Rising Fermanagh star, Ultan Kelm, will get to taste the life of a professional athlete when he travels to Australia next month as part of a two week trial in the AFL.

Kelm will travel with Mayo’s Oisin Mullin and Frank Irwin, and Clare’s Cillian Rouine from April 14 to 27.

The Belleek man took part in the AFL Europe combine held in UCD in December and he impressed enough to be one of the four out of 20 players chosen to travel Down Under.

“I’m delighted. It is unbelievable to be picked. You are there with 20 of the best young players in Ireland so to be one of the four chosen is brilliant,” said Kelm.

Kelm says that while the AFL and Gaelic football have many similarities, the skillsets for both codes are quite different and something that took time to get used to.

“It was difficult to get used to. It’s completely different. Overall the game is very similar to Gaelic but the overall skills are completely different but I think I have got the hang of them now.

“I have a few balls knocking around the house. But I need to master kicking the O’Neill’s ball before I start kicking anything else,” joked Kelm.

During the combine, Kelm posted the third fastest 20 metre sprint time and came sixth in the endurance testing.

But despite impressive results, Kelm is always looking to improve and wants to do better.

“I thought I could have done better as I was coming in not having done a lot of training whereas the other boys would have been peaking at the right time. But I was still happy with the account I gave of myself.”

The two weeks in Australia will be full on for the four players with a jam packed schedule seeing the players visit various clubs along with training sessions and testing.

The 20 year old is looking forward to seeing first hand how the AFL works and knows that it will be an intense few weeks.

“It’s not really a holiday. You are on your feet the whole time and you have your training and your sessions.

“It’s full on. There are a few clubs who have requested to take the four of us and show us around for the day. And there are training sessions which will have people looking at us.

“It will be good to experience it all and to get a taste for it and the levels that are set.

“I know you can look on but seeing it first hand will put it into perspective,” said Kelm.

Kelm will get an introduction to the AFL while he will also watch a number of games from college level right up to the AFL meeting with teams such as the Brisbane Lions, Essendon, Cartlon and Geelong.

They will also spend time with the All Australian Under 17 squad as well as getting to meet Irish players who have made the move to the AFL including Zac Tuohy, Mark Keane and Anton Tohill before returning back to Irish soil on April 27.