Ireland's first entry in the Olympic marathon since 1992, Martin Fagan, tells Mark Roddenabout his love for Gaelic football and hurling in his native Westmeath and how it launched him on the road to a running career

I PLAYED soccer, Gaelic football and hurling at club level but hurling was my first love. It was my first passion and of all the sports I'd done before running, I was best at it.

My father was a pretty well-known hurler in Westmeath and he took up coaching after he finished playing. He'd go to different schools to teach youngsters hurling and I used to travel around with him.

I played as a midfielder because I think I was a little bit fitter and faster than some of the other players when I was young. That brought me on to athletics in a way because I used running as a fun way of getting fit outside of regular training with the club.

I made the county team at under-14 and I always wanted to play in Croke Park. I think for most youngsters that's their dream. My father played there and used to tell me about it and how great it would be to play there.

But when I got to under-16 I got thrown around the place a bit. I was a little bit skinnier. It got a bit too physical and that's when I started to concentrate on running.

Westmeath isn't a hurling stronghold. We've won the Christy Ring Cup a couple of times and Division Two this year so I think we're up and coming.

We never did too well when I was growing up though and because of that I looked at other teams like Kilkenny.

DJ Carey was pretty much my hero when I was young.

Kilkenny were the top team at the time, they were always on TV and I'd go to Croke Park for most of the big games to see him. Every time the ball went down into the forwards, you were just waiting for DJ to get it.

He was very fast and made it look easy. He'd score so much in a game that he really stood out and he made it that little bit more exciting to watch.

Gaelic football is the most popular sport in Westmeath though. People always think the former footballer and international rules player Michael 'Spike' Fagan is a relative of mine. He's not but he's a bit of a legend in the county.

The footballers won the Leinster championship in 2004 and, although we lost to Dublin, we're still one of the best teams in Leinster. I follow the team online and I still have a big interest in GAA.

I love going to games and I go to club matches when I'm at home. I live in Arizona now and it's really hard here when you're just following it on the internet.

On the east coast in places like Boston, where I lived for five years, I could go to the pubs and they would always show Leinster finals and all the hurling finals.

When you're over in the States you meet other Irish people because that's where they'll be - in a pub on a Sunday morning watching the game.

I could always watch the games in Boston, but now I'm out of the loop a little bit. The time difference doesn't help in Arizona because the games are over before I get up out of bed. But I still have my Westmeath jersey and I'll wear it any time there's a big game on. I'm still proud of my county and what they've done.

I don't even bother trying to explain Gaelic games to people over here anymore. I guess with football they can kind of see the resemblance to rugby or something but with hurling I try to describe it the best I can but they don't understand it whatsoever.

I wish I could bring them over to Ireland and have them see a proper game so they could understand what it's about.

Hurling helped me with the transition to athletics because I was fit even when I started running. Running came pretty easily and that's how I found myself over in the US all of a sudden taking it a bit more seriously and looking to qualify for the Olympics.

It was always in the back of my mind that one day I could run in the Olympics but I never really thought it through until the last couple of years when it became a possibility.

Now that I've qualified it's just a dream come true and I wake up every day excited about training and preparing for it.