Eoin Byrne came to Portobello Institute looking for a new beginning. After trying his hand at business in NCI, he quickly came to the realisation that it was not something he wanted to do for the rest of his life. After a bit of soul searching, he realised what his biggest passion was in life, sport. He lived and breathed it as a kid, playing and watching it for hours on end. He decided to try and make it his career path.
Enter Portobello.
Eoin happened upon the BSc in Performance Analysis. He attended an information day in Croke Park and was immediately sold.
“I was in Croke Park for the launch day of it. It just seemed great and something I would be really interested in. It was an amazing opportunity to work in sport,” he said.
It wasn’t the first time that Eoin had considered going down the sports route. Initially, when filling out his CAO, he had looked at sports science in DCU, but unfortunately didn’t meet the entry requirements, a common experience for those looking at a career in the industry.
“I was always good in school but would find studying hard. The topics and not having that niche. That’s a difficult thing to go through as a kid.
“I would be able to rattle off stats like there’s no tomorrow, but if you ask about Hamlet or algebra and I’d struggle a lot more than what I would with the Premier League or Championship,” he said.
Even while doing the course, Eoin was still unsure as to what area of sport he really wanted to get into.
“I’d always been interested in coaching and I was always the fella who’d be captain on teams and I really enjoyed that leadership role.
“I thought the PE teaching is something I’d really enjoy. I worked with St. Vincent de Paul for a summer in college. I worked with Sunshine House and got the opportunity to work with kids and I really enjoyed that. I ran all the sports that summer for that.
“Then I was really interested in the analytical side of it. I’m a big American sports fan and their whole production, when you watch it, is based on stats and analytics. Combining the two was a no brainer,” he said.
However, his career would go down a path that Eoin wouldn’t expect. After Eir’s (then Eircom) purchase of Setanta Sports, they launched what would become the brand new channel, Eir Sports. His mother, who worked in HR for the telecom company, encouraged Eoin to attend the launch.
It was there that Eoin secured his first taste in what was to become his new career path, television.
“I met the Head of Production. He had made a speech. I went up to him and told him I want to get a job here. We had a chat and he said to come out for a trial day and see if I like it.
“I went out and covered Shamrock Rovers against Bohs out in Tallaght and I fell in love with it. I ended up doing a two-day eight hour a week internship where I was probably spending the best part of 20 hours a week in there just annoying them and learning from them. At the end of that I became a freelancer,” he said.
Eoin would go on to work on broadcasts for the Olympics, the World Cup, multiple Champions League games, The Sunday Game and much more.
If you want to learn more about what Eoin has gotten up to after Portobello, including rubbing shoulders with Damien Duff and Tomás Ó Sé on a regular basis, you can sign up for Portobello Institute’s free webinar on How to Become a Performance Analyst on Thursday, May 5th, at 7 pm. You can sign up here.
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Get in contact
If you are interested in any of our sports courses or have any questions you can book a consultation call with our expert sports advisor Jo Shaw here, email jo.shaw@portobelloinstitute.com or call 01 892 0024.
