Lucky 13 for Tuohy as Carlton hit Swans

ZACH TUOHY was the only Irish player on a winning team in round 13 of the AFL season, as the improving Carlton accounted for Tadhg Kennelly’s Sydney Swans 100-66 yesterday.

Setanta Ó hAilpín was ruled out for the second week in a row with a hand injury but with Bryce Gibbs and Marc Murphy outstanding around the middle, the Blues had enough scoring power to maintain their grip on third place.

Tuohy had a solid outing, with 11 possessions and three marks, but his disposal efficiency was an uncharacteristically poor 64%. The Portlaoise man is renowned for his accuracy and Murphy is backing him to be kicking the ball out from full-back soon, such is the confidence the players and staff have in him.

“He’s one of the better kicks at the club” said Murphy. “He can kick the ball 60-65 metres and he is pinpoint accurate. It’s just his composure. (Last) weekend in basically his first game after playing a quarter against Port Adelaide, you could see how he handled himself.”

Kennelly’s efficiency was at the other end of the scale, at 94% from his 18 possessions, but the experienced defender also dropped three balls, one leading to a Jeff Garlett goal against the run of play in the second quarter.

Pearce Hanley was named amongst Brisbane’s best once again even though his stats were down on his season’s average, with 15 possessions and five marks as the Lions’ bad run continued, losing 125-94 against Richmond on Saturday.

The former Mayo footballer did have a stunning 93% disposal efficiency though, and scored his first goal of the season in the final quarter.

Brisbane are struggling badly with just two wins this season and head coach Michael Voss is considering giving Niall McKeever his debut in next weekend’s trip to Freemantle.

McKeever, who played for Antrim in the 2009 Ulster final before joining Hanley at the Lions, was amongst Queensland’s best operators in their narrow inter-state loss to Western Australia on Saturday.

“It has been a bit frustrating throughout the year that most of our talls have gone down (with injury) but we’ve got some young bucks coming through and it’s important we hand them this opportunity,” said Voss.