Mourne County star O’Reilly takes a punt with AFL side Richmond

DOWN U21 star Jamie O’Reilly is the latest Irish youngster to be offered a trial at an AFL club, having been flown out by Richmond Tigers last Saturday.

James McCarthy, who played for Dublin U21s this year, and Cavan minor captain Barry Reilly are trying their hand at Aussie Rules also, as they go on trial with Conor Meredith’s North Melbourne.

O’Reilly was spotted by Richmond scouts during the All-Ireland semi-final defeat of Mayo and travelled down under despite the fact that he will miss Loughlinisland’s first round championship tie with Warrenpoint on August 8.

“I only found out last week, so it came out of the blue,” said Loughlinisland manager Gerard Colgan. “He will be a big loss to us but I can completely understand why he accepted the offer. It could be a once-in-a lifetime opportunity and you sometimes only get one chance.”

Meanwhile, Zach Tuohy and Ciarán Sheehan are undergoing a month’s orientation at Carlton, with whom they have signed two-year contracts, before returning at the end of the year to begin their careers in the AFL.

Setanta O hAilpín has taken Tuohy, from Laois, and fellow Cork man Sheehan under his wing.

“The two lads are just getting into things and taking it nice and slow. They’re here for a month and the development squad people are taking them through the routine and getting them accustomed to life in professional sport.”

There was good news for O hAilpín who has been recalled to the Carlton team having suffered a nasty injury that caused him to miss the Blues’ last three games.

His last appearance saw him scoring a career-high four goals but a collision with team-mate Brendan Fevola that caused a bleed in his hamstring forced him out of action.

O hAilpín will line out at centre-forward, where he has impressed since finally establishing himself in the team this season.