Off-colour Setanta gets the chop

THE prospect of a clash of the two biggest Irish stars Down Under was wrecked yesterday when Setanta Ó hAilpín was unceremoniously dropped from the Carlton Blues line-up for this weekend’s AFL showdown with Sydney.

The meeting of the two sides at the Etihad Stadium should have seen the Corkman go head-to-head with Tadhg Kennelly on Sunday afternoon. But after a recent slump culminated with his most difficult outing of the season to date as the Blues were outclassed by the Western Bulldogs last week, Ó hAilpín has felt the wrath of coach Brett Ratten.

Ó hAilpín scorched through the early parts of this season, fully fit and given a new lease of life when redeployed as an attacker, and scored 24 goals in 10 games. However just two goals in his past four games — and his insipid display last Sunday, when he touched the ball just three times in the entire game — have seen him axed for the first time all year.