- Web link: https://www.electricireland.ie/camogie-minor-championships#podcast
- Acast link: https://shows.acast.com/gaa-minor-moments
- Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/show/0eR5edt47YzZlEuTQ7GEGF
- Apple link: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/gaa-minor-moments/id1621714393
- Google Link: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5hY2FzdC5jb20vcHVibGljL3Nob3dzL2dhYS1taW5vci1tb21lbnRz
Electric Ireland, proud sponsor of the Electric Ireland GAA Minor Championships, has today (Tuesday, 6th June) released Episode 16 of the ‘GAA Minor Moments’ podcast, featuring Galway GAA legend Alan Kerins.
As a dual player for Galway, he was a member of the Galway Senior Hurling team from 1997 and a member of the Galway Senior football team from 2001. Alan has won three All-Ireland medals, five Connacht titles, and two All-Star awards during his playing career.
In this episode, Alan looks back on his busy intercounty career in both hurling and football. At underage, he won an All-Ireland title with the Galway Minor Hurling team, followed by an All-Ireland title with the Under-21 hurlers. After this success, Alan made his debut with the Galway Senior Hurling team and following a period of playing competitive football in Trinity College, finally made his debut with the Galway Senior Football team four seasons later. Alan is also one of the only players in the country to have featured in an All-Ireland Club final in both hurling and football for different clubs.
Alan also speaks about life outside of his intercounty career. Keenly interested in volunteering from a young age and inspired by his father’s generosity, he travelled to Zambia. He describes this trip as a life-changing experience, which challenged everything he thought he knew about his own values and purpose in life.
Shortly after his own volunteering pursuits, Alan set up Legacy Forest. This saw 50 GAA players across all four codes travel to Kenya, all raising €10,000 which went towards planting trees in the area. During this trip the very first intercounty game took place in Kenya, featuring participants from each code in the GAA alongside prominent Kenyan athletes.
One of the key insights from Kerins’ career path from Minor to Senior was learning to play for enjoyment. Playing with a smile, playing for the love of the sport and learning to accept the losses are some of the key takeaways that Alan wishes current Minor players would embrace and take through their careers.
The family business was in hospitality, and former Republic of Ireland football manager Jack Charlton was a regular guest at their B&B in the 1980s, which Alan recalls fondly. At that time, Alan was in primary school and himself and his siblings were lucky enough to be driven to school by Jack on several occasions. After that, the former Ireland manager became a very close family friend of the Kerins household, returning frequently for fishing trips.
Electric Ireland’s ‘GAA Minor Moments’ Podcast will air every Tuesday as well-known Irish stars share memories from their early sporting careers, reflecting on the defining moments from playing Minor and how it shaped them, both on and off the pitch.
The podcast will run for ten weeks over the course of the Electric Ireland Camogie and GAA Minor Championships, featuring a new guest each week from a star-studded line up. This will include Michael Murphy, Niall Breslin and more as they reflect on their time spent playing Minor and shed light on some great personal stories.
For more information on the Electric Ireland Camogie Minor Championships go to https://www.electricireland.ie/camogie-minor-championships.
For more information on the Electric Ireland GAA Minor Championships go to https://www.electricireland.ie/gaa-minor-championships.
You can also follow the campaign on social media @ElectricIreland and via the hashtag #ThisIsMajor.
