It’s not uncommon for even elite rugby stars to use their local club teams as a means of regaining fitness, but Irish icon Rob Kearney is on the verge of a more drastic homecoming altogether.
Following a season-long spell with the Western Force in Australia, the 95-cap former Ireland international looks set to return to his Gaelic roots after training with childhood club Cooley Kickhams.
It was with the County Louth GAA team that Kearney, 35, honed his peerless powers under a high ball, and the closing of his rugby days could reopen a door back to familiar surroundings.
The locals were sent into raptures after Kearney—Ireland’s most decorated rugby player—turned up to training on Tuesday evening in the green and gold of Cooley:
The ex-Leinster full-back’s last taste of competitive football was in the 2004 Louth Senior Championship final when he scored a single point as Kickhams lost to St. Patrick’s by the same amount.
Having played Super Rugby alongside some of rugby’s finest as recently as a few months ago, Kearney has returned in the hopes of earning a spot back at his old club.
Club secretary Brian Rafferty told RTE the veteran is determined to prove his place and bag a place on one of Cooley’s two senior teams: “Rob is trying to give something back to the club - he felt that he always had to do that. We have welcomed him back with open arms.
"He's one of our own and he said that last night.
"Any time he was here he was always welcome at the club. He was straight into the fold and he's taking it from there and he's going to see how he gets on.”
The two-time British and Irish Lions tourist boasts a list of achievements that no other Irish rugby player can match.
As well as winning two Grand Slams among his four Six Nations titles, Kearney also won four European crowns, six Pro14 trophies and one Challenge Cup with Leinster.
As if that list of accolades wasn’t impressive enough, the former No. 15 was also named European Player of the Year in 2012, winning three Lions caps across two tours in 2009 and 2013.
Rafferty continued: ”He’s going to continue training and he's hoping to play a bit. He's like everyone else, he'll fight for his place.
"He said he's rusty and that he hasn't held a Gaelic ball in his hands for 16 years. He ran around last night and after five minutes it was as if he was never away from us.”
Kearney was long regarded as having arguably the most reliable pair of hands when it came to rugby’s aerial domain, one strength in particular that will serve him well in his GAA comeback.
It wasn’t long after his football career came to an end that Kearney signed his first professional contract with Leinster in 2005.
He went on to play for 15 years at the RDS and was an Ireland international for 12 of those, having debuted for the national team in 2007.
Western Force announced in July that Kearney wouldn’t be retained beyond this past season.
When asked what was next in his career, the player told the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show on Today FM: "I'm not really sure. I get asked this question every few days and I still don't have any answers.
"Potentially, I might do another season playing rugby but I suppose, to be honest with you, I've had a little bit of enough of it at the moment. If that doesn't happen, happy days.
"I always loved Gaelic football growing up. I'd like to get back into a little bit of that in a casual way.”
Casual or not, the regulars at Father McEvoy Park are sure to find it tough keeping up with Cooley’s ‘newest’ recruit.
The current Gaelic football season is rounding to close as Mayo face Dublin in the first of two All-Ireland semi-finals on Saturday, with Kerry poised to take on Tyrone one week later.
