by Jason Kirkpatrick
When he touched down at the airport in Shannon, Ireland, Jesse had been traveling all night and would still have a ninety minute bus ride before arriving at his final destination of Annaghdown, a quaint town just north of Galway on the Western shores of the Emerald Isle. It was now Wednesday afternoon and despite losing a day to travel, Jesse dropped his bags at the hotel and headed to the pitch to begin a vacation he would never forget.
MHC veteran Jesse Rapkin recently had a chance to experience something that most of us can only dream of. On a recent trip to Ireland Jesse connected with Michael Geoghegan, who gave him the opportunity to train with the Annaghdown GAA Club.
“I dropped my stuff off at my hotel and went to my first training session at 8pm,” Jesse lamented. “Yeah that’s right, day one after fourteen hours of travel and losing a night of sleep, I went to a hurling training session.”
The clubhouse lies just a short drive west of Annaghdown in Cregg townland on what is without a doubt picturesque Irish countryside. Founded in 1887, the club fielded several North Board Junior Championship teams in the 50’s and 60’s, and won the 1980 Feile na Gael All-Ireland U-14 title. They’ve been a strong club ever since, and in the highly competitive Intermediate grade they reached the semi-finals for the first time in 2008.