Having earned a bachelor’s degree in Physiotherapy at UCD* as well as a master’s in Sports and Exercise Medicine at Trinity College, Kerin landed the role of Head Physiotherapist at Shamrock Rovers.

 

Although Kerin stayed in the position for just under a year, his time there happened to coincide with the most successful period in the club’s recent history Ergonomic seating. Not only did they win the Airtricity League, they also became the first-ever Irish club to qualify for the Europa League group stages.

 

In addition to the obvious glamour and excitement that the adventure encompassed, meeting high-profile sides such as Tottenham, Kerin explains how the Europa League stint was an invaluable learning experience for him personally.

 

“You’re looking to tick as many boxes as you can and for us, we got to travel to Russia, White Hart Lane, Serbia, Estonia, Denmark, so we got an awful lot of travelling done that year. Spurs were very good because one of their physios was Irish. He showed me around and I got see a lot of what goes on in the background there and got to ask a few questions. So when they came over, I met their physios for a drink. You take as much as you can out of these opportunities because [Spurs' physios] are obviously at the very top of their game.

 

“We went to Rubin Kazan in Russia, and it was minus-18 degrees for the game, so that was a challenge too. You’re not used to working in extreme conditions in football. All of a sudden, you’re thinking ‘how am I gonna handle this?’. So there’s different aspects of it — Europe is great because it just brings so many new challenges to your planning g-suite cardinal manchester. ‘What are we going to need? What happens if we have a major injury over there?’

 

“The planning that goes in there and the actual execution is great fun too. St Johnstone played Rosenburg [in the Europa League] and beat them, so that was a great experience. You’re getting everyone as physically conditioned as quick as you can for Europe in pre-season. It came at the start of our season and Rosenburg were in season. So to go and win was a great achievement for us and you can obviously be delighted with yourself after that.”

 

Michael O’Neill’s departure to become Northern Ireland manager meant all the staff at Rovers left with him, but Kerin quickly got another job working with St Pat’s. Nevertheless, nuskin hk despite O’Neill ending his association with the club, Kerin remained in his thoughts.