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13th Jan 2017

Welsh rugby legend Shane Williams battles Donegal storm to kick four points for Glenswilly

"He's one of the few men worthy of wearing Michael Murphy's jersey"

Conan Doherty

There are plenty of good Gaelic footballers lying around but the question will always be: Could they do it on a snow-covered Thursday night in Convoy?

Because Shane Williams could.

We’re a long way from the Millenium Stadium now but the former rugby winger showed he’s made of tougher stuff in what, at times, literally looked like the toughest trade.

As part of AIB GAA’s aptly-named #TheToughest Trade, Williams was sent to Donegal to see if he could transfer his skills with the oval ball to an O’Neill’s equivalent.

And, on Thursday, he travelled with his adopted club Glenswilly to Convoy GAA for a pre-season clash to see how he’d fare.

If transferring sport wasn’t enough, if trudging through the soft Donegal pitches wasn’t enough and the task of filling Michael Murphy’s number 14 jersey wasn’t either, Shane Williams had to deal with good, old-fashioned north west weather conditions.

Lining out at full forward for the Donegal champions, Williams raised four white flags – three from play – and he impressed the brave souls in attendance at St. Mary’s.

One supporter told SportsJOE that he did Michael Murphy’s jersey justice.

“He played very well. He got stuck in and the blizzard didn’t affect his performance at all.

“He’s still very, very speedy and he scored four points – one from a 25-yard free.

“I’d say he’s one of the few men worthy of wearing Murphy’s jersey!”

The bar was set by former NFL player Roberto Wallace in 2016 when he made the switch to ply his trade with Breaffy and looked an imposing full forward.

But very few would rack up those sort of numbers that Shane Williams did on a stormy, winter’s Thursday night in Donegal.

This will be some watch.

Feature image courtesy of Donna McBride, Donegal News staff photographer.

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