Phil Finnegan - leaning on railings - has been the driving force behind the NRPT-Magnet.ie team since its inception but he came close to walking away last year.
By Brian Canty
Manager of Nicolas RochePT-Magnet.ie, Philip Finnegan has admitted he came close to walking away from the outfit last year because of a car crash midway through the season.
And the ill-feeling he believes has been directed against him and the team has been equally galling, he said.
It’s the first time Finnegan has spoken publicly about the emotional impact the car crash in the UK on the way to a race had on him.
“Do I need this?’ I asked myself many times after that,” he said.
“I was going to walk away, I can’t talk about it too much from a personal point of view.
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"But I’ll put it this way; I raced for many years and when I was 19 I broke my legs and I was on crutches for a year after a fall.
“I had steel bars in my legs for five years but I got over it. I got back racing, got up to a first cat, represented my country, rode the Rás 13 times.
“Then in 2006 I broke a vertebrae in my back, got back from it again but I’ve never had anything in life that has hit me as hard as that crash.
“If that happened at the end of the season I’d have walked away, I would.
“I had a broken chest bone from it but two weeks after was the Junior Tour and I had to get back into the zone.
"Because if you’re not present at the race, the riders need to know what time dinner is at, what time the meetings are; everything is there for one or two people to do.
The NRPT-Magnet.ie team car that was mangled in a crash on the way to a race abroad.
Finnegan doesn’t take a cent from his role with the team and does many hours of work behind the scenes.
“I guarantee you, and I know this for a fact; there are more people out there that want to see us to fail than to see us succeed," he said.
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“If I was to work out the hours behind the scenes that I’ve done; I’ve the riders to juggle, race entry, logistics, all that, my own job and three kids...
"But if you look at the hours that go into it; it’s easily 20 plus a week and there’s also the days we give up.
“Last year I had four weekends off so if you work it out, there are very few who would give that commitment.
“The problem I have is is people will criticise you all the time but nobody will step up to do it and it’s no different to what Dan Curtin in Kanturk or Alice Sherratt with the work they do.
“We are a team of volunteers and without us the sport in this country would be fecked.
“People criticise a huge amount but you’d be the very one if you did walk away, people would say ‘why didn’t you ask for help or reach out?'
“But make no mistake, I’m not finished yet, we haven’t reached our full potential yet but we’ll get there with time.”
He was no slouch in his heyday and as well as representing Ireland, Finnegan (in blue) has a fine tally of 13 Rásanna to his name.
It begs the question, why would anyone want to commit so much in return for so little?
“There are times when you’re paying from your own pocket and I’ve no doubt about it, it has cost me money through phone bills or lack of family time.
“But it’s always about the riders, they come first. It’s not about me or it’s not even about Nicolas, it’s about the riders.
“When we were at the Trophee Centre Morbihan last year and all these international teams are up there being introduced from France or Italy or Belgium or Belarus; we were the only club team and we managed to win a stage.
“When you see the lads there riding against these future classic winners and Grand Tour winners and we’re up there.
"You see Adam (Stenson) giving Michael (O’Loughlin) his wheel so Michael could finish second overall; those things make it worthwhile.
“It makes the guys feel great and when you’re coming back on the boat or in the van and you’re listening to those stories; you know they’ll be friends for life and that’s why I do it.
“There are some days when you’re driving long distances or you’re getting no sleep because you’re up at 6am but it’s seeing the happiness in their faces that make me stay in this.”
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