Daire Cregg has no regrets about turning down a move to play Aussie Rules – because he feels Roscommon have the potential to challenge for All-Ireland titles in the years ahead.
The 22-year-old forward, who is one of the most exciting young footballers in the country, was offered the opportunity to join AFL side Carlton last year.
But rather than follow a trail to Australia, Cregg is instead determined to follow his dream of helping Roscommon compete at the top level of Gaelic football – and even during the sub-zero conditions here in Ireland this week, the Boyle clubman was not reconsidering his decision.
“No, definitely not. Listen, I wanted to play for Roscommon since I was a child, I didn’t grow up wearing a Carlton jersey or whatever when I was four or five years old,” he says.
“My whole life had been about trying to get to play with the Roscommon senior football team. That’s what I always wanted to do, I didn’t grow up watching AFL or didn’t grow up loving AFL, I grew up loving football so yeah, there was never really a doubt.
“Obviously, look, it sounded like a nice opportunity and the weather and all that is grand.
“But there were more things to think about in terms of, we have a good family life here, I like the bit of farming and stuff like that as well. Especially even with the new rules, it’s just a different experience and hopefully [we’ll] have a crack at an All-Ireland, which is what you dream of. So, there was never really a big thought in my mind about it.”
Cregg attended AFL trials in Dublin last summer but didn’t tog out or participate as Roscommon were preparing to face Mayo a few weeks later. However, Carlton scouts subsequently watched him in a challenge match for Roscommon and also that championship encounter against Mayo – which was enough for them to try persuade Cregg to move Down Under.
“I suppose we met for an hour and talked about what it would entail and different things,” he recalls. “They wanted confirmation and I wasn’t really willing to give confirmation that I wanted to go, because I was fully wrapped up in trying to win an All-Ireland so that was at the front and centre of my mind.”
And while Cregg says he is too young to completely close the door on a move to Australia, his prime ambition remains with club and county in Roscommon.
“We have a really strong team with Roscommon this year and an excellent management team and we have a really good chance of winning an All-Ireland, and that is the only thing that I am really worried about. Listen, we will see whatever happens down the line.”
It might seem fanciful for Roscommon players to be talking about the possibility of challenging for Sam Maguire, but the Rossies have been consistently among the top 10 teams in the country over the last decade.
And with Ciarán Murtagh, Cian McKeon and Eddie Nolan back on the panel for 2025, Davy Burke’s hand appears to have been strengthened.
“I suppose there’s a really strong belief this year,” adds Cregg. “We’re in year three with Davy and we have a lot of young lads blooded. I’d say we’ve probably nine or ten lads that would have been on the under-20 team that lost the All-Ireland final and we’ve an excellent wealth of experience.
“We’ve a lot of lads that would have been in All-Ireland under-21 finals, the two finals against Dublin. Listen, every team thinks they can win the All-Ireland. Every team in the top 15 or 16 teams thinks they can win an All-Ireland.
“We definitely believe it and obviously the new rules open it up for everyone. I suppose Tyrone for an example, we beat them last year, and they are being talked up as big chances for an All-Ireland. Why can’t we be in the same bracket?”
Cregg had plenty of time to chat about the new rules on a round trip between Dublin and Cork on Tuesday as his UCD Sigerson Cup side travelled to Leeside to face UCC, only for the game to be called off when they arrived in the Rebel County.
“We were three hours on a bus chatting with lads from all different counties about how they were thinking about playing with the different rules, and a lot of [the conversation was on] how teams are going to utilise the goalkeeper.
“And the difference it will make to some teams who have real playmakers as keepers and the difference it will make to teams that have a keeper that’s a real [traditional] keeper that just kind of wants to be in goals, just wants to shot stop and wants to take kickouts.
“It’s going to be interesting to see how that works. It definitely makes a huge difference if the keeper comes out and makes it a 12 v 11, because you are getting a lot more shots off in the attack.”
*Cregg was speaking as the Electric Ireland Sigerson Cup continues this week.
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