Zak Moradi is an Iranian Kurd who was born in Iraq, lives in Tallaght, trains in Mullingar and hurls his heart out for Leitrim.
On Saturday, Moradi was sprung from the bench and stroked a sumptuous point to help Leitrim to a Lory Meagher Cup triumph. 24 hours later, back in Leitrim, he proclaimed.
“This is our All-Ireland!”
Moradi has been in Ireland for over 15 years and though soccer was his first love, when he arrived here, he proved pretty handy with a hurley and was gladly welcomed to the fold.
Special congratulations to Zak Moradi, born in the hurling stronghold of Iraq, who won a Lory Meagher Cup with @LeitrimGAA today.
He came on as a sub and scored a late point 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/NQ8sCMLnV4
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) June 22, 2019
RTE caught up with Moradi in Leitrim, on Sunday, after a night of celebrations with his teammates, and the newly acquired silverware.
“A lot of other counties would probably look down on us,” he said, “but there’s a lot of lads on that Leitrim hurling team that would have the same heart and the same passion as Kilkenny and Cork, and all them lads. Because these lads are training three or four times a week and then playing matches and working.”
Cormac Flynn, his old GAA coach, recalled Moradi from his primary school days and remarked that the ‘only language he knew was football’.
Moradi said his plans were to celebrate with the Leitrim lads ‘for the next week or two’.
“This is what we’re training for. It’s one of the proudest days of my life!”
The report is well worth a watch, alone, for the clip of Moradi’s well struck point out on the Croke Park pitch. Top accent too:
Class to see @LeitrimGAA hurler Zak Moradi interviewed on @rtenews today 👏👏pic.twitter.com/F1MLVeqqDL
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) June 23, 2019
Not a bother to him.
