Adrian Freeman (13 March 1986 – 29 May 2010) was an Irish sportsman from Tooreen, Ballyhaunis, County Mayo. He played Gaelic football and hurling. Freeman played hurling for Mayo and was a member of the county's 2009 hurling team, which participated in both the National Hurling League (NHL) and the Christy Ring Cup. He played for Connacht in the Interprovincial Championship. He played club football for Aghamore. His international career consisted of one hurling/shinty Under 21 international appearance in Inverness, Scotland. Freeman also played in England (four times) and toured North America during his career, whilst he was a member of the losing Connacht side from the Interprovincial Championship Final played in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Middle East in March 2009. Freeman's death at the age of 24 in a traffic collision in Australia on 31 May 2010 led to an outpouring of public grief in Ireland's GAA circles. Early life Freeman was born in March 1986. He was educated in Tooreen NS from 1991 onwards. There he developed his interest in sport. Freeman played hurling for Tooreen Hurling Club from the age of seven and played football for Aghamore. He also played association football, attracting interest from Leeds United in 2000. Freeman progressed to Ballyhaunis Community School in 1999 and graduated as a civil engineer from Limerick Institute of Technology (2004–2009). Career The Western People said Freeman's "free-scoring exploits helped win several matches". He was nicknamed "Twink" on account of his "twinkle-toes". Freeman achieved two Connaught Under 21 B hurling championship medals with Mayo, and many underage club titles with Tooreen. In 2007 he played in a hurling/shinty Under 21 international encounter in Inverness, Scotland. He performed twice each in the English cities of London and Birmingham. He toured North America with the Connaught Colleges hurling touring party when he was 16. He accompanied several future inter-county hurlers for Galway. In 2002, Freeman made his senior debut for the Tooreen team while still under 16. The following year, at the age of 17, he won a championship medal with the Mayo senior hurling team. This ultimately proved to be the only championship medal he would ever win. Freeman's debut for Mayo's senior hurling team came at Croke Park in a defeat to Kildare in the All-Ireland Senior B Hurling Championship Final. Gerry Spellman, Frank Browne and Martin Brennan all played Freeman regularly whilst in charge of Mayo teams. According to