A family tree that makes the leap from football to athletics

THE GENERATION GAME/ JOHN MAUGHAN AND HIS DAUGHTER SALLY-ROSE MAUGHAN:GIVEN HIS lifelong devotion to Gaelic football, you'd expect John Maughan to take the credit for any sporting talent in the family.

Well he'd like to, but Maughan admits the athletic success of daughter Sally-Rose is down to her mother, Audrey, which makes the family sporting ties even more remarkable.

At the age of 15, Sally-Rose is among the most exciting young long-jumpers in the country. Last summer she won both the All-Ireland school and club titles in her age group and set an Irish under-15 record of 5.53 metres.

This month she won the Celtic Indoor international in Cardiff with another PB, 5.54 metres.

Sally-Rose is the youngest of three daughters in the Maughan household; Lindsay is 19, Tressan 17; there is one son, Johnny.

While John Maughan certainly contributed half of her genetic make-up, Sally-Rose reckons her long-jumping talent was at least nurtured by her mother.

"My mother is probably more of an influence," she says, "because she brings me to training all the time and was into athletics herself. But I do feel lucky that both my parents are so into sport, because that makes it so much easier."

Maughan is still heavily involved in football. Having famously managed Clare to a Munster title in 1992, he spent seven seasons with his native Mayo between 1995 and 2005 and is currently manager of Roscommon. Although he didn't push his kids into sport, that influence was inevitable.

"I suppose it was unavoidable, really," he says. "I was always out training three or four nights a week, and all the girls were immersed in the Mayo scene in particular. My second daughter, Tressan, is still into football and plays with the local club here, Castlebar Mitchells.

"But I think Sally-Rose was always the more athletic of the girls. I remember her being a quick, speedy little girl, and she always had that athletic look. She's really stretched in terms of growing the last number of years, and very much committed to the long jump. As parents, we'd both be very hopeful she'll persevere and maximise her potential, wherever that might bring her."

The benefits of her participation, he says, are obvious: "It's wonderful. She would have a greater appreciation of diet, lifestyle management, sleeping patterns, even at this young age, and that's so important for when she gets older. She trains four times a week, and goes into Galway three or four times a month to use the long-jump pit and get more specialised training. All that develops an appreciation of how important it is to have a lifestyle balance."

Sally-Rose is now balancing her long-jumping with her Junior Cert, and as her coach as well as her mother, Audrey keeps a keen eye on both demands: "I remember her as a young girl, that she definitely had an athletic streak. I spotted that, and at seven took her along to the local club in Castlebar and also got involved . . . helped out with what little I knew.

"She tried everything at first, including cross-country running, but had more ability as a sprinter.

"The long jump was just an event she wanted to try. Initially she wasn't great, but her speed approaching the jump did carry her, so I knew with proper instruction she had potential.

"She knows she won't last long if she doesn't keep structure on her training . . . So she is more disciplined, also doing the Junior Cert, and her study for that. She still has fun with her friends, but it's not every single weekend without fail, which it can be for a lot of teenagers."

For Sally-Rose, the taste of success has made sport even more enjoyable.

"I started out mostly in the sprinting, with the long jump on the side. When I started to achieve some good distances that's what interested me more, and I started to learn more about it. I think it is my best event.

"I try not to look too far ahead, and my main goal is to just improve my personal best for the year ahead. I'd like to do well in the Junior Cert as well. It's important to keep the balance."

Audrey believes the competitive element to sport is important, not just for her daughter: "Children, in anything, like to dream, and of course the Olympics is where it's at. Ask any six- or seven-year-old running around the track, and that's what they're dreaming off. Sally-Rose is tasting some success, and realising things aren't impossible if you work on them. I certainly wouldn't put pressure on her, but I do think a competitive element is no harm. . . Kids love to compete, and you have to cope with success and failure, because that's a reality of life. Of course the fun aspect is important as well.

"The one problem with Castlebar is that we only have a cinder track that belongs to a college, and part of the track is completely overgrown with grass because of a drainage problem. There is not even a strip of an indoor track west of the Shannon. With all the money we have in the country it is very irritating."