Biggest fan so proud as Sheehan wows on debut

The AFL’s love affair with Irish football talent has found a new poster boy.

On Saturday, former Cork star Ciarán Sheehan made his senior debut — incredibly playing all four quarters — for Carlton Blues in their victory against Gold Coast at Etihad Stadium.

And as he was showered with praise and bubbly in the aftermath it was obvious that Sheehan’s star is on the rise in the famed Melbourne club, and in the League as a whole.

“It was brilliant, quite overwhelming,” Sheehan, who first trained with Carlton for four weeks back in 2009, told afl.com.au.

“It’s great to run out with all the lads after training with them all year, and to play alongside the likes of Marc Murphy and Chris Judd is a great honour for me.

“It was great to get a full run out to see where you’re at in terms of the pace of the game and your fitness, so I was quite happy to get the full game.”

Sheehan opted against heading to Australia five years ago but an outstanding performance in the International Rules Series last year fast-tracked a career Down Under for the Éire Óg man.

The 23-year-old shone across half-forward, finishing with 13 possessions, and he barely wasted a possession.

It was an incredible achievement given his only experience of the code has come from 14 VFL games for (feeder club) Northern Blues this season.

Making the day all the more memorable for Sheehan was the fact that his mother Liz was in the crowd cheering him on.

“She was well able to make the trip and she really wanted to see it, it’s a one-off thing,” he said. “My girlfriend Amy at home, who was out with me from the start, she didn’t get the opportunity to come out, she has exams.

“She’s been with me all the way so I owe an awful lot to her. I think a lot of friends and family back home all tuned in, so it was great to have their support even from back home.”

The time difference meant that Sheehan’s call home to tell his mother about his selection last week almost went unanswered.

“The phone was right by my bed, but the funny thing was that when it rang I actually debated, ‘Will I answer or will I bother?’,” Liz said on Saturday.

“I was in a deep sleep at that stage, but I was so glad I picked it up. Ciarán said to me, ‘You better get over here, I’m playing seniors’, and after I hung up I just stayed in bed thinking, ‘Oh there’s no-one here that I can say it to’.”

What followed was a 24-hour flight in time to see her son run out with just five months and 14 games at VFL level to his name.

“This is fantastic, absolutely fantastic, and it is Ciarán’s dream. It obviously wasn’t Aussie Rules he wanted to play when he was small, he wanted to be a soccer star . . . but this is as near as it gets.

“I’m so very, very proud.”