Weekly chats boost Irish AFL stars

It would once have seemed an unlikely friendship, given their prowess in different sports and their counties' neighbourly rivalry, but Cork's Setanta Ó hAilpín and Kerryman Tadhg Kennelly are now professional footballers and firm friends.

Two of Australian Rules' most popular players, the pair chat weekly on the telephone with Ó hAilpín describing Kennelly, who remains the only Irishman to have won an AFL Grand final, as "both a friend and a mentor."

A leading light for Carlton in 2007, O hAilpin admits he still has much to learn about the game and it was Kennelly who got the upperhand last weekend when the two met on the field at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Although Ó hAilpín slotted an early goal to help the Blues go 26 points in front, Kennelly's Sydney Swans dominated the remainder of the match to post a landslide 162-100 victory, keeping themselves in the AFL's top-eight and in sight of a place in the finals.

As evidence of the developing bond between the two, Kennelly rang his young countryman in the lead-up to last weekend's game to jovially remark: "You better look out, you Cork b*llocks!"

But having seen Ó hAilpín overcome his initial difficulties and thoughts of returning home, Kennelly has nothing but admiration for the way the former Young Hurler of the Year has blossomed into a cult figure at Carlton.

"Just having been through it myself, I know exactly what the Irish boys over here are going through. It's not just the football, it's lots of things," Kennelly told the Herald Sun.

"It's been even harder for Setanta, coming from his background. The hurling was the one he focused on. He left a lot behind him, he had it made in Ireland.

"He's got a lot to deal with, but he's got it all going for him now. I think he realised at the end of last year, 'actually, I can do this.' He's got so much more development in him. He's going to be huge in Aussie Rules.

"He did ring me a couple of times about maybe going home and whether he was good enough, he did it hard for the first couple of years, but he has really stuck at it."

Ó hAilpín had not met Kennelly until venturing Down Under but the duo have now helped develop a network between the five Irish players in the AFL.

"I knew of Tadhg, like, but I'd never met him until a practice game in Carlton a couple of years ago. I used to watch him on television back home. It was a great privilege to meet him...he's an icon back home," Ó hAilpín explained.

"He watches my games and gives me a bit of advice. Great fella. Myself, my brother Aisake (Ó hAilpín), (Colm) Begley, Martin Clarke, we catch up as much as we can."

Setanta, whose sisters Etaoin and Sarote are currently visiting him and the soon to be senior-listed Aisake in Melbourne, has taken giant steps this season and is "getting more confident" by the week.

"The balls are just starting to stick, players are starting to kick the ball to me.

"I just want to play each week - week in, week out - and play as much footy as I can because it's something that I really love," he told the Herald Sun.

"I'm doing okay, obviously I've got a long way to go, but, you know, I'm getting there. Everything takes time."

And as the 24-year-old furthers his AFL career, he will continue to make the most of his weekly chats with a certain Kerryman.

"We just talk like friends. He'll say, 'I watched the game and this is what you did, what you could have done.' Geez, I look forward to it every week."