Paris McCarthy keeping twin Kerry and WNBA dreams alive

One year into her senior inter-county career, Paris McCarthy has already experienced the glory of a Lidl National League title and a TG4 All-Ireland senior final appearance.

It was an immense season for Kerry and, in the early weeks of 2023, it's what keeps the fire lit in the Dome at East Tennessee State University.

The 19-year-old is busy with her basketball scholarship, hoping one day to make it in the WNBA, but most evenings she will find time and take to the giant indoor facility with her friend, Preston.

"There is an indoor football field for American Football. I bring my Gaelic football with me and my boots. And I practise kicking and skill-work, just so I’m not losing my touch," said McCarthy.

"There is a soccer goal, it’s big enough. There are indoor American football goalposts as well and obviously that’s all I can use at the moment because there are no Gaelic football goalposts.

"The American football posts are a bit narrower and it’s a bit different because they’re a bit higher, too. I have to kick a bit higher and that’s why I kick into the soccer goalpost instead.

"Mostly what I try to do is try to hit targets. If I am not putting it over the goalpost, I will get a target on a wall and I will try and hit that same target every time so I am still getting my kicking done."

The Castleisland Desmonds youngster was a prodigy with St Mary’s in the Women’s Super League and it wasn’t long before she was snapped up and given a place Stateside.

And she is still finding her feet in the USA, where she is studying management and marketing, although her dream job is physiotherapy, which she will likely pursue once she returns to these shores.

For the moment, she is getting to travel the States, even if her tours have been