Galway native signs up to play American Pro Football – in Finland

The only real exposure Finn Kearns had to American Football growing up in South Galway was playing Madden’s NFL on an Xbox computer console. Now, the 24-year-old Kinvara man makes a living playing America’s favourite sport – in Finland!

“Some friends of mine got hold of Madden from America. We didn’t really have any idea what we were doing but we liked it,” he says.

Finn still very much likes American Football – the real deal, not Xbox – and has just signed a contract with the United Newland Crusaders.

It’s a semi-professional outfit in the city of Lohja, 40 minutes outside Helsinki, that operates in the Maple League, the top American Football league in Finland, which is regarded as the most competitive in Europe after Austria and Germany.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” says Finn of his upcoming Finnish adventure, which begins with pre-season in April.

Hurling and rugby were Finn’s first sporting loves – he hurled underage with Kinvara and later joined Galwegians RFC – and he played some soccer, and the odd Gaelic football match when the local junior team was stuck.

But his first taste of American Football came when his family moved to Massachusetts. Finn was 15 when his mother, Gabrielle Fennessy from Gort, got a job in the US and the family – his father Chris Kearns from Offaly and siblings Anne and Cian – moved stateside.

Read Finn’s full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now – or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie