Donegal selector Karl Lacey hoping Oisin Gallen sticks with GAA amid AFL interest
Monday 30 September 2019 13:50, UK
Donegal star Oisín Gallen is being linked with a switch to Aussie Rules after travelling to Australia for trials, but Karl Lacey is hoping the youngster remains with the county side for 2020.
The Sean MacCumhaill's club man made a name for himself this summer, after a string of impressive performances for the county and has been widely touted as one of Gaelic football's most exciting rising stars.
Donegal selector Lacey wished Gallen all the best on his trip to Australia, but ultimately hopes the young star sticks with Tír Chonaill for the season ahead.
"It's great to be asked from a different game at a professional level to be invited over for a trial," said the 2012 Footballer of the Year.
"Unfortunately for the GAA it's not great. It's not great for us when we have a talented, young 19-year-old who stepped into the senior squad and he's done very well for us, that he's been pulled away.
"I haven't spoken to Oisín since. I wish him all the best, and he's very talented. I just hope that he goes over, enjoys himself, represents himself well, which I've no doubt he will - but that ultimately he makes the decision that Donegal football is for him in 2020."
Donegal enjoyed a positive 2019 campaign before the Super 8s. After picking up the National League Division 2 title, they retained their Ulster crown. However, injury to Eoghan Ban Gallagher proved a cruel blow, as they exited at the All-Ireland quarter-final group stage, with a draw to Kerry and loss to Mayo seeing them eliminated.
Nonetheless, Lacey is confident the group are moving in the right direction.
"When Declan (Bonner) came in, it was a three-year project for him," he said. "We had a change of coach last year when Stephen (Rochford) came in. But now this year we can get straight into it, and pick up from where we left off.
"Stephen is a great guy. He's been welcomed with open arms from day one. Players are really buying into the things that he's doing. We know what his experience has been through club and county, and he's done it at the highest level.
"So we're looking forward to the 2020 season. We haven't looked back too much on 2019, club football is on at the moment, hopefully we might grab one or two new players there, and reassemble in November or December.
"We know we left it behind us in Castlebar. We didn't really get going to what we hoped. It was a positive season throughout the summer. We were starting to do things really well, players were starting to peak at the right time for us.
"We came to Croke Park and got a reasonable result in terms of a draw [with Kerry] but we had it all to do still and went down to Mayo hoping we were in a good place but that's sport.
"From when that ball was thrown in, Mayo threw everything at us.
"There might have been a wee bit of a shock factor, in terms of the intensity level.
"It took us a wee while to reset ourselves, and it took us to half-time until we did that properly. When we went out in the second half, we started to get into it. There was a bit more fluency in our play, but by that stage there was a mountain to climb. Mayo had too much experience to let that lead slip."
