Kennelly: I’m not Swanning off just yet

TADHG KENNELLY claims his decision on when to leave the Sydney Swans and return to Kerry will be ‘just as hard’ as that which saw him leave Ireland for the AFL in the first place.

Reports last month suggested that the Listowel man would say goodbye to Australia in 2009 after his current three-year contract has expired. Kennelly subsequently refuted that while adding that he was still aiming to line out for Kerry to emulate his father and older brother who won All-Irelands.

Kennelly will only be 28 when his current deal with the Swans is up and he’d still be in excellent physical shape if he returned home in his early 30s.

“With the relationship I have with the club and Sydney, it’s going to be a decision that is just as hard as when I first decided to come out here,” he said. “Like 10 years ago when I first came out here, I will have to weigh up the pros and cons. Certainly in the long term, of course I want to go home and win an All-Ireland title. That is still an ambition of mine.”

Kennelly has become a poster boy for AFL recruitment campaigns here but there have been low points too. Injury ravaged last season while he also had to contend with a meningitis scare at one point. His main regret is that he never attempted to persuade brother Noel to follow his path down under.

“In hindsight, there are a lot of things I wish I had done, that I should have done, could have done,” Kennelly said. “I would have got my brother out here straight away to have a crack at playing AFL. It would have also helped me settle in, be more comfortable with the transition and given him the opportunity to make it.”

Noel has his All-Ireland medal from Kerry’s 2000 triumph and Tadhg admits that the desire to emulate that achievement still eats away at him.

“Growing up, all I wanted to do is be like my old man and win titles, something my brother got the opportunity to do and he has done it.”