Rory Kinsella

Born into the Wexford of the 1950s and into a family that was ‘steeped’ in the GAA, Rory Kinsella tells of his early involvement with Gaelic games in school, at home and travelling to games to watch his brothers play. Among the first group of students to emerge from the then National College of Physical Education in Limerick, Kinsella subsequently taught in Whitehall and Bunclody and documents his input into school teams in both locations and the development of his coaching philosophy under the influence of a fellow teacher and Christian Brother at St. Aidan’s, Whitehall. A hurler and footballer at club and county level (who didn’t retire until his mid 40s) Kinsella sheds valuable light on the sporting scene in the Gorey of his childhood. He moved to Bunclody to work and live in the early 1980s and offers an insight into the impact of emigration on the area over the course of that decade and, subsequently, during the recession that followed Ireland’s economic collapse in 2008. Kinsella discusses the facilities and finances of the Bunclody club and plans for future improvements. However, he also reflects on his involvement – as a selector and manager – with the Wexford senior hurlers during the mid to late 1990s and considers the teams – and players - at local and national level that have made the biggest impression on him.