O'Shea to have Aussie Rules trial

Mayo footballer Aidan O’Shea will fly out to Australia next Sunday for a two week trial with Melbourne Aussie Rules clubs Richmond and the Western Bulldogs.

O'Shea has stressed, however, his commitment to the Mayo football team for 2010, seeing any potential Aussie Rules switch as an option for 'down the road.'

O’Shea (19) featured for the Mayo senior team last season and his performances in 2009, and with the Mayo minors the previous year, attracted the attention of Aussie Rules scout Ricky Nixon, who has brokered the trial.

Speaking to The Mayo News, O'Shea said: 'I’m going out there to see what the professional lifestyle is like, to get a taste for it. It is an opportunity that has presented itself. I’m going to try the skills of the game and see how I am at it.'

O’Shea has been called out by the two Melbourne based clubs to see whether he will like the professional lifestyle and will leave for Down Under following his appearance for Breaffy U-21s in the Mayo county semi-final against Castlebar.

Ricky Nixon first made contact with O’Shea earlier this year and the two met for the first time in Castlebar, when Mayo played Tyrone in the NFL in McHale Park last April

Matters accelerated in recent weeks, after Nixon viewed O’Shea in action in a Colleges Freshers game for DIT against DCU. Another player linked with a potential move, Donegal’s Michael Murphy, lined out for DCU in that match.