Tuohy off to Oz but focused on Laois

LAOIS’S Zach Tuohy has reaffirmed his commitment to his county’s Championship cause despite confirmation that he is to spend over a month of the summer in a Carlton Football Club training camp.

The Portlaoise player is to join the Melbourne outfit for the 2010 season and has been on recruitment officer Gerard Sholley’s radar ever since scoring a spectacular goal for the Laois minors against Derry in an All-Ireland semi-final in 2007.

A two-week trial followed in

Melbourne last October and a two-year rookie contract was signed in late January. He will travel to Australia in the coming months along with Cork U21 player Ciaran Sheehan.

“Nothing has been set in stone yet,” said Tuohy yesterday, “but I will be going out at some stage in the summer. I’m just not sure yet when exactly but I will definitely be here for most of the championship.”

Tuohy may miss one, or even two, championship games depending on how successful the side is under Sean Dempsey but the Laois manager has already been briefed on the youngster’s AFL plans.

Though news of Tuohy’s impending trip to Australia has made the news this week, the player revealed those very same plans to this newspaper as far back as last December.

He becomes the latest in a lengthening line of Laois players to take a punt on Aussie Rules. Colm Begley has enjoyed the most success to date having left Ireland to join the Brisbane Lions and is now on the books of St Kilda. O’Dempsey’s club man Conor Meredith has followed a similar path, signing a two-year rookie contract with North Melbourne Kangaroos last year, which rules him out of Laois’ plans until the 2011 season at the very earliest.

Brendan Quigley also tried his luck with the Lions but returned to Ireland within months due to homesickness and he is now a key player for Dempsey who is in his first year with the seniors.

Tuohy will join Setanta O hAilpín at Carlton while his and Sheehan’s arrivals will bring to 11 the number of Irishmen contracted in the AFL.

The other nine are Collingwood pair Martin Clarke and Kevin Dyas, Setanta O hAilpín (Carlton), Michael Quinn (Essendon), Pearce Hanley (Brisbane), Colm Begley (St Kilda), Brendan Murphy (Sydney), Conor Meredith (North Melbourne), Brian Donnelly (Adelaide Crows).