Aileen Gilroy woke up on Sunday morning fresh from celebrating North Melbourne’s preliminary semi-final win over Collingwood and planning for the final four. That night she went to bed with a flight booked home.

The Australian Football League’s attempt to forge on with the season despite the coronavirus outbreak lasted just one round before it was shut down esterday in the wake of a government crackdown on non-essential travel.

The Australian Football League’s attempt to forge on with the season despite the coronavirus outbreak lasted just one round before it was shut down on Sunday in the wake of a government crackdown on non-essential travel.

Sixteen Irish players are on board for the 2020 AFL season set to start on Thursday. Dingle’s Deividas Uosis will join the contingent next season and possibly Donegal starlet Oisín Gallen too.

Its 30 degrees in Melbourne and the sports mad city is abuzz as it bids farewell to the record breaking Women’s T20 Cricket World Cup and looks forward to the upcoming Australian Rules season, writes Maurice Brosnan.

Cathal McShane is set to be sidelined for up to five months after dislocating his ankle in yesterday’s Allianz Football League Division 1 defeat to Galway.

After seeing off Down with ease last Sunday week, Ronan McCarthy has named five alterations to the Cork team to face Tipperary in Thurles on Saturday.

Another young Kerry star is heading down under, according to reports.

“With ten minutes left in a championship match, when you’re 80 yards from the play, you’re hoping to God there isn’t an obvious foul you’ll miss. You’re not going to get there because you’re wrecked.”

AFL club Adelaide Crows have claimed Cathal McShane felt he was “not ready” to embark on an Australian Rules football career.

Seamus Moynihan has increased the pressure on the GAA to intervene in the ongoing recruitment of talented young players by the AFL, claiming the situation is “insane”.

Sligo snapped a 13-game losing streak in Ruislip on Sunday but manager Paul Taylor maintained that there was no added significance in the defeat of London at McGovern Park.

Why is the David Clifford Kerry captaincy an issue at all?, asks Tony Leen.

Cathal McShane was not the only Irishman touching down in Australia this week to trial for an AFL club.

Ciaran Sheehan also makes his first competitive start for Cork in seven years.

Mickey Harte learned last week that it is impossible to change the mind of a young Irish person who has decided to leave Ireland.

Nick Dal Santo has pinpointed kicking ability alongside AFL-ready athleticism and conditioning for making GAA players increasingly attractive to Aussie Rules clubs, with many of the native products not possessing the same ball skills.

Jim Gavin is gone but his words as much as his deeds in inter-county Gaelic football remain.

Owen Mulligan says Cathal McShane is entitled to pursue an Aussie Rules career, amid calls for the GAA to cut ties with the AFL since reports emerged of the All-Star full-forward's potential move.

Mickey Harte hasn’t given up hope of holding on to All-Star attacker Cathal McShane as speculation intensifies that he is on his way to an Aussie Rules career with the Brisbane Lions.

McEntee made his comments after Meath’s 4-16 to 1-15 O’Byrne Cup win over Laois, a game watched by county title winner Conor Nash, who is now established in the AFL with Hawthorn.

Sport fans love their statistics and, increasingly, so do sports administrators. Annual reports of the CEOs for all major Australian sports now include tables on TV viewership figures, marketing and sponsorship revenues, and, of course, participation numbers.

'Mark the Shark' has gone from "not knowing how to kick the ball" to an ever-present defender in three years.

Mayo defender Eoin O’Donoghue is confident county colleague and close pal Matthew Ruane isn’t interested in a switch to Aussie Rules.

Kerry GAA chairman Tim Murphy has said the main governance challenge facing the association is volunteers being held to account in areas where they may not have sufficient expertise.

This was a game between two of the sport’s best. It stood to reason that everyone wanted to see it happen.

The first series will be played in Ireland in November 2020 with a return two-test series to be played in Australia in 2022.

The Gaelic Players’ Association will likely propose the introduction of a concussion sub rule at next year’s annual congress.

Former Derry underage star, Callum Brown has been promoted to the senior squad of AFL side, GWS Giants, in his first season as an Aussie rules footballer and a week before he turns 19.

Colin O'Riordan has signed a two-year contract extension with the Sydney Swans.

Exactly two years today, Rian O’Neill of Crossmaglen, south Armagh, flew across the world to one of the oldest sporting institutions in the world — the North Melbourne Australian Rules club — to see how he might shape up as a prospective player.

It was a different Kerry dressing room that David Clifford stepped back into in March. Gone were Kieran Donaghy, Anthony Maher, Darran O’Sullivan, and Donnchadh Walsh.