2019 All-Star Cathal McShane is set to stay with Tyrone. McShane took trials with the Adelaide Crows in the AFL. They have since confirmed that he will not be making the trip to the other side of the world. They confirmed this in a tweet.
Gaelic footballer Cathal McShane has decided to remain in Ireland and not pursue an AFL career
— Adelaide Crows (@Adelaide_FC) February 5, 2020
According to RTE Sport McShane undertook a 10 day trial at Adelaide. However, he is now expected to commit to the Red Hands for 2020. In a statement released by Adelaide on their site the General manager and strategy Justin Reid said, “It is a big decision to relocate to the other side of the world and pursue a professional career in a different sport,”. The statement said that Cathal wasn’t ready for and they wished him the best of luck in the future.
According to the Irish Mirror the 2019 Championship scorer revealed that a job opportunity in his native Tyrone played a key decision to stay. Speaking to BBC Sport Northern Ireland he said, “This career opportunity given to me by Keystone [Lintels] was a big deciding factor in me staying”. Furthermore, he stated that it was something that he enjoyed, “It was something that I really enjoyed. I felt that I did really well when I was out there. The game was a new experience for me.”
He said the players and staff in Adelaide were very welcoming. However, he stated that once he got back to Ireland he had to weigh up the decision to which one was right. He said “It was very close in terms of obviously there’s deadlines for decisions”. Iit did come down to the wire in terms of the last day where I had to make my decision”.
Mickey Harte was delighted with the news, saying “As long as he hadn’t signed anything to say for sure he was going, I’m kind of the optimistic sort of person and I believed everything was possible that he would still stay.” McShane is more than likely back training with Tyrone and could possibly make the bench for their weekend game with Kerry at 2pm in Omagh on Sunday.
