Donegal's Patrick McBrearty.
BY CHRIS MCNULTY
DONEGAL forward Patrick McBrearty was among a group of the best young GAA talent to attend an Aussie Rules trial in Dublin on Wednesday – prompting county manager Jim McGuinness to raise concerns about the running of such sessions.
McBrearty was the only Donegal player to attend this trial. Martin O’Reilly was reported to have been invited and indeed was said in some media outlets as having attended, but the Donegal News can confirm that the MacCumhaills was not one of the attendees at the National Basketball Arena for the trial, run by former Kerry football and Sydney Swans AFL star Tadhg Kennelly – who was appointed an AFL ambassador last year.
McBrearty was joined by the likes of Dublin’s Ciaran Kilkenny, Kildare’s Sean Hurley and Tipperary trio Michael Quinlivan and Ian Fahey as well as Derryman Emmett Bradley.
Donegal manger McGuinness says that GAA chiefs should be worried about an ‘exodus’ to the AFL. “I really dont understand the whole Comprimise Rules thing. It’s promoting another sport and could lead to an exodus of GAA players,” he said.
“It’s disappointing because we want to keep the best players at home and, in our case, we want the best players to stay in Donegal.”
Two years ago, McBrearty was courted by controversial former AFL agent Ricky Nixon, who filmed the Kilcar clubman when he was playing for Carrick VS in an Arthur’s Cup, Ulster Schools final.
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