Kerry wizard Kennelly confirms return to Oz
The Listowel man informed the county board of his decision yesterday afternoon, less than 24 hours after telling local and national radio that he was still “50-50” about what to do.
The Irish Examiner had reported earlier this week that this decision was expected after the player had confided to close friends that he was leaning towards a return to Australia.
Kennelly had left Australia and the Sydney Swans at the start of 2009 to return home and fulfil a lifetime ambition of emulating his late father Tim and older brother Noel by winning an All-Ireland medal with Kerry.
“Tadhg has notified us officially that he is returning to Australia,” said Kerry county chairman Jerome Conway last night. “I suppose, as things were turning out over the last few weeks, it is no great surprise to us now.
“He did very well while he was here. He fulfilled his burning ambition to win an All-Ireland senior medal and emulate his late father. He certainly helped Kerry’s cause in a big way this year.
“His contribution as a coach out in North Kerry has been invaluable and he left a lasting impression with the youngsters he came into contact with up there. I have no doubt that, in the years to come, we will have some very good players emerging from North Kerry as a result.
“We wish him the very best, of course, and thank him for all the effort he put in on behalf of Kerry football and maybe some day, as he says in the book himself, that he will come back to raise his family in Kerry.”
It is unclear as of yet whether Kennelly will rejoin the Sydney Swans, where he is still officially rostered, or take up one of the handful of offers that are believed to be there for his services from other AFL clubs.
The news is a blow to Kerry’s chances of retaining their All-Ireland tile next year as Kennelly readapted impressively to his native game after almost a decade playing the oval code down under.
His first senior appearance for the Kingdom came in early March, in the National League, away to Derry and his dominance of Graham Canty in the All-Ireland final was enough to secure him an All Star award.
It seemed initially that he would be on board again for 2010 after he told reporters the day after that final that he was committing to the county. However, he revealed later that he had merely told people what they wanted to hear.
The one blot on his copybook since coming home came when extracts from his autobiography suggested that he had deliberately attempted to foul a Cork player in the opening exchanges in September’s decider.
Kennelly duly attempted to clarify his comments in a statement and, though the affair left a bad smell, Conway stated his belief last night that it had not coloured this decision to leave Ireland for a second time.
“I would not think so, no. He apologised for that. I think that he obviously got a lucrative professional contract and you can hardly blame a guy for turning down something like that. He is going to get paid for something that he loves doing and sure we wish him the very best.”
Kennelly’s departure is the latest piece of bad news manager Jack O’Connor has had to absorb since that All-Ireland success seven weeks ago — Tommy Walsh and David Moran will be joining him in the AFL ranks next season.
And it could get even worse. Tomás Ó Sé said last week that he expected his older brother, Darragh, to call time on his inter-county career at some point during the off-season.
One way or another, O’Connor has some rebuilding work to see to before the Kingdom seeks to emulate its success of 2009.
“Tadhg’s departure now means that we are not just losing two players in Tommy and David but now we have lost three top players and that is not counting any players who might be contemplating retirement,” said Conway.
“So, we have entered the McGrath Cup again and we will be using the McGrath Cup and the league to try and find a few new players for 2010."
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