KIERAN QUINN looks out at the panoramic backdrop of his Strandhill home, a beautiful northwest seaside resort that comes alive during the summer. The Knocknarea Mountains and the local surf-engaged beach augment the breathtaking scenery. After seven years in Dublin, it's little wonder he's glad to be part of this majestic landscape again.

Both home and away, Quinn has amassed an intriguing collection of life tales and yarns from his peripatetic existence which frequently interrupt the football chitchat. He speaks animatedly, for instance, about his most recent performance. One that took his breath away. His gang was on top of their game and throughout he was so energised that he needed five pints of water just to keep hydrated. Shattered afterwards, he sat and chatted with the punters.

The occasion? Roscommon in the Hyde? The club in Markievicz Park? Nope. It was a wedding in Ballinasloe.

Welcome to Kieran Quinn's world. The group he plays with, The Hotshots, a rock 'n' roll/blues outfit, were chief entertainers that night. He plays piano for them and plays full-time for himself. As a self-contracted and trained jazz musician he can express himself on a number of different vistas; when not with The Hotshots, he's with singer/songwriter, Gavin Ryan, and also features in the weekend jazz sessions at Sligo's Left Bank.

He spent six years avoiding rucks and mauls with classmate Gordon D'Arcy and others

Quinn has spent five of his past seven years trekking around the football countryside but has still managed to burn road elsewhere. And his life is all the richer for it.

At 12, he left home and headed for boarding school in Clongowes. He had played Gaelic, but rugby was the only currency in Kildare and Quinn didn't use that tender, and so spent six years avoiding rucks and mauls with classmate Gordon D'Arcy and others.

"I was a bit skinny," he concedes. "Never really made the top teams, just played socially."

Each summer he returned home and Coolera/Strandhill asked him to play. He had potential and the club nagged him to go further but after school, all aspirations of inter-county football were seemingly extinguished. Instead he steered his life in a different direction, moving to Sydney in 1999.

"I can't honestly say I was all misty-eyed at the prospect of missing out playing a Connacht final or that," he remembers. "The thought just never occurred to me."

It was only when he returned home and was summoned to U-21 trials that it all changed. After impressing with the U-21s, Peter Ford quickly called him into the senior team in 2001, just before Sligo's wonderful roller-coaster ride in '02, a voyage that saw them flirt outrageously with an All-Ireland semi-final place.

The next few years were spent playing while studying in Trinity College. But, after graduating, Quinn went back to Dublin to study music and culled his Sligo involvement in 2005 and 2006, only returning at 28 this year. His is a road well travelled.

"I was in Trinity from 1999 to 2003 studying psychology and philosophy and it wasn't a particularly demanding degree, so you could handle the football too," he explains. "There was the option of a three-year Masters in Clinical Psychology but the course wasn't getting me going that much. I was interested in the psychology of everyday life but couldn't see myself making a career. I might go back to it later but in 2004 I decided to study for a Music Degree and left inter-county football for that."

He enrolled at Newpark Music Centre in Blackrock for a ground-breaking course, a BA in Jazz Performance. A four-year syllabus, he finished after two, having gained enough experience: time to start earning a crust.

"Two years was sufficient, I had to get out into the world. You don't need a degree in music to play," he reasons. As a child he had mastered all classical piano grades, but Beethoven, Bach and Co weren't exactly mainstream teen icons and it was only later on that he played music he actually liked. "That's when I really got into it," he admits. "I would hear a good song on the radio; pick it up by air and then play it back. After that one thing led to another."

Jazz is both a passion and a lifeline but unless he connects with an audience he sees no point in playing. "Gigs should be about the audience; you feed off them and get energy from them. If they aren't responding, there's no enjoyment."

It's funny; the butterflies still flutter before big shows. Last week he played a solo recital at a charity gig; the first time in yonks that he went unaccompanied. It was daunting. The crowd weren't drinking or chatting like usual, they were listening intently. He was edgy but reckons, like football, if you prepare well enough, you'll be fine. And he was.

Being his own boss, it's not hard to combine GAA and music, and with Sligo manager Tommy Breheny's flexibility and a ruthless edit of his gig guide, he manages just fine. Initially, though, the move home didn't enhance his football. His two-year sojourn festered serious self-doubt that he could ever reach fifth gear again. But he was hungry and wanted medals.

Winning the 2005 county title with Coolera/Strandhill, ending a 98-year drought, had stimulated him and he wanted more. Then, seven players returned to Breheny's squad, including Sligo Rovers captain Michael McNamara and Dara McGarty, an influential player whose career was hampered by injury. Quinn returned too. But it's only now he's peaking.

"Around April we were awful, we squeezed past Waterford, drew with Tipperary before losing three in-a-row. Terrible. A few lads held the whole thing together. But then we beat Antrim and Wicklow which thankfully got us out of Division 4 football; a huge relief."

Team-mates Eamon O'Hara and Paul Taylor both started out in that division and warned how tough it was to break free. "We were very conscious, I felt huge pressure personally," Quinn insists. "I wasn't going well but avoiding Division 4 was crucial; it's not the place to be."

After spring, they had five weeks before New York called and another five before Roscommon. Breheny forensically researched New York, who fielded 10 of last year's team, presenting a detailed player analysis of their squad. "It was a potential banana skin but it was easier than expected," Quinn accepts.

They enjoyed a very quiet build-up for Roscommon but at one stage Sligo didn't score for 25 minutes. Only for their belief they were out. "We could've won by a lot more in the end," Quinn recalls. "The character got us through when things were bad. It was only a question of lads finding their form. An awful lot of us didn't play to our potential but we never lack character. Fighting back against Roscommon was nothing new; but why do we always leave it until we are six points down to start playing?"

Worrying all right, but personally he's motoring well. With 1-1 in two games, he's rediscovering his potential. It's been a staggered journey, but Quinn has a second Connacht final appearance and knows the chances don't grow on trees.

His game is about picking up possession, surging runs, presence and serious leadership qualities. He plays his club football at midfield and started inter-county life there too before switching between wing and centre-forward and back to midfield with O'Hara in 2002.

"Back then I didn't have the presence to come in and command a midfield position," he admits. "I was able to move, catch and pass. I was full of running but often got caught out positionally. It's a fine line between making well-timed runs into attack and exposing your entire defence. That know-how comes with playing games. You build up a triangle with your partner and centre-back and hope they'll cover you."

The beautiful odyssey of 2002 is a constant reference point, a trophy-less voyage that nonetheless captured our imagination when Sligo zoned in on the last four. That drama whetted the public's appetite, the team were even afforded a civic reception by the local council. Quinn smiles but laments the lack of silverware.

"Great, we tackled the giants of Ulster football and it was a pleasure to be on that team, but the second day against Armagh still rankles; we had four or five wides from inside 30 yards and lost by two points. Beating Tyrone was also superb and we did have a good initial comeback against Armagh but we still lost - and lost the Connacht final. At the end of the day we didn't break the mantle of being plucky losers."

Nonetheless, he would do anything to get back. It was a season sprinkled with stimulation; they broke ground in a fabulous new stadium, splashing it in black and white. "Running Armagh close gave us a glimpse of the big time. After the drawn game I walked around Croker and 20 lads from my club came down, thrilled. Later an old man came over crying and thanking us. Imagine if we actually won something," Quinn smiles.

'Silverware justifies everything. I can't imagine looking back without a medal'

Hold that thought. They haven't won a provincial title since 1975 but today is about upsetting the odds and rectifying that. Galway employ a short-passing game which, if disrupted, can backfire, but with a lethal attack they can strike anytime.

"I respect Peter Ford," Quinn says. "He was a good tactician and brought Sligo to a new high but in his third year we were very poor. Until then he kept improving us to a new level. Galway struggled against Leitrim but Peter always maintained 17 points would win most championship matches and they reached that quota."

On the face of it, Sligo look more limited and didn't dazzle against an average Roscommon outfit. Yet they're quietly optimistic.

"Silverware justifies everything," Quinn says. "Winning that 2005 county title justified all the effort. A Connacht medal would do the same. You must have something to show for this phase of your life. I can't imagine looking back without a medal. It would be an incomplete phase.

"Say you hit 35 with no medal; if you haven't won by then you never will. There's today's motivation: to complete a phase of our lives. Being honest, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

Not even on stage; nor the golden beaches of Strandhill. Today there's only one place he'll get his kicks, only one crowd to win acclaim from.

- Damian Lawlor