Darragh Joyce could easily be lining out for Rower-Inistioge in the Kilkenny SHC final on Sunday instead of boarding a flight to Melbourne to embark on a career in the AFL with St. Kilda.

Rower-Inistioge were narrowly beaten by O'Loughlin Gaels in the semi-final, despite a 10-point contribution from the 2014 All-Ireland winning minor captain. The defeat leaves Joyce with no distractions as he packs his bags for a new life Down Under. 

"My dream growing up was always to be on the Kilkenny senior team and managed by Brian Cody, maybe some day I might be able to come back there and squeeze in on the team," he told the Irish Independent.

"But this opportunity has come up and I'd be foolish to let it pass. A lot of lads would die to get the opportunity that I have, so I can't wait to get going.

"It's not going to last forever, you get the opportunity for however long it's going to last. This is something every young child wanted to be so I definitely had to jump at that opportunity. I've really fallen in love with this sport, the physical element to it, a mixture between Gaelic football and rugby so that really appeals to me."

The former Good Counsel, New Ross student will be team-mates with Westmeath starlet Ray Connellan, who has made a full recovery from the broken leg he suffered in last July's Leinster SFC final against Dublin.

"We were going out there in June and we thought we were in competition with each other, we thought they could only take one of us because they had international rookies on the list already," Joyce explained.

"We were trying to get one up on each other the whole time - we're great friends but you'd be in competition out there the whole time. Whatever way the contract worked out they could take the two of us, but we thought otherwise and drove each other on."

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