Glen Rovers is one of the most storied GAA clubs in Ireland. If you visit the club, just above the bar, you'll see some stained glass featuring Rovers legend, the great Christy Ring. It's an emblem of the incredible lore of the club. GAA icons like Ring and Jack Lynch all hurled for the Glen and the club is absolutely teeming with history.
We visited Glen Rovers in the heart of Blackpool in Cork recently for the latest in our Born To Play series with Sports Direct. Sports Direct partners with a number of grassroots gaelic clubs around Ireland - Balls.ie readers will remember that last year we visited another club that Sports Direct partners with - Clane GAA - to learn about the ties between the club and the community around Clane. This time, we get to meet so many of the legends who make Glen Rovers so unique. From Cian Kearney who works with the academy to former chairman Denis 'Starry' O'Brien to Aoife Coleman, minor footballer with St Nick's (Glen Rovers's football club), to Maureen Kenny, who works in the club shop, we learned what makes Glen Rovers such a special club.
You can watch our video below:
Gaelic games are the heartbeat of so many Irish communities and Sports Direct proudly supports grassroots gaelic games through partnerships with a number of clubs across the country, including Glen Rovers.
It's Maureen who best captures what makes GAA clubs like Glen Rovers so powerful in communities.
"I'm 75, I should be at home retiring shouldn't I? But it's great, I love it. I love it."
