Aidan O'Shea leaving for Aussie Rules trial

O’Shea to accept Oz invitation


Aidan O’Shea leaves for trials with two Australian Rules clubs

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Edwin McGreal

YOUNG Mayo footballer Aidan O’Shea will fly out to Australia next Sunday for a two week trial with Melbourne Aussie Rules clubs Richmond and the Western Bulldogs.
But O’Shea has stressed his commitment to the Mayo football team for 2010, seeing any potential Aussie Rules switch as an option for ‘down the road’.
O’Shea (19) featured for the Mayo senior team last season and his performances in 2009, and with the Mayo minors the previous year, attracted the attention of controversial Aussie Rules scout Ricky Nixon, who has brokered the trial.
“I’m going out there to see what the professional lifestyle is like, to get a taste for it,” O’Shea told The Mayo News last weekend. “It is an opportunity that has presented itself. I’m going to try the skills of the game and see how I am at it.”
While O’Shea has been called out by the two Melbourne based clubs to see what he is made of, it is a two-way street according to the Breaffy teenager.
“I’m on trial with the clubs out there but I’ll be examining them as well, to see if I like it out there. I’m looking at it as a possible option for down the road if things were to work out, but I have committed to Mayo for the next year and I’ve spoken to John O’Mahony on it.
“I really don’t know how I will get on. I know it won’t be easy but I’ll go and see what happens. I’ll be coming back in early December and returning to my studies in DIT and preparing for the FBD, even if there might be a big difference in the weather!”
O’Shea initially received contact from an unnamed Aussie Rules club after the 2008 All-Ireland Minor final, which Mayo lost to Tyrone after a replay. Ricky Nixon first made contact with O’Shea earlier this year and the two met for the first time in Castlebar last Easter weekend, when Mayo played Tyrone in the NFL in McHale Park.
Matters accelerated in recent weeks, after Nixon viewed O’Shea in action in a Colleges Freshers game for DIT against DCU. Another player linked with a potential move, Donegal’s Michael Murphy, lined out for DCU in that match. “Ricky Nixon discussed the possibility of a trial and left it up to me,” explained O’Shea. “I was to go last weekend but we’re (Breaffy Under 21s) playing Castlebar in the county semi-final this Saturday and I wanted to be here to play in that game so I put back the trial,” said the student of Logistics and Supply Chain Management in DIT.
O’Shea will line out in that game in Castlebar before packing his bags for the trip down under. He’s looking forward to what he feels will be an ‘experience’.
“It’s an opportunity and sure to be an experience. Of course a two week trip to Australia in the middle of the Irish winter is hard to turn down too.”
Mayo manager John O’Mahony added that he has been aware of developments all along and praised the attitude of O’Shea and his family in dealing with the situation.
“I appreciate Aidan’s stance and he has kept me informed all along. Aidan and his family have handled this very well. I’ve been aware all along about this and I’ve given Aidan my advice on the situation.
“You see with some Irish lads returning from Australia that this is not a decision to be taken lightly and I think that Aidan has taken those precautions.”