Updated 13.50pm
KILKENNY’S ALL-IRELAND minor winning hurling captain and the Kerry player who was man-of-the-match in the All-Ireland minor football final, both impressed at the latest Aussie Rules trial for emerging players in DCU last Saturday.
The AFL European Combine saw 22 players – ranging in age from 16 to 20 – gather at the Dublin venue with players from Denmark and England also present along with the Irish prospects. Kilkenny’s Darragh Joyce and Kerry’s Micheal Burns both caught the eye with their performances.
The official AFL website reports - “At 192cm, promising hurler Darragh Joyce impressed with his game-sense and skills, while Kerryman Michael Burns showcased his agility, aggression and huge aerobic capacity.”
The full list of the 22 players that attended were:
Armagh – Ciaron O’Hanlon, Jarlath Óg Burns
Denmark – Mikkel Kjoege
Donegal – Steven McBrearty, John Campbell
Dublin - Con O’Callaghan, Eoghan McHugh
England - Sam Willatt
Galway - Peter Cooke
Kerry - Micheal Burns, Killian Spillane, Mark O’Connor, Barry O’Sullivan
Kilkenny - Darragh Joyce
Leitrim - Mark Plunkett
Louth - Ryan Burns
Mayo - Shehroz Akram
Offaly - Kyle Higgins
Roscommon - Luke Carty
Sligo - Patrick O’Connor
Tipperary - Stephen Quirke
Tyrone - Cathal McShane
The two star turns are both recent All-Ireland winners. Joyce is a younger brother of Kilkenny senior player Kieran who was man-of-the-match in the All-Ireland senior hurling final replay. Darragh’s club Rower-Inistioge don’t play football but he caught the eye with his performances for his school Good Counsel (New Ross) in the Leinster colleges football championship last year
Burns was instrumental in Kerry’s All-Ireland minor win this season while last December he made a major impression when coming on as a substitute for his club Dr Crokes in their AIB Munster senior football club final win.
Tadhg Kennelly, the AFL international talent manager, is confident that some of the players at last weekend’s combine will be recruited by AFL clubs.
“The combine has been a huge success. It’s well resourced, we’re getting great results, and I’m sure we’ll get one, maybe two players recruited next year.”
“The players picked the skills up so quickly you would think it was an under 18 team from Australia, so it was pretty impressive what they achieved in two days.
“It shows Irish players can make the transition to the AFL, but you’ve also got to work out who can handle it mentally, who can adapt moving to the other side of the world.”