Tadhg Kennelly

Tadhg Kennelly
Personal information
Full name	Tadhg Kennelly
Date of birth	1 July 1981 (1981-07-01)
Place of birth	Ireland
Original team	Kerry (Underage) (GAA)
Height/Weight	190cm / 90kg
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
2001–2008; 2010–2011	Sydney	197 (30)
International team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
2001–2011	Ireland	6
1 Playing statistics to end of 2011 season .
Career highlights
Sydney premiership player 2005 2002 AFL Rising Star nominee Rd 19

Tadhg Kennelly

Personal information
Irish name	Tadhg Mac an Fhailí
Sport	Gaelic football
Position	Half Forward
Born	Listowel, County Kerry
Club(s)
Years	Club
	Listowel Emmets
Inter-county(ies)*
Years	County	Apps (scores)
2009	Kerry	6 (0–8)
Inter-county titles
Munster titles	0
All Irelands	1 (2009)
All Stars	1
*Inter County team apps and scores correct as of November 2009.

Tadhg Kennelly (born 1 July 1981) is an Irish sportsperson known for his top level careers in both Gaelic football and Australian rules football.

Kennelly grew up playing Gaelic football in Kerry, but moved to Australia to play professional Australian rules football in the Australian Football League. He is best known in Australia as the first Irish-born player to have received an AFL Premiership medallion and the first AFL player to represent Ireland against Australia in International Rules Series. He is the second most experienced player (after Jim Stynes) to be associated with the Irish experiment.

Kennelly returned to his native Kerry to play in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship 2009. On 20 September 2009 he started the 2009 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final as part of Kerry's All-Ireland winning side, scoring two points in the final and thus becoming the first person to win an AFL Premiership and a Senior All-Ireland Championship. After achieving his dream, he returned to the AFL to play for Sydney, after missing one season.

Early life

Kennelly was born in Listowel in 1981 to mother Nuala and father Tim Kennelly, a former All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winner with Kerry. In Australia, Kennelly's first name, Tadhg in the Irish language, is often mispronounced as "Tie" or misspelt Tadgh, but is in fact correctly pronounced quite similarly to the first three letters of tiger and spelt with the h before the g.

Tadhg grew up playing Gaelic football and was recognised as a highly talented underage player with Kerry GAA.

His underage achievements include being on the Kerry underage squads that won the Munster Minor Football Championships in 1997 & 1998 and Munster U21 Championship in 1999.

Move to Australia and AFL career 2001–2004

In 1999, he signed a rookie contract with the Sydney Swans. After his debut in 2001 (following elevation from the rookie list), he became a permanent fixture in the Sydney line-up as a dashing rebound defender, wearing the number 17 guernsey.

Kennelly earned an AFL Rising Star nomination in round 19 of 2002, consolidating his reputation as an upcoming young talent.

He was second (behind Leo Barry) for rebounds (77) from the defensive 50-metre arc in 2004. Tadhg became a high-profile member of the Swans outfit, well known for his exciting play, his nationality and his "Talking With Tadhg" articles on the Swans' website.^{[citation needed]}

Swans Premiership year

Kennelly became the first Irishman to win an AFL Premiership medal in 2005, after playing all 26 games for the Sydney Swans that year. He was reportedly earning $750,000 (350,000 Euro), while playing for the Sydney Swans. The hype in Australia surrounding Kennelly's appearance in the AFL Grand Final was so much that Network Ten sent out its usual game-day boundary rider, Andrew Maher, over to County Kerry to visit Tadhg's family for the week and watch the Grand Final with them. Kennelly also appeared in the 2006 Grand Final, but the Swans lost 85–84 to the West Coast Eagles.

AFL 2006–2008

In 2007 and 2008 after several seasons missing only a handful of games, Kennelly suffered a series of serious leg and shoulder injuries which became major setbacks to his AFL career. His knee buckled from a heavy tackle from the Melbourne Demons' Byron Pickett, causing an anterior cruciate ligament tear and seeing him miss several matches and later matches due to complications. In 2008, he again injured his knee, dislocating his knee cap and injuring his shoulder.

He was selected in the Dream Team for the AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match, but later withdrew due to injury. He was quick to recover, however, and made an appearance for the Swans the following week, though again succumbed to the injury curse.

During the rest of 2008, Kennelly's shoulder continually dislocated during games and his unorthodox methods of popping it back in was the subject of much media interest.

On several occasions during his AFL career, Kennelly had expressed a desire to return home to Ireland and leave the AFL, as he would like to emulate the success of his father and win an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship medal with his native county's team, Kerry. In December 2005, Kennelly's father Tim died suddenly at age 51. It is believed his father's death may have some bearing on Kennelly's wish to return to Ireland.

On the last day of August 2006, Kennelly ended months of speculation by announcing he would be staying on with the Swans for a further three years. Kennelly said that this would be his last AFL contract and that he would be returning to Ireland at the end of the three year contract. In March 2008, Kennelly was reported to have announced that he would "definitely" return to Ireland in 2009 to play with Kerry, saying "I want to win an All-Ireland with Kerry." Kennelly announced his return to Ireland and Gaelic football in January 2009.

Return to Ireland and All-Ireland Title

Upon returning to Kerry, Kenelly was given a job as a coaching officer by the Kerry County Board.

He played his first competitive game for the Kerry Senior team on 8 March 2009 when he came on as a substitute in the NFL against Derry, and there was speculation that he would be a member of the Kerry squad for the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. He went on to win a National Football League medal when Kerry beat Derry in the final in Croke Park. As Kerry had a number of injuries meaning that Darragh Ó Sé, Anthony Maher, Séamus Scanlon and Kieran Donaghy were all short of full fitness, Kennelly played in Kerry's first two games of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in June. He picked up an injury during the qualifier series but his form continued to improve and after an impressive appearance as a substitute in the All-Ireland quarter-final against Dublin, he broke into to the starting team for the semi-final in which Kerry beat Meath. On 20 September 2009 he played the first 50 minutes of the All-Ireland final, scoring 2 points and becoming the first person to win an AFL premiership and an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. After the final Kennelly committed himself to the Kerry football team for the 2010 season, despite speculation that he was returning to Australia.

In July 2009 Mercier Press secured the right to his autobiography, which was subsequently published in October 2009. In this book he admitted to setting out to make his mark at the start of the All-Ireland. In this case it was Nicolas Murphy who got Kennelly's shoulder on his chin.

The actual passage reads: As we got to our positions I looked across at Galvin, who nodded, and then positioned myself on the line ready to race in when the referee put the ball in the air. My eyes were almost rolling around in the back of my head. I was raging like a bull. We are a totally fucking different animal. After a few strides I knew I'd timed it right. Cork's Nicholas Murphy had just turned in slightly towards me which opened the way for my shoulder to catch him perfectly on the chin.Cop that. It's different this time,boys. He went down and referee Marty Duffy immediately blew his whistle. "Oh, c'mon," I said to the referee, "that's not even a free kick." Cork got the free but I'd got my man. While I hadn't wanted to come in and seriously injure anyone, I was determined to make a statement and I think I just achieved that.

After a big backlash, Kennelly released a statement where he stated he was taken out of context by his ghost writer. His standing in Gaelic Games was blemished since he admitted his act of dirty play.

In November 2009, Kennelly informed the Kerry county board of his intention to return to the AFL in 2010.

Return to Australia

On 12 November 2009, Kennelly signed a two year deal with the Sydney Swans, marking his return to the AFL. In addition to his playing role, he will take up a coaching role at the club. He was very consistent throughout the year playing in his customary role off half back. He was chosen in the Irish squad for the International Series in October.

Kennelly played his final AFL game in Sydney's semi-final defeat to Hawthorn on 16 September 2011. He bows out of the game having played 197 AFL games.

See also

• Players who have converted from one football code to another
• The Irish Experiment

External links

• Tadhg Kennelly's profile on the Official AFL Website of the Sydney Swans Football Club