Pro career in soccer’s not for me
JAMIE CLARKE has revealed he got the chance to swap Armagh football for life as a professional soccer player in New York. The Orchard attacker, 27, spent 2016 in the US and got involved with the Queens based New York Shamrocks club who play in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League. Kevin Grogan, a former Manchester United and Ireland underage player, was the point of contact as the Dubliner is working in coaching and player development in the city. Crossmaglen man Clarke was on the books of Dundalk for a while as a teenager before focusing fully on Gaelic football after bursting onto the county scene in 2010. Clarke said of his soccer stint: “It was a chance to give it a go again. “He (Grogan) took in a number of guys that played in England, guys that had played a bit around the world and I was one of two Irish guys in the team. “Initially, it was a couple of training sessions to see where I was at. Ultimately, he was impressed with the professionalism from the Gaelic football because I would have went with that professional approach. “Listen, the opportunity was there for me to progress to the next level and he said if I wanted to stay on and give it a go that he could make it happen. “Not so much in the MLS, there was one guy actually that played with the Rochester Rhinos, so a couple of divisions below, but it is a professional level. “Gaelic is my sport and it’s what I grew up playing and I suppose I think the best chance to make the most of myself is through Gaelic.”