Alen first learned the scale at the age of 7, on a pencil, in a mobile home while on holiday in Scotland with his parents and grandmother, Nan.
He went on to become the youngest ever player to win the All Ireland Solo Championships back to back from Junior, Intermediate and Senior in a four year period. His solo career, while short, brought some great success in Ireland, Scotland and also in the US where in his first attempt won the medley section of the Metro Cup and finished 5th in the piobaireachd and 2nd overall.
While Alen enjoyed solo competitions to a point, his big passion is the band, His first season to compete was in 1995 with the St. Maurs Pipe Band of Rush where he was on "loan" for development from SLOT and they went on the win the World's in Grade 3A that year and were then promoted to Grade 2.
The following year Alen made the move to Grade 1 with SLOT and has been a member of the band ever since.
Alen's influence started very early in his Grade 1 career where he began writing all the band's harmonies and also provided a lot of support with new music which he came across while studying Irish Music in Ballyfermot College.
In 2005, Alen took over as Pipe Sergeant and the band went from strength to strength.
He supported his father Terry in the P/Sgt. role for 9 years – winning four All Ireland Championships and four major championships including the band's first World title, in 2010.
At the end of the 2013 season Terry decided to step down as PM but to continue playing in the band.
Alen took over as P/M for the start of the 2014 season and the band has won two major championships to date under Alen's stewardship and been an ever-present in the top six.
Since Alen took over the reins as P/M, the band has never been out of the top three at the World's.
This is a record the band are extremely proud of and one they hope to continue.