Carlton ready to offer Ó hAilpín a contract

Australian Rules club Carlton has confirmed they are ready to offer Cork dual star Setanta Ó hAilpín a contract to play professionally down under.

After hush-hush organisation to bring the 20-year-old Na Piarsaigh star to Melbourne, the AFL giants have been impressed with what they have seen of the Australian-born Corkman.

Ó hAilpín has already been on one training run, and will have a couple more ahead of a crucial meeting with club bosses on Tuesday.

Speculation has risen dramatically about the Young Hurler of the Year since news broke Wednesday night of his visit to Carlton.

The club's recruitment officer Shane O'Sullivan says Carlton will offer Ó hAilpín a contract on Tuesday - if he wants it. "If he's willing, we'd be keen to give him a go. He has to make sure he wants to do it. If he's happy and we're happy after the next couple of days, we will offer him a contract," O'Sullivan said.

"He had a (training) run yesterday with us. He'll have a couple more runs next week, and then we'll sit down and have a chat with him to see what he wants to do.

"I suppose he has a lot of things back home to look at and think about. He's more on holidays than anything, and probably hasn't got his mind around it yet.

"He'll have further runs on Monday and Tuesday, and then we will sit down Tuesday night and have a chat with him.

"We were very impressed with him, he was good, very good. He handled it pretty well, though we've got hot weather in the 30s right now. As for a contract, we'll wait and see if he wants to do it. That's the main thing. It's up to him what he wants to do."

It would be a dramatic change of pace for the Young Hurler of the Year, who has excelled at hurling, but who has also maintained fine progress in the big ball game. This, though, could be his best chance ever at giving professional sport his best shot.