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À La Carty

For many professional athletes, one career is more than enough to manage. The hours of training, the demands of competition and the constant drive to perform at the highest level consumes time, energy, and focus. For Jack Carty, however, the past 18 months have been about much more than rugby.

In that time, the experienced Connacht Rugby out-half has launched two businesses, tied the knot with his partner Sarah, and secured a new deal to extend his playing career in Galway. It has been, by his own admission, a whirlwind. But rather than be overwhelmed, the challenge seems to have energised him.

“I think when you have things in shape off the pitch, it gives you that bit of space and capacity to be able to focus on performance,” he says. “It’s easy to be consumed by the game, I know I once was, but if you manage to strike the right balance, you can switch focus when you need to.”

Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/James Crombie

Not that it was intentional. Indeed, Carty’s first venture outside of the family’s well-known pork and bacon business wasn’t always in the roadmap. Instead it began with a personal health journey that would ultimately lead to Cognitive Blends.

Always curious about health, wellbeing and peak performance, Carty enjoyed experimenting with the latest gadgets and wellness gimmicks. However, it wasn’t until he attended a specialised health check at Randox, that his perspective truly shifted.

“Thankfully there was nothing to worry about other than the usual stuff that could be addressed with a few lifestyle changes to help maintain my hormonal balance,” Carty reveals. “Yet going through that process stayed with me because while I had an awareness of the space, it dawned on me that most people wouldn’t know where to turn.”

Hormonal health refers to the balance of key hormones that regulate everything from energy, mood, and muscle recovery to metabolism and long-term wellbeing. They are areas that are critical to a professional athlete but often overlooked by the general male populace.

“Walk into a pharmacy and you’ll see an aisle dedicated to female hormonal support and supplementation but when it comes to men’s hormonal health, options are limited.

“In fact the more I looked into it, the only real option I could find was TRT (testosterone replacement therapy) injections. But that comes with a lot of side effects, especially around fertility. It didn’t make sense to me that there weren’t more alternatives on the market.”

Having worked with him during his time with Ireland, Carty sought out the help of Dr. Alan Farrell, one of Ireland’s leading hormonal consultants for men. Together, they tested a range of natural ingredients over the course of three months. While the results weren’t miraculous, they were nevertheless significant with improvements of 5–6% in areas such as free testosterone and sex hormone binding levels.

“Think of it this way, total testosterone is like the full wallet of money, free testosterone is the cash you can actually spend, and your sex binding testosterone is the tight clip holding most of the notes together,” Carty advises. “Those little percentages mightn’t sound huge, but in a sporting context a 1% gain can be a total gamechanger.

“Sometimes we have the tendency to look at sport in isolation,” he notes, “yet the same principle can apply to everyday life, as with a lot of stuff we do. Small improvements in your health, energy, or focus can have a big impact on how you feel, how you perform at work, and how you go about your day.” 

From there, and following further discussions with Sarah and a range of other advisors, the idea for Cognitive Blends took hold. The brand is built around carefully formulated supplements for men, but it also has a broader mission to raise awareness about the role hormones play in energy, sleep, fertility, and mental health.

“Men don’t often talk about things that are personal to them,” Carty points out. “If you’re not feeling yourself, the instinct is to push it down the road but we know those issues don’t just go away. They will show up in some way in another five minutes, or five years.

“In much the same way that Tackle Your Feelings does a great job in encouraging a proactive approach to mental health, Cognitive Blends is about getting men to think about their health earlier a little earlier too.”

Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/James Crombie

If Cognitive Blends was about addressing a gap in men’s health, Carty’s second business venture was more of a cultural opportunity with a health benefit. Padel has been booming on the continent, and it’s clear now that Irish folk are starting to see it as more than a holiday pursuit with several courts popping up across the country.

The Carty-led Project Padel now offers Galway’s strong sporting scene a new space to play, train, and socialise. Indeed later this week, Project Padel will host an afternoon of friendly matches, community spirit, and honest conversation about mental wellbeing.

“I was actually at a wedding and met a guy called Fergal Hynes, who by complete coincidence became my neighbour shortly afterwards. That night we spoke at length about setting up a padel court in Galway and when he moved in next door, we started spit-balling ideas again.

“As people in Galway know well, the winter here (and summer too!) can get quite dark, wet and gloomy. Beyond the pub, gym or the cinema there’s not a lot to do so we wanted to provide the community with a different space and social amenity to connect, sit, have a coffee and be active together.

“We actually found the perfect spot pretty quickly so we acted on it, but we were paying rent on it for months before we had even secured planning permission. At times it all felt crazy, but we stuck with it and Fergal has now come on full-time since we opened in July.”

Amidst the rush of new ventures, Carty has also been celebrating his marriage to Sarah. A commercial and residential interior designer, Sarah’s influence runs through much of Carty’s off-field pursuits. While she has her own business to manage, her creative instincts have been an invaluable asset to her husband’s endeavours.

“Sarah has been brilliant, not only from a creative perspective. Having set up on her own, she’s familiar with the less glamourous side of business too and has been keeping my feet on the ground.

“You can be swept away by the excitement of it all when you get your idea off the ground but at the back-end there is so much more that needs to be taken into account. There’s the admin, the planning, problem-solving. It’s been a steep but valuable learning curve.

“In that sense you probably can draw a comparison back to rugby. The matches are the glamorous bit but the day-to-day grind is where you can really grow. I still do.”

At 33, you’d have thought that Carty’s on-field learnings might have maxed out but he insists that ahead of the 2025/26 season, he’s absorbing more than ever. The introduction of Stuart Lancaster in particular, has been an energising factor.

“It has amazed me how Stuart sees a game, and how much I have already learned because of that,” Carty reveals. “There was great excitement across the province when his appointment was announced, and that was shared by our dressing room. His reputation preceded him and we couldn’t wait to tap into one of the most formidable rugby brains in the sport.  

“However, as most people would know, Stuart is very strong on leadership and on people. So while I’ve been learning more about the game, I’ve also been learning more and more about the personalities within our squad, and how to bring the best out of them. That’s his approach to leadership. We need to recognise that we all have a role to play in supporting one another.

“It’s early days yet but there’s a growing sense of togetherness here.”

Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/James Crombie

Alignment is a growing theme in Carty’s life it seems. Business, rugby, and the everyday demands of personal life are all demanding in their own ways, but he is learning how to bring it all together rather than letting them compete.

Looking further ahead, Carty knows rugby won’t last forever. That’s partly why he has invested so much energy into his off-field ventures. But for now, the balance is serving him well.

“There’s a lot of learning, a lot of challenges, but I think it all feeds into making me better as a player and a person,” Carty believes. “After family, rugby is still my main priority, but these projects give me perspective. They keep me sharp.

“Deirdre [Lyons] was always a great advocate for off-field development and how it can ultimately benefit your performance. As a young player it’s hard to buy into it and as a result you can become consumed by the sport, which isn’t helpful either.

“It’s great to have Locks [Ronan Loughney] in the building now to follow-on from Dee’s brilliant work. He was an integral part of the 2016 side and is so deeply rooted in the fabric of the club. When he speaks, I have no doubt that the lads sit up and take notice.

Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/James Crombie

“So when he joined us on our pre-season outing to Westport and spoke about what Connacht Rugby really represents, everyone took it in. He told us that more than any other club, Connacht Rugby is a community and a way of life that goes beyond the pitch and that it’s something we need to tap into.

“For me, that’s about valuing the right things,” Carty reflects. “Rugby is my career, but health, family, and building something beyond the game matters too. That’s what gives everything we do on the field purpose.”

This Sunday, Project Padel Galway and Cognitive Blends are teaming up for a Movember Social Padel Event. Join Jack & Co. for friendly games, good coffee, and conversations supporting men’s mental health.

Register here.