Kennelly retires from Aussie Rules

IRELAND’S must successful Australian Rules Football convert Tadhg Kennelly last night announced his retirement from the AFL.

Kennelly (30) became the only Irish man to win an AFL Premiership title when helping the Sydney Swans to Grand Final glory in 2005.

However the 194-game veteran has endured a trying season, as he struggled to nail down a starting spot in recent weeks and was locked in contract negotiations with the club.

Last night his brother Noel confirmed that this will be Tadhg’s final season in the game but revealed that he was parting on his own terms.

Noel revealed: “He was offered another contract in the last few weeks with the Swans but felt that his body was not up to another season in the AFL.

“He believed that he would be only going through the motions if he was to remain playing for another campaign.

“So he made the decision last week that he would not sign and that he would prefer to go out on a high and on top rather than fading away.”

The announcement will fuel speculation in his native Kerry that Kennelly will return home and possibly feature for the county footballers again.

The Listowel man took a year out from the Swans in 2009 and was a central figure in Kerry’s All-Ireland senior football championship success that year when they defeated Cork in the final at Croke Park.

But Noel, who won an All-Ireland SFC medal in 2000, is adamant that his brother has made no decisions yet regarding his future.

“It is far too early to say. He has only just announced this decision in the last few hours. He will probably come home in a few weeks time as he would at the end of any normal season and think things over.

“He has a couple of options. He could come back to Ireland or he could stay in Sydney which has been his home for the last ten years or so. Only time will tell.

“But he admitted that this is the biggest decision he has ever made. He felt it was a no brainer 11 years ago to go to Australia. But to pack in the AFL required a lot of soul searching.”

He will see out the season with the Swans who still have an outside chance of making the knockout stages of the League.