Eugene makes Dragons’ den his own

But the Ballela man has his sights set on helping Ireland qualify for the Olympics next year.

Magee (25) was speaking at the Banbridge District Junior Sports Awards where he was the evening’s special guest.

Speaking of his club’s chances next season Eugene said, “I’m hoping for another title - we’ve won the last two and we haven’t got too many players leaving this year so I think we are in with a chance.”

Magee left Banbridge for Dragons three seasons ago and since then the list of Irish internationals playing abroad has increased. One such example is Magee’s former Bann team mate Geoff McCabe, who is currently lining out for Santander in Spain.

“There are quite a few going abroad - there’s about 10 or 11 of the current Irish squad playing abroad at the minute,” he said. “I think it does improve your game and this can only help the Irish team with what they want to achieve.

“Training can be a bit hectic, especialy with the European Championships coming up.”

And on top of that Eugene and his Irish team mates are in the busy schedule. Last weekend they were playing in Wales in the Celtic Cup and this weekend they are playing in the Four Nations tournament at UCD.

It all leads up to the qualifiers for the Olympics in time for the London games.

“We’re hopeful of getting a place, we have a great young team who all want to play at the Olympics,” he said.