This GAA-playing lad from Clare emigrated and now stars on the world operatic stage

In 2010 Clarecastle GAA Club lost another promising young hurler to emigration. But Co Clare’s loss was Germany’s gain as Dean Power ended up in Munich as one of the stars of the city’s renowned Bavarian State Opera.

When I meet Power, he has just come from the sitzprobe for Lucia di Lammermoor, a rehearsal where performers first sing through a work with orchestra before the dress rehearsals.

‘Yes all went fine’, he tells colleagues who stop by to enquire. ‘Diana (Damrau) is incredible’, he adds emphatically.