Student scoops €150,000 pot
However, the 23-year-old poker ace is facing up to a new kind of challenge what to spend his new-found wealth on.
"Absolutely no idea. I haven't really thought about it," said the economics student.
"When you are playing poker, money is just an object but I'm sure I will come round to deciding what to do with it soon."
Kieran who is studying at University College Cork won the bumper sum at the Irish Poker Championships in Dublin at the weekend.
Playing poker for 35 hours over the weekend, Kieran made it to the final nine from a total of 391 players, who had all paid €1,000 to enter the contest.
The tournament sponsors, Louth-based Boylesports, added €9,000 to the pot and Kieran walked away with the top €150,000 prize after coming first, leaving the next best 35 players to share the rest.
"I've won lots of €100 and €200 (prizes) before but as regards anything like this this is the first," he said.
Yesterday the student, of Ironmines, Mallow, Co Cork, was catching up on his sleep after his exhausting stint at the table. Not surprisingly, he was also planning a celebration.
His win has whetted his appetite for bigger stakes and next month he heads to Deauville in Paris, France, to try his hand against Europe's best.
He said: "I've been around poker for years and years and have been playing it seriously since I have been 18.
"It's a skilled game and being able to read an opponent to make calls, judgments and calculations is what I enjoy.
"There's a real sense of achievement when you go heads up with someone and get the better of them," he said.
