When Irish stars are leaving

by PAUL DAFFEY

ANYONE watching Setanta O'hAilpin, Carlton's Irish recruit, train at Optus Oval yesterday, loping through running repetitions in the lazy morning heat, would have been in no mind of the commotion that had arisen after the announcement of his signature last week. For while O'hAilpin was training under the gaze of the Carlton football staff and a few maintenance men, Irish sports fans were just beginning to emerge from the mist after losing their nation's brightest, most charismatic, young hurling star.

O'hAilpin's decision to try out in the AFL prompted headlines across Ireland lamenting the loss of a player whose exuberance and good looks, not to mention his 195cm frame and athleticism, had sparked attention unseen in hurling for years. The Sunday Times, a London newspaper that puts out an Irish edition, last week devoted a double-page broadsheet spread to the fuss over O'hAilpin, who was recognised as a rare talent after terrorising Kilkenny in the second half of September's All-Ireland hurling final, which Kilkenny won.

Dessie Farrell, the leader of the Gaelic players' association, told Irish newspapers that the Gaelic Athletic Association, the body that runs Gaelic football and hurling, should do more to keep the best young talents in Ireland, while Sean Kelly, the GAA president, admitted to some concern on the part of the ruling body.

"If one or two more follow suit, we'll have to talk very seriously with the AFL," he told The Examiner, the daily newspaper in Cork, O'hAilpin's home county.

Kelly, while mindful of losing Ireland's best young talent, wished O'hAilpin all the best in pursuing life as a professional sportsman. He suggested the saving grace for Irish fans was that most players who venture to Australia return to Ireland after one or two seasons. Of the more than a dozen Irishmen to try out with AFL clubs, only Jim Stynes, Sean Wight and Tadgh Kennelly have established substantial careers.

In recent years, Declan O'Mahony has joined Tadgh Kennelly at Sydney while Bernie Collins has come across to the Western Bulldogs; Nick Walsh and Kevin Devine have tried out at Melbourne. All four were recruited after undergoing tests at Dublin City University camps organised by Gerard Sholly, the former Collingwood football manager and recruiting manager.

Sholly established his first camp in 1999, after undertaking a business partnership with AFL player-manager Peter Jess. The idea of the camps was to identify athletic teenagers with ambitions of a professional sporting career and inform AFL clubs of their findings. Collins, Walsh and Devine were all recruited after the 1999 camp.

O'hAilpin was keen on an AFL career. He grew up in Greenacre, next to Bankstown in Sydney, until he was five years of age, when his father, Sean O'hAilpin, moved the family to his native Ireland. At five, Setanta would have been unexpected to take distinct sporting tastes with him, but his oldest brother, Sean Og (Og means junior), was 11 years of age and had developed an interest in the AFL and rugby league.

In Cork, the four O'hAilpin brothers watched AFL games on cable television and wore AFL guernseys during hurling and Gaelic football training. Once or twice, the brothers even took Australia footballs along to training.

Setanta's ambition to pursue an AFL career appeared stymied following the 2001 Dublin camp, after which the Bulldogs decided they were unable to afford the investment in another Irish recruit. But talks between Sholly and Carlton in June reopened the possibility.

By then, Carlton was seeking all possible avenues to bolster its list in the absence of the early draft picks that had been denied them by the salary-cap fallout. The Blues paid for Setanta to travel to Melbourne late last month and train for a fortnight and within a week their decision had been made: they would offer the 20-year-old with the athletic body - likened to Kouta's at the same age - an international rookie contract over two years, as is required under the player-payment agreement.

Gerard Sholly said he understood the mixed feelings in Ireland about a young sportsman pursuing a professional career on the other side of the world. "It would be like Matthew Pavlich or Nick Riewoldt standing up and saying they're going elsewhere."

Patrick Keane, the AFL communications manager, said the relationship between the AFL and the GAA had only strengthened in recent years because of the success of the international rules series. "The bond between the two bodies is very, very good," he said.

He said the AFL had received no objection from the GAA about the significant presence of talent scouts at the under-17 international rules series, considered a prime indicator of future talent. It is, however, understood that GAA clubs and counties would be most uneasy if AFL clubs began using the junior series as recruiting fodder.

At least Irish officials can take some heart from the breakdown of one development. After several angry phone calls to organisers of the camps at Dublin City University, it was decided the camps would be no longer held.

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