Kennelly living the Kingdom dream

By Aileen Moynagh
BBC Sport NI

Tadhg Kennelly aims to secure a spot in the Kerry team

It was just a normal Sunday in March to most.

The Allianz National League was well underway and the Irish weather was at its finest… cold, wet and even snowing.

In Bellaghy, a re-run of last year's National League Final between Derry and Kerry was taking place. A small highlight for some but for one person it was much, much more.

After 10 years of hoping and dreaming Tadhg Kennelly's goal of following in his late father Tim's footsteps came true.

It was 56 minutes into the game when Kennelly junior made his long-awaited debut as a senior for Kerry in front of a modest crowd of around 4000, nearly the size of his quaint market town of Listowel.

In that instant the long journey from Sydney to Kerry and Kerry to Derry became all the more worthwhile.

"It's fantastic. I'm back five weeks and I've played a few games with the club which is great," he said.

"I've always wanted to don the Kerry jersey and to do it was fantastic. To be so far away from home is a bit of a downer but it's great to get the result more than anything else.

"You come so far up here and to get a win on my debut is fantastic."

Back in 1999, the 18-year-old county minor left the green fields of Listowel and boarded a plane for the sunshine and sandy beaches of Sydney to take up an AFL contract with the Sydney Swans.

The question was how long would he stay and as the years ticked by, would he come back?

But for Kennelly there was one dream left to come true and that meant a return to the Emerald Isle and his native county of Kerry.

"I'd spent 10 years out there and they were great years and if the decision came again at 18, I'd do the exact same thing.

"It's just the time came when I thought I'd been there long enough and my heart wasn't in it and I truly, truly did put my heart into it when I played over there and like I will here now. I'll give it everything that I have."

And on his debut he did give it everything. Proudly wearing the green and gold jersey, Kingdom manager Jack O'Connor handed him the dream he had craved since playing as a minor all those years ago.

The GAA have to be careful that they don't actually develop a prototype footballer where everyone's the same. Tadhg Kennelly

Replacing Donnacha Walsh with 15 minutes to go, the modest 27-year-old made an immediate impact and enjoyed every second if it.

"I'm just full of beans really. I was like a big child running around. I had so much excitement, so much energy about myself.

"I was just running and running and running, which was great. Obviously the players were tired when I came on which helped me."

After winning breaking ball and helping to set up points for Paul Galvin and Aidan O'Mahoney, Kennelly decided to have a go himself.

As the ball went badly wide it hinted that the former AFL star perhaps needed more time to bond with the round ball but he laughed off the suggestion that the ball was heading towards Australia.

"Yeah, the kick… I just tried to kill the ball I suppose more than anything else."

Surprisingly, it's not the football that Kennelly admits to being the hardest thing to adapt to.

"It's taken me a while to adjust to this nice warm weather more than anything else," he joked.

"The game itself is not too bad. Every year when I came home I used to play football anyway but it's probably the weather.

"The nice warm weather up here in the north is fantastic. Driving here it was snowing and everything. It's great - I'll put the sun cream back in the bag."

So sitting pretty at the top of Division One, Kennelly feels that with O'Connor back in the Kerry driving seat there is new enthusiasm but worries that if the GAA continue enforcing the new rules it could have a detrimental effect on the game.

"I've been away for 10 years obviously and the game itself, but the GAA have to be careful that they don't actually develop a prototype footballer where everyone's the same.

"The same type of running footballer. It's good to have hard, big men, small men, short men, tall men.

Tadhg Kennelly shrugs off a tackle to keep possession for the Sydney Swans

"That's the best thing about Gaelic football so you don't want to have a prototype of Gaelic footballers."

Regardless of changes within Gaelic football, Kennelly's here to stay and Kerry's gain is now Sydney Swans' loss.

He is appreciative of the openings he has had in his career and would be disappointed to think other young players would not have the same opportunities.

And in spite of divided opinion on Australian Rules, the Listowel Emmetts man remains loyal to the profession that he enjoyed for many years.

He feels that if other provinces side with Ulster's proposal to axe the International Rules Series it's not going to stop the AFL targeting Ireland's best young players.

"It's up to every individual player but I think it's a fantastic opportunity for people to go out and be professional athletes and it's no different to soccer or rugby.

"I'd never stop a young fella from being a professional footballer and what's disappointing is the way the GAA are trying to, but it's going to happen anyway.

"If we ban International Rules it's probably going to get worse because there's no relationship whatsoever.

"We have a connection and a relationship with the International Rules where the AFL almost feel obliged to treat GAA very carefully.

"If they get rid of International Rules it's going to be open season for AFL clubs because there's no ruling between the GAA and the AFL.

"It is so important to keep the AFL on our side because the GAA can monitor and stop the clubs from doing what they want."

So as Kennelly closes the Australian chapter in his life, he opens another one back in Ireland.

In 2005 he became the first Irishman to win an AFL Premiership medal but there's one thing he still wants to get his hands on, an All Ireland Senior medal with Kerry, just like his dad.

Let the next chapter begin…