Cillian McDaid is happy to be back playing for Galway again after an injury-ravaged spell in the AFL.

The former U21 star joined the Carlton Blues in late 2017, only to return home after less than a year. McDaid's hopes of making it in Aussie Rules were hit by a foot injury sustained last March while playing in the Victoria Football League for the Northern Blues. He was sidelined for 14 weeks and only played four more games for the Blues thereafter.

"I turned 21 in the middle of August and probably wasn't in the happiest or best of spirits for those few weeks," he admitted to the Irish Independent ahead of Sunday's FBD Connacht League final against Roscommon.

"I struggled a lot, I didn't settle in straight away as well as other lads do. I found it hard, I was living with Ciaran Byrne (the Louth player who has also ended his AFL career with Carlton) for the first couple of months, before I moved in with a host family.

"It was a woman Karen who looked after me but she worked long hours at the airport (in Melbourne) so I used to spend a lot of time in the house by myself.

"By the end of it I was really, really fed up, felt probably isolated, lonely and I was fed up of not feeling happy at 20 years of age.

"Everyone thinks you are living the dream, over in a lovely country, great weather, great city, getting paid to play football. I just found it was very different from that in my experience.

"I had my health so happiness was the other thing I wanted back. That's probably why I came home in the end."

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