BECOME AN ADVERTISER
McShane Heading To Aussie Rules
Wednesday 01.01.2020
Tyrone have been dealt a massive blow with the news that Cathal McShane, TTM’s 2019 County Player of the Year, looks poised to sign a two year deal with Aussie Rules side Brisbane Lions.
McShane was one of the standout players in last season’s championship finishing as top scorer and getting a deserved National Allstar award at full forward.
The Owen Roes clubman denied the reports last week but a source has since revealed that he is set to fly to Australia in the coming days to view facilities and tie up the deal that would see him link up with former Dublin underage star James Madden who signed for Brisbane last year.
It means that he will be the second player from the Tyrone minor side of 2013 that reached the All Ireland final to go to Aussie Rules as Conor McKenna made the transition a few years ago to Essendon.
Since that All Ireland minor final appearance seven years ago McShane’s star has been steadily on the rise. He was midfield on the Tyrone U21 side that won the All Ireland title in 2015 beating Tipperary in the final and was also to the fore the following year when the Red Hands reached the Ulster U21 final again only to lose out to Monaghan.
His displays caught the eye of Red Hands senior manager Mickey Harte and Cathal went on to win his first Ulster senior championship medal later that summer and added another twelve months later. He also played a major role in St.Marys Belfast’s second ever Sigerson Cup win.
In 2018 he kicked a brilliant last gasp equaliser in Navan to force extra time against Meath in the Qualifiers as Tyrone got out of jail and went all the way to the All Ireland final were they came up short against the all conquering Dublin side.
Last season he was a revelation at full forward as Tyrone reached the All Ireland semi final only to lose out to Kerry, a game were he was outstanding kicking seven points. That came on the back of sparkling displays against Derry (0-7) in the Ulster championship, Longford (2-2) and Kildare (0-5) in qualifiers as well as Roscommon (0-8) and Cork (1-5) in super 8 games.
It’s the latest setback for Tyrone following on from the news a few weeks ago that team Captain Mattie Donnelly is set to miss a chunk of the 2020 season and also comes on the back of Connor McAliskey’s decision to take a break from Inter County football.
Similar Stories
