Dual star Rachel Kearns signs AFLW contract with Geelong
TG4 Ladies Senior All-Ireland Football Championship Semi-Final, Croke Park, Co. Dublin. 25/8/2019 Mayo vs Galway Mayo's Rachel Kearns with Nicola Ward of Galway
Mayo All-Star, Rachel Kearns is the latest Irish ladies footballer to try her hand at the AFLW after signing terms with Geelong.
Kearns has committed to one season with the Cats and is the first female Irish recruit at a club where Zach Tuohy and Mark O’Connor are established AFL stars.
The versatile McHale Rovers baller has played in both defence and attack for Mayo since making her debut in 2015, but was named at full-forward on the 2019 LGFA All-Star team.
Like her close friend, fellow Mayo footballer and AFLW recruit, Sarah Rowe, Kearns is a talented soccer player who lined out for the Republic Of Ireland at underage level, wearing the green jersey for the U19s.
The 24-year-old played as a striker for Galway WFC in this year’s Women’s National League, having previously performed with aplomb for Castlebar Celtic. She got off to a stunning start and was named WNL player of the month for April after a run of six goals in four games before returning to Mayo when preparation for the new ladies’ football season began.
The Crossmolina native also has two All-Ireland boxing medals, so it is unlikely that the greater physicality of Aussie rules football will be a concern.
She will be the sixth current or former Mayo player to involved in the AFLW next season, following in the footsteps of trendsetter Cora Staunton (GWS), Aileen Gilroy (North Melbourne), Rowe (Collingwood) and the Kelly sisters, Niamh and Grace (West Coast).
Remarkably, this sextet along with Dublin’s Melbourne trio of Sinéad Goldrick, Lauren Magee and Niamh McEvoy – the latter no longer a member of the Demons squad – means that nine of those involved in the 2017 All-Ireland Senior Final have made the transition to the semi-pro sport in Australia.
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