FOR THE ENTIRELY reasonable fee of 100 Canadian dollars [plus tax] you could be training with Irish footballer Darren O’Dea.
The former Celtic and Leeds defender, now with Toronto FC in Canada, will be hosting a professional players clinic on 21 April at the club’s training ground.
18-times capped with Ireland, O’Dea captains the Major League Soccer side and has settled in well to North American football. He followed up a forgettable outing in the 6-1 World Cup qualifier defeat to Germany with his first international goal, against the Faroe Islands, four days later.
The blurb on the Toronto FC site explains that would-be pros can ‘learn the tricks of the trade’ from some of the club’s best players.
Canadian international Terry Dunfield, formerly of Manchester City and Bury, will also feature at the Pro Player Clinic in two weeks’ time. Toronto are coached by Ryan Nelsen and have Robbie Earnshaw in their squad this season.
Another clinic will be coming up on 2 June but O’Dea will be hoping to feature for Ireland, against Georgia, at the Aviva Stadium that day.
If you have any football-mad cousins, or offspring, in Toronto, tell them to get down to show how to hit Row Z, Irish style.
