‘Huge blow’ as increasing number of Gaelic football players head Down Under

County final defeats are typically brutal, but when you possess perhaps the best player on the field, who is just 18 and lording it at midfield, decompression comes a little easier. There’ll be plenty more finals.

That’s how it should feel this week for Austin Stacks who were beaten to the prize by Dingle in last Sunday’s Kerry SFC final.

Kerry U-20 Ben Murphy partnered up next to All-Star certainty Joe O’Connor at midfield and looked calm in the chaos, scoring three points from play and underscoring his ability even in defeat.

Shortly, however, it is expected that he will sign on the dotted line for Brisbane Lions, the latest Kingdom phenom to depart following the exits of Mark O’Connor, who played for Dingle in the final, Cillian Burke and Rob Monahan.

If it is a sore point in Kerry, consider how Mayo ladies football supporters feel watching seven of their own compete in this season’s AFLW campaign. A record 39 Irish women are playing Down Under in 2025 and while it’s up and coming male players that are being signed up, it’s LGFA players in their peak who are being recruited.

“If we’re losing 40 of our highest profile female Gaelic games athletes that young people see playing, and those role models are taken out of our system, it’s a huge blow to Gaelic games,” said Gaelic Players Association head and former Mayo midfielder Tom Parsons.

“We know how important role models are for kids to go to games, to want to go to games. We can only imagine how many kids are pulling out of their parents to go and see David Clifford play. We have amazing female athletes that had that same pull in Mayo, as an example – and they’re all in Australia.”

Two more LGFA Players, Tyrone’s Aoife Horisk and Meath’s two-time All-Ireland winning defender Mary Kate Lynch, were invited by the AFL to testing recently, along with Derry and Offaly seniors Ruairi Forbes and Cillian Bourke.

Horisk and Lynch finished first and second in the 20m sprint section and, according to a report on the AFL website, “the pair are likely to nominate for the Telstra AFLW Draft at the end of the year, with a number of sides interested”.

Clifford knocked back the opportunity when contacted by AFL scouts as a teenager. More recently, the GAA’s most recognisable player suggested that some form of compensation may be required by the clubs or counties of players who are contracted by AFL sides.

Parsons’ answer is a little different and rooted in the very raison d’être of the players union, to provide county players with the most positive experience possible of GAA, LGFA and camogie activity. By doing so, Parsons argues, we will naturally hold on to more players.

“(It’s) the value proposition of being an amateur elite athlete, where you can have a thriving work career, that you have a really enjoyable game and that you’re not out of pocket, and that you’re supported through a grant mechanism with the Government, and that you have a good charter in place,” he said. “They’re all things that maybe will make a player think twice.

“I’m sure some of the top male players that we know who have been approached and who have turned it down did so because they want to play for their county. And we’ve seen a lot of players come back, who could have got contracts, but who came back to play with their club and their county because they see the value.

“I think the Government has a role, the Government bodies have a role but we should be doing everything in our power to sell what’s great about being an elite amateur athlete. To be able to represent your club, to be able to have your full athletic identity but also to have a thriving career as well.

“The data from our intercounty report showed that inter-county players started their career earning more but by the time they got to 30, they were earning less than their peers. The seven-month (season) window, even the commercial piece, players being able to bring their personal brand to the game, all these things matter and they count.

“The recognition from the Government, a really good charter, really enjoying the playing rules, not training like a dog in December. I think all those factors contribute to help keep players in Ireland.”

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