Kennelly using oxygen chamber to treat injury

TADGH KENNELLY is employing high-tech science in a bid to be fit for Sunday’s International Compromise Rules Test against Australia at Croke Park.

The 21-year-old Kerry native, a professional AFL player with the Sydney Swans, sustained ankle ligament damage playing for Listowel Emmetts in a County IFC semi-final at Tralee on Saturday evening.

He has travelled to Newry to use a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to speed healing ahead of the Test opener.

“I have been undergoing extensive physiotherapy over the past week with Eamon O´ Muircheartaigh. One of the extra things that I have been doing is travelling up to Newry a couple of times this week to use a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. The pressure in the chamber helps with the healing time and hopefully it will work. I feel that it is working but now I am racing against time,” Kennelly said yesterday.

When asked to rate his chances for the Series opener, the former Kerry minor and under-21 was non committal.

“It is hard to say really, at the moment, I would say 50/50 but that’s just a guess. I can’t really tell until I go for a run on Sunday morning at Croke Park,” he said.

English soccer captain David Beckham undertook a similar approach after breaking a bone in his foot, prior to the World Cup Finals last summer. Oxygen breathed inside such a chamber is no different from natural oxygen. The increased pressure allows oxygen to better enter tissues.

Breathing nearly pure oxygen in such a chamber obtains about five times more oxygen than breathed normally. Red blood cells fill instantly with oxygen, and the extra oxygen helps tissues deficient in oxygen. This action stimulates healing during and after a session.

Meanwhile, Kerry GAA chiefs refused to comment on Kennelly’s outburst over his non-selection on the county panel for the All-Ireland SFC final loss to Armagh.

“I was given the wrong vibes from the county board and was led to believe that something was going to happen. I didn’t come home expecting to play in an All-Ireland final,” Kennelly said.

“But I was approached to come in and train with Kerry before the final, and it was indicated that a place would open up for me. I am only 21, so I decided to bust a gut and go for it, but something happened and I was overlooked. I still don’t know what made them change their mind. They never told me and it left me feeling like a fool after giving up my holiday after a long AFL season,” he said.

“I don’t think my career will be complete until I’ve won an All-Ireland medal with Kerry. I want to do it the right way, not by jumping in a week before the final.”