'He’s our great connector': How Keelan Cairns found a home and purpose in Ballincollig

Keelan Carins' basketball journey took him from Belfast to the Ivy League to Italy, and now Cork. He is the heartbeat of Ballincollig. Kieran Shannon met the 6'9" forward helping to drive Ballincollig's National Cup dream this weekend.

In Ballincollig, a team-mate for a season can be a friend for life. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

He’s now the most local of them all. Keelan Cairns may still retain his Belfast accent, not a tinge of a Cork or American twang about it for all his travels, but meeting him in a café in Ballincollig, his 6’9 frame casually leaning back into one of its sofas, it’s apparent just how much at home he is.

“I love it here, the village atmosphere, the community feel of it,” he says, in this, his fifth season with the club. “You actually don’t need to go into the city. Everything is here. Shops, restaurants, coffee shops. After games we go into Mary O’s [pub].