Finn swops Kiltimagh for Melbourne

Michael Gallagher

SPORTING dual star Dayna Finn is about to join the Mayo exodus to the Women’s Australian Football League.
The Kiltimagh woman has signed for Carlton and will fly out to join her new team in early June after completing her studies in Trinity College Dublin.
The former Mayo ladies footballer, and current Irish basketball international, will join Aileen Gilroy, Sarah Rowe, Grace and Niamh Kelly and Rachel Kearns in the AFLW next season.
Dayna — who is a daughter of former Mayo footballers Berni (nee McGrath) and John Finn — told The Mayo News that the excitement levels are rising with very passing day.
“I'm very excited. The opportunity has come at just the right time — at the end of my Masters — and when I was offered the chance I was delighted to accept. Of course, I'm gutted not to be getting involved with Mayo and when I told Michael (Moyles) that I was going he wished me luck and said: “When you get out there, tell them stop taking our players!” she added with a smile.
However, Finn's move to Australia has been in the offing for quite come time.
“I was approached before Covid to see would I be interested and I said, 'Yeah, potentially I'd be interested' but I wanted to get my Masters first.
“I would have liked to go and play basketball in Europe too, so I was studying for the Masters and playing basketball in Dublin and put AFL to the back of my mind for a while.
“Then, I was away for a while last summer in Asia and on the way back got word that the Carlton manager was coming over to look at a few players. I met up with him and it all started rolling from there.
“I committed at that stage, but I was so busy with other things I couldn't fully think about it until recently and I'm very excited now.”
Finn has studied in Galway and Dublin while also seeing a lot of the world with the Irish basketball team and as a tourist.
But will relocating to Melbourne — 17,339km from Kiltimagh — prove to be a tough challenge?
“I'm a bit of a home bird and am very close to my family, but with the way technology is these days I'm always just a call away from them. “They've promised to come out later in the year anyway, so that will be brilliant.”
Like many other sportspeople, Finn is looking forward to living the life of a professional sportsperson in a club renowned for its place in Australian society.
“I'm very excited about fully focusing on sport and being surrounded by like-minded people all the time. Carlton is a great club with a very proud history. There's a new coach in the girls’ side for next season and some new players so it looks very promising.”
While Finn is looking forward to embracing her new sport she readily admits that the exodus of players to Australia is hurting the Mayo senior team.
“If Australian Football wasn't a thing we'd all be here. I'm gutted that I'm not going to be part of the Mayo set-up this year. It was a little different for me because I was always in and out of the Mayo set-up anyway as basketball took priority, but I would definitely be going in now, but for Carlton.
“This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which came around at the right time for me and I'm looking forward to seeing what it will bring.”