JOEL Kerr has unfinished business with the Tyrone minors before he chases his dream of becoming a Premier League star.
The 16-year-old has signed a three-year contract wiwth West Ham and leaves for London in a few weeks time to start a new life as a professional footballer. But he wants to sign off on a brief but spectacular GAA career with an All-Ireland medal.
Kerr was the hero of the Red Hands’ Ulster final victory over Cavan at the weekend, picking up the man-of-the-match award after reeling off 1-2 in the closing stages at Brewster Park.
He’s fully focused now on the All-Ireland series, starting with a quarter-final clash with Cork.
Dublin v Armagh: Match details, ticket info, throw-in time and how to watchDown v Louth: Ticket info, match details, how to follow and throw-in time from Páirc Esler
“I’ll worry about West Ham when it comes to it, I’ll focus on this first,” he said.
“I’ve signed a one-year scholar, two-year pro, so I’ll be there for three years. I want to take a good crack at it.”
The Rock St Patrick’s lad is eligible to play at minor level again next year, but his departure is a big blow to club and county.
“Yeah, I’ll be in London, I’m going at the start of July,” he said.
Tyrone and Cavan were level heading towards the closing 10 minutes of the provincial decider, before Kerr’s sweet finish to the net swung the momentum in his side’s favour.
“It opened up for me and I saw it and I just took my chance,” he said.
And he steered over two delightful late points to seal a 26th Ulster MFC title for the Red Hands.
“Towards the end, Cavan sort of got tired and opened up a bit more and let us get through and we got a few more chances.
“At the start of the second half, we were a bit wasteful but as we settled into the second half we started taking our shots from better positions.”
The Red Hands will travel to Portlaoise for their quarter-final joust with Cork on Saturday, June 7 (3pm).
“We weren’t really thinking about that, we were just looking about getting over the line.
“But now it’s on to that and we need to refocus and just go back out the next day.
“It’ll be a bit more physical I think, but we’ll just need to go at them with more pace and try to get more shots off.
“We would have played them in a friendly at the start of the year and they were good, it’ll be a tough opposition to play against.
“It’s great to win an Ulster title, it’s great for the group to have that achievement to win a trophy.
“They’re memories you’ll take with you for the rest of your life, it’s just good. We’re a good bunch of lads and I’m happy to win it with them.”