times for the province; across the Pro 12, Challenge and Champions Cup competitions.

The Galway native was also an Ireland U19 and U21 representative and made his senior debut against the All Blacks on Ireland's 2012 tour of New Zealand, the only international cap of his career to date.

In this episode, Ronan openly shares his views and encounters with concussion injuries and his opinions on the game becoming "player-centric" and discusses its evolution throughout his playing career.

About the podcast:
The Heads-Up Podcast are a series of interviews with ex-professional male rugby players, elite female players and coaches about concussion in the sport. The podcasts discuss their early careers and very open commentary about the realities of professional rugby. Heads-Up discusses insights into injury (specifically concussion), how they managed then and how they continue to manage with life after a professional career. The players offer insights into the culture around the game, their concussion experiences and their observations on player welfare, protective equipment and law changes to the game.  

About Ed Daly:
Ed Daly has over thirteen years of experience in sports coach education and more than five years of lecturing experience in third-level institutes. Ed is currently a PhD researcher focused on investigating concussion identification, concussion management and concussion reduction strategies.

Ed is an active PhD research scientist (Oxford Brookes University) specializing in concussion education, managing athlete workload, objective concussion diagnosis and post-concussion management. Currently developing research for the Irish Concussion Research Centre (ICRC) based in GMIT.

Ed is a lecture in Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) in the area of Sport & Exercise Science within the School of Science & Computing. Programme coordinator for MSc (strength & conditioning).

Before moving to a career in lecturing, Ed worked in professional sports and spent over ten years as a coach with Munster Rugby, coaching age-grade players on the professional player development pathway and in injury incidence reduction via workload management (specializing in the area of strength & conditioning).

Contact Details:
Ed Daly
Email: Ed.Daly@gmit.ie

Published by:
Emma.Finnegan
Email: Emma.Finnegan@gmit.ie