Watch edits of new Magpie recruit Caolan Mooney playing for St Colman's in the MacRory Cup semi final

Collingwood can announce it has signed Caolan Mooney to a two-year international rookie contract commencing in the 2012 season.??

Caolan, who plays Gaelic football for County Down, will finish his schooling in Ireland before he relocates to Melbourne at the end of 2011.??

The 17-year-old trailed with the Magpies in June and showed enormous potential.

“Caolan’s signing is a by-product of a process that commenced 18 months ago.  Our team in Ireland have done a lot of work with Caolan over a 6-8 month period," Collingwood’s national recruiting manager Derek Hine told collingwoodfc.com.au on Tuesday.
 
“I personally viewed him at the MacRory Cup semi final at Casement Park in Belfast which ironically was the same venue and same game where we first viewed Martin Clarke.
 
“On the back of his MacRory semi final performance and subsequent meetings with Caolan and his family, we invited Caolan to Collingwood for a month trial.  As a by-product of that trial we are really comfortable offering Callum a two-year international contract commencing with the 2012 season.

“Caolan’s testing for speed, agility and vertical jump places him up at the very high end in comparison to our playing group. This coupled with Caolan’s ability to quickly adapt to the skill traits required for AFL which our development coaches Luke Beveridge and Paul Licuria observed and tested throughout his stay.
 
“Caolan's performance was exciting given he has never had any exposure to structured training programs before so the pure scope for improvement is enormous once he enters our system full time.

“He really brings a point of difference with his sheer power and speed."

Caloan will aim to follow the path of former Magpie Marty Clarke, who played 46 games for Collingwood before he returned to his homeland at the end of 2009.

“He won’t be able to commence his contract until the end of the 2011 preseason.  Once he finishes his school and County commitments.

“Caolan comes from a terrific family who are very supportive.  It’s a dream come true for him to play professional sport and we are really excited about him.
 
“It is very important that we continue to develop alternative talent pools to support and sustain our playing list given the introduction of the two new franchises in 2011 and 2012. As a result of our programs to date we have added Lachlan Keefe as an unregistered player who joined the club in 2009 having played soccer.
 
“From the NSW program, Scott Reed and Tom Young will be listed for the 2011 season.

"We also have the potential to add a player to our list every year up until the 2013 season, when Elijah Edwards and John Haggerty will end our involvement in the New South Wales program.   Paul Cribbin from Kildare, Ireland will join the club this October commencing a two-year international contract and Caolan will follow for the 2012 season.
 
“It should be noted that these programs will support our National Talent Pathway programs and allow us to target specific player types which will in turn support our overall senior playing list profile”