CORK CAPTAIN MÁIRE O’Callaghan has lamented the loss of star defender Erika O’Shea, but backs her to succeed in the Australian Football League Women’s [AFLW].
The42 first reported that O’Shea was in line for a move last month, before her absence was confirmed from the Rebels’ championship panel. It has since emerged Down Under that she and Meath All-Ireland winner Vikki Wall are set to sign for North Melbourne.
There, they would link up with Mayo’s Aileen Gilroy, and 19-year-old O’Shea could become the youngest-ever Irish player in the AFLW.
“Erika’s a fantastic player,” O’Callaghan said at the launch of SuperValu’s #CommunityIncludesEveryone campaign this week. “She’s a huge loss.
“She’s so fast and fit, she’s such an athlete. She is a huge loss, we support her 100% on her move there but we do have a strong panel and we have a lot of other players who are dying to get a chance as well. While she is a massive loss, I have no fear that someone else will step in and fill her place, absolutely 100%.”
Mourneabbey midfielder O’Callaghan also whole-heartedly backs her team-mate to shine on her new venture.
“100%. Even how fit she is and how fast she is, that will be a huge benefit to her over there. She could actually run rings around someone. She’s such an athlete.
“In my eyes, there’s absolutely no way she won’t be successful over there. She’s got such good skills there to work with and she’s very easy to coach, so I think she’ll definitely get on really well over there.”
While Bríd Stack was the first Cork player to cross codes when she signed for Greater Western Sydney [GWS] Giants ahead of the 2020 season, she had retired from inter-county, so O’Shea is the first from the current panel to make the move.
Stack was one of 14 Irish players to line out in the last campaign, and feelings are mixed about whether numbers will rise over the next while.
“It’s hard to know because the way the AFL season is changing, it’s longer than it was,” O’Callaghan notes. “It was about six months [including pre-season] and it’s going to be longer now.
“I feel like before, we might have been in more danger of people leaving when you could go away and come back for the championship, but now that’s not really going to be an option. I actually think it might deter players from our camp from going, but I’m not sure how that would present itself in other teams really.
“I think when you’re competing well for the All-Ireland championship, whoever wants to be around will still be around. That choice has been taken away from them kind of, playing AFL and playing inter-county, with it being a longer season for the AFL.”
The 26-year-old does feel that it may become an even more attractive option, with the prospect of full professionalism down the line.
“I do think it will be a challenge for the LGFA and the Camogie Association to keep players playing in Ireland,” she concedes.
“I’m guessing it will probably be the counties that are struggling a bit to compete at the latter end of the championship. It would probably be an easier decision for those players to step away than it is for a team that are hoping to get to the later stages of the championship.
“It is fantastic, though. You can’t argue that anyone that is really good and really into sport getting the chance to play at a professional level is a really fantastic achievement, being selected to go over there.
“I think it is something to be proud of, and all clubs would have their players’ best interests at heart. If it is something that the player wanted to do, I think they would be absolutely 100% behind it and very proud of that achievement.”
It’s not something that appeals to O’Callaghan herself at the moment, having worked for pharmaceutical company BioMarin since leaving college in UCC.
Her full focus is on that, and football with Cork; the Rebels opening their 2022 championship campaign on Sunday away to Waterford in the Munster semi-final.
“I haven’t gone for a trial or anything like that. I suppose I haven’t thought about it properly. At the moment I’m very happy in my career where I am, I really enjoy working with the company I work with and obviously, I really enjoy playing football.
“I would never rule it out, but it’s not something I’ve ever really considered properly yet either.”
