An Irish Swan’s Story

Unfinished Business (published in Australia as Autobiography), by Tadhg Kennelly, with Scott Gullan; Mercier Press, 2009, 353 pages, 16.99 euros (in Australia: Hardie Grant, $35).

Tadhg Kennelly is the first man to have won an AFL Premiership Medal and an All Ireland Senior Gaelic Football Medal. He comes from the literary town of Listowel in the Gaelic-football-mad county of Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. In his book, which he has written with Scott Gullan of the Melbourne Herald­ Sun, he describes the Kerry team as “the Manchester United of Gaelic football”. Indeed, Irish sports commentator Eamon Dunphy has said in praise of Kerry that there is something right about the world when Kerry win the All Ireland and Brazil win the World Cup.

Tadhg Kennelly was bred to be a footballer—his father, centre half back Tim “The Horse” Kennelly, won five All Ireland Senior Football Medals with Kerry, captaining them to victory in 1979. Tadhg’s brother Noel has also won All Ireland Senior Football Medals with Kerry in 2000 and 2004. Gaelic football, unlike Australian rules, is an amateur sport with players playing, mostly, for the pride of the parish or the county of their birth.

Tadhg Kennelly was spotted as a teenager by the AFL, who invited him and a number of other teenage Gaelic footballers to a camp in Dublin. It had been set up by Collingwood, who were scouting for potential prospects to take back to Australia.

Eventually, in 1999, against his family’s, particularly his mother’s, wishes, he went to Australia and the Sydney Swans. One of the first things they had to teach him was how to kick the oval ball—the Gaelic football is round. Despite homesickness, Tadhg displayed a steely determination to persevere and prosper in the AFL. At first his ambition was to play just one game but eventually he would play 158 games and win the 2005 AFL Premiership with the Swans. His father and mother travelled to Australia for that final. Just a couple of months later, his dad died of a heart attack at the age of fifty-one. Tadhg was devastated. He blamed footy, he blamed Australia for having taken him away from his dad. He returned to Ireland, where his father’s funeral was covered by the national media. After the funeral, Jack O’Shea, one of the greatest ever Gaelic footballers, who Tadhg idolised, came to him and said, “You know what you have to do.”

What he had to do was to come back and play for Kerry to win an All Ireland Medal for his father as much as for himself. Eventually he took leave of the Swans and returned to Ireland to play with Kerry in the 2009 football season. He was greeted like a prince when he returned to the Kingdom (that is, Kerry). He played with his home club, Listowel, linking up with his brother Noel on the football field again. He trained with Kerry. His first outing with his county was against Derry in Northern Ireland. The game was played in Bellaghy, home of Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney. Tadhg loved every second of it: it felt natural, as if he belonged out there. Now he just had to become a Kerry player with an All Ireland Medal around his neck. And, finally, after a long and circuitous journey to Croke Park, his dream came true when, on September 20, 2009, Kerry defeated Cork in the All Ireland Senior Football Final.

As to the “unfinished business”: it remains to be seen whether Tadhg Kennelly will remain in Ireland to play with Kerry (he was awarded a prestigious All Star trophy for his 2009 performances) or return to Australia to play with the Swans, where his return would be welcomed with open arms.

This is a fast-paced book detailing the ups and downs of a young Irishman as he makes a place for himself not just as a footballer but as a young emigrant in Australia over ten years playing in the AFL. His determination is legendary: his almost miraculous recovery from serious injuries has been a cause of wonder and celebration in Australia and in Ireland. He gave up half a million dollars that he would have earned with the Swans in 2009 to play in an amateur championship in Ireland. His commitment is not to be doubted. And there’s plenty more in the tank.

One can only wish him well.

Gabriel Fitzmaurice lives in County Kerry. The most recent of his numerous books is In Praise of Football, published by Mercier Press in August. More of his poetry will be appearing this year in Quadrant.