By Michelle Crean

Just over 24 hours into the week from hell, champion jockey Oisin Murphy hit his final hurdle and called it quits.

The Ballyhar man said that he gave it everything he could during Episode Two of RTÉ's Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week - The Professionals on Wednesday night.

He explained that in that moment when he handed over his Number 8 armband that he couldn't go on as the recruits were relentlessly pushed to their absolute physical limits with back-to-back events.

"I had given 100 percent in reality," Oisin told the Killarney Advertiser this week. "Watching it I wished maybe I could have stayed in a bit longer but at that moment I didn't feel like I had much more to give."

Oisin was one of the 19 remaining recruits, surviving on just two hour's sleep, who were subjected to a second day of physically challenging conditions. Not only did he have to complete a punishment by crawling on his stomach in the grass, it included him jumping out of a helicopter straight into the sea, a range of tough exercises including wearing a gas mask restricting their oxygen while lifting heavy weights up a steep flight of stairs, and just when they thought they'd get a rest the DS decided on another harsh task - wearing goggles filled with sea water while carrying even more weights.

On the show the 27-year-old admitted that that in particular was triggering as he had almost drowned as a child and had to be resuscitated.

"I found wearing the mask filled with sea water pretty hard work. I wasn't enjoying that part of it and fair play to every one who got through it particularly the people who wouldn't be very physically strong. It was very testing."

Three Kerry recruits remain including former Ireland women's rugby team captain Ciara Griffin from Ballymac, social media influencer Tadhg Fleming from Tralee and fitness expert Rebeccah O’Rourke.