Ó hAilpín ‘may return if Gaelic games made professional’

SETANTA Ó hAilpín says he may return to Ireland to play Gaelic games if they become professional sports.

Aussie Rules club Carlton will name the Irishman on its rookie list for the 2004 season today.

The 20-year-old has already started training with the Blues and will officially be named as a rookie list player by today’s 2pm.

The AFL Rookie Draft will be held on Tuesday, December 16.

“It’s been arranged now,” Ó hAilpín said excitedly at Optus Oval yesterday.

He said: “it was and it wasn’t” a big decision for him to have a crack at playing Australian football at the highest level.

“The biggest thing that drove me here is the way that AFL is professional and I’d like to see myself as a professional player ,” Ó hAilpín said.

He added that he was committing himself to professional sport and would only return to Irish sport as a professional “They train hard out here, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to earn your crust of bread and people have got to work.”

Although he said getting used to the oval ball and “working on my skills and fitness” will be the major keys to forging an AFL career, he added that on average, he was “hoping to hit five out of five targets by the end of next year”.

Ó hAilpín, who came under the notice of several recruiting managers at a trials session in Ireland a few years ago, is delighted to be gaining an opportunity with Carlton.

“They approached me six or seven weeks ago. I got onto (Carlton recruiting manager) Shane (O’Sullivan) and he told me to come out and see if I like it and see if they like me as a footballer,” heO hAilpin said.

“It was great for myself and for my family that I did so well at home last season with the Cork hurling team, but the opportunity I have now is even bigger,” he O hAilpin added.

Ó hAilpín said the likes of Jim Stynes and Tadhg Kennelly were a big inspiration while he said Kerryman Kennelly had already phoned him to wish him all the best.

“As Irish people do, they look out for each other and I’d like to thank him for the phone call and hopefully we’ll meet up one time,” Ó hAilpín said.

“He’s one of my main admirations in footy and Jim Stynes as well, but now that Tadhg Kennelly is playing, I look to him as an Irish fella and as a countryman.”

Ó hAilpín was born in Sydney in 1983, he moved to Ireland when he was five-years-old.

His father was born in Ireland and his mother was born in Fiji, but his parents met in Fiji before they settled in Sydney - where they lived for 20 years.