Tadhg Kennelly

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Tadhg Kennelly

Personal information
Birth	July 1, 1981 (1981-07-01) (age 27), Ireland
Recruited from	County Kerry (Gaelic Football)
Height and weight	190cm / 86kg
Playing career¹
Debut	Round 14, July 8, 2001, Sydney Swans vs. Carlton, at Sydney Cricket Ground
Team(s)	Sydney Swans (2001-) 136 games, 29 goals
¹ Statistics to end of Round 21, 2007 season
Career highlights
International Rules Series 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 (representing Ireland) AFL premiership 2005

Tadhg Kennelly (born 1 July 1981) is a former Gaelic football player from Listowel, County Kerry, who is now a backline Australian rules football player for the Sydney Swans, in the Australian Football League (AFL).

[edit] Early and private life

Kennelly was born in Listowel in 1981. He is the son of Tim Kennelly, a former All-Ireland Senior Football Championship winner with Kerry.[1]. Although often mispronounced as "Tie" in Australia, Kennelly's first name is in fact pronounced "Tie-g". It is often described as the Irish language translation of the English language name Timothy but in fact the two names are probably not related.

Tadhg grew up playing Gaelic football and was recognised as a highly talented underage player with Kerry GAA^[1] In 1999, he agreed to play Australian rules with the Swans ^{[2] [3]}.

[edit] AFL career

After his debut in 2001 (following elevation from the rookie list), he now is a permanent fixture in the Sydney line-up as a dashing rebound defender, wearing the no. 17 guernsey. He was second (behind Leo Barry) for rebounds (77) from the defensive 50-metre arc in 2004. Tadhg has become 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.

Kennelly became the first Irishman to win an AFL premiership medal in 2005, after playing all 26 games for the Sydney Swans that year. The hype 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.^[4]

In 2007 and 2008 after several seasons missing only a handful of games, Kennelly suffered the 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 ACL 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 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.

[edit] Return to Ireland

Kennelly has 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 GAA.^[5] In December 2005, Kennelly's father Tim died suddenly at age 51.[2] It is believed his father's death may have some bearing on Kennelly's wish to return to Ireland.^[6]

On the last day of August, 2006, Tadhg Kennelly ended months of speculation by announcing he would be staying on with the Swans for a further 3 years. Kennelly said that this would be his last AFL contract and that he would be returning to Ireland to live at the end of the three year contract. In March 2008, Kennelly announced that he would "definitely" return to Ireland in 2009 to play with Kerry, as "I want to win an All-Ireland with Kerry".^{[7] [8]}

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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