Where in the world is Kevin’s Limerick jersey now?

THE LIMERICK jersey has travelled the world, particularly over the last four golden years. But few would have expected the green and white to be worn with distinction in Chile’s Atacama Desert. Well, thanks to Kevin McGrath from Rathfarnham in Dublin, it has been.

Kevin, who is the son of Kilfinane native Tom, and Dympna from Drumcondra, Dublin, carried his Limerick shirt to Nevados Ojos del Salado – the world’s highest active volcano – a region said to resemble the surface of Mars.

The 21-year-old TU Dublin physics student is no stranger to travel. In 2021 as part of an Erasmus+ placement at the European Space Agency in Leiden, The Netherlands, he got the chance of a lifetime to sample what it was like to be on a spaceship.

“I have been interested in space my whole life.” Kevin said.

“As part of my Erasmus trip I got to spend time at a manned space mission simulation centre in Poland. While there, myself and three other students from TU Dublin were locked away in a simulated space habitat where we lived the lives of astronauts as if they were to land on either the moon or Mars. I was lucky to be given the job of acting commander. We spent the week not knowing what time of the day it was outside the habitat.”

His dad Tom and uncle Eamon, sons of the late Paddy and Liz McGrath, hurled in their day for County Limerick club Blackrock and following their move to Dublin some years ago, played for Commercials, the one-time club of well-known publican from Adare, Charlie Chawke.

Eamon, who recently retired from Teagasc has given the best part of 20 years to underage coaching at the St Brigid’s club in Blanchardstown.

Tom, who suffered a serious health set-back late last year, has been an active coaching member of Ballyboden St Endas where Kevin and his younger brother Ben feature on the club’s hurling teams.

Both Tom and Eamon are prominent members of Club Limerick Dublin.

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Kevin’s journey to Chile is part of his ongoing research interest in space exploration. The Atacama Desert is one of the driest places in the world and is a mecca for space researchers, including NASA, because it is believed to share many similarities with the landscape found on Mars.