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18th May 2020

David Shanahan: Chasing the American dream

Niall McIntyre

Gaelic footballer develops a grá for American football. Standard.

Buys himself a few pigskins online, gets the kicking going with the oval ball. Still…nothing out of the ordinary.

But soon, it is out of the ordinary.

That Gaelic footballer’s grá grows to the extent it isn’t long before he’s down at his local GAA pitch religiously by morning, honing his kicking technique based on advice and coaching he’s absorbed from Youtube.

Chasing.

By day, he’s thinking, fantasising about pursuing that American dream. By hook or by crook, he finds a way and soon he’s Down Under in Australia, training with one of the most prolific ‘punter’ academies in the land.

Then, that four year scholarship offer arrives, from top football team Georgia Tech. It’s a long way from Castleisland for David Shanahan but now he’s a traiblazing Gaelic footballer who is going to a place none before him had gone.

A story of a boy from east Kerry who turned a far-fetched dream into reality.

Watch that story here.

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