If you have ever thought of studying in America then this is a must listen.

After a conversation with a friend of his brothers, Paddy Burns decided an opportunity to live and study stateside offered an exciting and new experience that he had to grasp.

Combining it with sport appealed even more, so Paddy though his talent and experience having made over 20 first team appearances in the Irish League with Glenavon reached out to the Notre Dame coach and was soon given a "Walk On" to the College Team.

Spending 3 and a half years studying and playing college soccer and experiencing the private jets to away games and benefitting from the plentiful supply of sports merch Paddy lived a life that any young sportsperson would surely love to experience.

Paddy describes what its like playing in the US and how things can seem so different to the academy football the Crumlin native grew up playing in NI.

Having completed his studies in Political Science and Sociology, Paddy got a phone call from Jim Magilton asking if he could come back to Cliftonville, his boyhood team. Thrown in at the deep end replacing the central defensive stalwart Luke Turner who'd recently departed for St Pats Athletic, Paddy took his place on the left side of a back three and never looked back.

He finished the season by completing the full 120 minutes of a tense Irish Cup Final victory against Linfield.

The future for Paddy looks great on and off the field and his experience in the land of opportunity was one that he now passionately become an ambassador for to other young people wishing to expand their horizons in a study and sports setting.

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Chris Morgan picks out the all time favourite eleven players he played with throughout his career.

#irishleague #best11 #football

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Cliftonville's star midfielder and Captain Rory Hale joins us this week on the Players Podcast to talk about his teams recent Irish Cup success and his memories of the day.

We talk to Rory about his season, his career and how much it means to him to represent his local club.

We hear his thoughts on how Cliftonville can continue to push on and compete with the full time Irish League clubs in the hunt for league titles and further Irish Cup success

To learn more about the work of The PFA NI go to www.pfani.com

The Players Podcast is part of the Digital Circles network.

To learn more about Digital Circles visit www.digitalcircles.com

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