Tim McCarthy's 2026 wish is "continued health" for family

We contacted a number of people from in and around the Athlone area to ask them about their highlight of 2025 and their hopes for the new year.

Tim McCarthy has had a highly distinguished career in basketball as a player, coach and broadcaster, inducted into the Basketball Ireland Hall of Fame in 2023.

*My highlight for 2025 was..

After the highs of 2024 and the Paris Olympics, I could not see at the start of this year how that could be bettered for me. However 2025 will go down for me as one of the most special years in my life to date because of a decision that Ann and I made.

We decided that we would have a family holiday with our entire family, yes, our children David, Brian and Karen, their wives Ciara and Olivia and husband Brian and our beautiful 10 grandchildren namely Jack, Cathal, Noah, Heidi, Anna, Luke, Billy, Sonny, Daisy and Teddy and we would make it a special one. (photo attached if you want to use it)

So we had an amazing two week break in Florida in the summer where family time and being together was in reality what it was all about, and we also got to see Mickey Mouse and the rest at Disney, and after the challenging years that we as a family have had dealing with illness, this was a bucket list item that we so badly wanted and ticked off.

I also got to see my grandchildren perform in their activities and got great pleasure from this,

My health challenges remain stable which is great and after every scan and blood test those are the words that I love hearing and thankfully I heard those words repeatedly in 2025, long may this continue.

Other reflections on the year, getting to enjoy many days on the golf course with my friends and sharing views on world issues in the much sought after coffee post our game, simple but special.

I look back on my year in business and thank all those clients around the country who allowed me to support them in their challenges in their organisations which while are in different sectors of industry and commerce, have similar issues to deal with.

On the sporting front I loved seeing Chelsea winning the Club World Cup and though it was the first time for this competition, I can see this growing in future years, so being the first winners is always a nice one to achieve.

My club Blue Demons winning another National League basketball title was a particular highlight for me as was St Brigid's winning both Connacht and Roscommon titles with a great mixture of youth and experience coming through to put it all together. The Cork hurlers for most of the year were so successful until they were blown away by a great Tipperary team in the second half of the All-Ireland final was a high and low journey.

I was involved on the management with St Finbarr’s senior hurling team in Cork which I thoroughly enjoyed though to lose by a point to eventual winners Sars in the semi-final was hard to take.

My hopes for 2026 are...

Looking forward to the New Year my hopes are very simple, I wish for continued health for all of my family. It is ironic that when my late mum said when I was young that “health is wealth”, I did not get it back then but fully understand it now.

Other than that, I want to spend time with family and friends, continue working in my business and enjoy every day, and play more golf especially with my grandchildren who have taken up the game

Life is precious, let's make the most of it each and every day.