O'Reilly's not getting Down. Oh really? Irish Examiner
Joe Callaghan, Brisbane
August 31, 2010 13:28WITH spring primed to... well... spring any day now, Australia becomes an even more desirable destination for those desperate to escape Ivor, Anglo and everything in between.
And with all but two counties deprived of the chance to end their summer with All-Ireland silver in the shape of Sam, it’s likely that the next few weeks will see those young footballers who have been wooed by Aussie Rules clubs ponder their future.
No better time then, to be reminded that Down Under, all that glimmers is not green and gold.
The AFL season, which saw its league format come to an end on Sunday evening, did feature a record-equalling five Gaelic football converts.
But only one of them was a new hand, Down’s Jamie O’Reilly making a stunning transition to the sport having never played with the orange oval ball before. A late-season elevation from the second string to the Richmond senior list culminated in three straight starts for the Tigers to finish the season. Crunch clashes at the cavernous MCG have ensured that, in spite of the heroics of his black and red brethren back home, he is far from pining for the mountains of Mourne.
‘I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about Down,’ he said this weekend. ‘But I don't regret anything. I'm out here and I've made the decision to pursue another adventure.’
With Richmond very much in a rebuilding phase – O’Reilly is one of a host of first-year tyros who impressed this year – there is no finals action for the 22-year-old to savour. He can however look forward to the second year of his contract with relish.
But now is the time for the reality check. O’Reilly is the exception, not the rule. For every Jamie, there’s a Conor and Brian.
Conor would be Conor Meredith, the star of Ricky Nixon’s Oz Factor reality documentary two years ago. When the agent offered E50 for any player able to kick a Sherrin through a basketball hoop, the Laois youngster duly stepped up and torpedoed it through the ring with only the slightest of swishes.
It made for great television. So too did the scenes of Meredith being cast straight in with the big boys at North Melbourne when he travelled south for a trial.
His exploits earned him a two-year deal. But that would turn out to be as close as he would get to the Kangaroos first team. Meredith spent two years largely with the Werribee reserves, the back-up team to the back-up team, two rungs down from the senior list.
Admittedly injuries didn’t work in his favour but reports indicated that in spite of steady progress and the odd flash, he never quite made himself comfortable on the oval.
Getting picked up by another team would appear to be a long shot at this stage, even with two new franchises – who join the AFL over the next two seasons – desperate for bodies. So it looks like a return home to Midlands.
Brian then is Brian Donnelly. The 21-year-old wasn’t even here for the final weekend of the regular season. He had moved back to Louth five weeks ago having cut his own experiment short.
Donnelly was the first ever Irishman to be recruited by the Adelaide Crows when he joined them in 2008. His first year saw him limited to a reserve side in the South Australian Football League. This year he did take a slight step up to Central District in the senior SAFL, but life with the Bulldogs in the northern suburbs of Adelaide was far removed from the Saturday night lights of the AAMI Stadium where the Crows play in front of crowds of 50,000 and more.
It proved to be too far removed from the dream that dragged Donnelly out here. Home sickness hit hard and when a shoulder injury required surgery in July, he called it a day. That was that.
The Crows, for their part, did their best to make it a smooth exit. They were burned by their Irish investment but general manager Phil Harper said the club would not be scared away from bringing another exile to the City of Churches. They’d just have to think a lot longer – and harder – about their decision.
It may well be that the experiences of Meredith and Donnelly make the next wave of potential code-breakers do likewise.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/blog/post/2010/08/31/OReillys-not-getting-Down-Oh-really.aspx#comment
