placenamesCurrans
Na Coirríní
A family of athletes links Currans with the 1908 Olympics and early Kerry football, while a modern county training centre extends its sporting story.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Na Coirríní · Irish · main form
- Currans · English · main form
Place & story
Michael Collins at the Olympics
Michael Collins was born in Currans in 1879, into a farming and publican’s family whose home became the Riverside Inn. After moving to London, he joined the Polytechnic Harriers and won an Amateur Athletic Association bronze medal in the shot put in 1905. At the London Olympics of 1908 he competed in the freestyle discus, without reaching the final. By 1911 he had returned to his family home in Currans. [2]
Jerry Collins and collective training
His brother Jeremiah, known as Jerry, was a sprinter and long jumper who trained with Tottenham Hotspur while living in London. Back in Kerry, Austin Stack invited him to prepare the county senior football team for the 1913 Croke Memorial final replay against Louth. Helena Daly and Marie O’Sullivan’s research credits him with bringing collective training methods from London into Gaelic football; he trained Kerry’s All-Ireland-winning senior teams of 1913 and 1914. [2]
A county sporting campus
Currans later became the location of Kerry GAA’s Centre of Excellence, serving development squads and senior football and hurling teams. In January 2025, Kerry Group announced another €1 million for its expansion, matching an earlier contribution. The proposed second phase included extra pitches, rehabilitation and analysis facilities, a gym and a community walking track. The announcement marks a further stage in the village’s role as a training base for county sport. [3] [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Kerry
- Barony
- Trughanacmy
- Civil parish
- Currans
- Within
- Currans
- Within
- Farranamranagh
- Within
- Meanus
- Coordinates
- 52.19551, -9.56502 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1165870 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Currans. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Michael Collins, Currans: A Forgotten Kerry Olympian, The Kerry Magazine23, pp13–14 · Helena Daly and Marie O’Sullivan / Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society
- Kerry Centre of Excellence: purpose and location · Kerry GAA
- Kerry Group investment in Phase2, 22 January2025 · Kerry GAA / Kerry Group
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2018-05-24. How this page was prepared.