Tadhg Kennelly Gone!
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bennymac1
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would any of the sydney posters know where i could see online the tadhg kennelly press conference' the 1 of him anouncing he was leaving??? would be great if you's could help me thanks very much.
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Gutted. All the best Tiger.
rebelcounty
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‘People say I'm mad but I wanted to play gaelic football and I don't care about anything else’
Tadhg Kennelly tells Colm Keys how he knew the time was right to come home
By COLM KEYS
Saturday February 07 2009
Two things he always heard would never again beset Ireland were unavoidable to him on his arrival home last Tuesday -- economic depression and cold winters.
Tadhg Kennelly reckoned he hadn't seen snow in the decade he was away.
Even his frequent trips back to Listowel at the end of every AFL season hadn't exposed him to it.
The economy? He's been unable to bring himself to read or listen to the new grim reality over the last few days. So papers and TV have been sidestepped.
Having left a sweltering Sydney it was a timely reminder of the scale of the decision he had come to in the preceding weeks. Kennelly first began to put flesh to his burning desire to return to his roots last July when he intimated to one of Sydney's coaches that the torch inside him for the Australian game was diminishing.
By October, with the arrival of the Irish International Rules team, that feeling had grown. A Christmas in north Kerry sealed it.
"I was still up in the air when the season ended in October. I think being involved with the Irish boys for the International Rules gave me that bit of bite back. It was great being around them, great being around the Kerry boys again and I began to think, 'I'm starting to miss this.' I had made my mind up before I left Ireland at Christmas. I'd had had it, I'd lost my motivation. I'd lost my spark. I'm normally a very positive person but I was really flat."
As final as he knew it was, however, it didn't make it any easier. His ties with Sydney over 10 years grew deeper than he ever imagined and it was only in cutting them that he appreciated their strength. To Kennelly the head coach at Sydney, Paul Roos, was like a family member. Roos' arrival at Swans had fast-tracked his adaptation to AFL and made him the player he was. With an American wife, Roos appreciated the sacrifice he was making in coming to the other side of the world.
"When he took over he had so much belief in me, he opened up his family to me. His wife is fantastic. She's from America so he understood what it was like to move. He'd often remind the team of that when things were going bad. He'd say, 'look at the sacrifices this bloke has made, look what he has given up.' He really knew me and he really understood when I made the decision. It made it a little easier.
"And then of course the family, the family was the main reason. The hardest thing in the world was leaving. I'd have a sick feeling on the day that I'd be going. I wouldn't eat. I'm looking forward to playing with my mates and my brother Noel. My uncle (Michael) is 40 and he's still in goals, I'm looking forward to a slower lifestyle. I've swapped the Harbour Bridge for Feale Bridge but it's a good complaint. I'm happy."
Leaving was more emotional than he ever imagined it would be. On the day it came to telling his team-mates, he sat in front of them in an auditorium where they held regular team meetings and promised himself not to break down. Within two words he was in floods.
"I've a lot of friends over there because they are such good people. When things were bad, like when my father passed away, they made it a lot easier. If they weren't around I wouldn't have stayed but they made it easier to stay which, in reverse, when it was time to go, made it harder to face up to them and say, 'I'm off, my heart's not in it anymore.'
"They were teary, so was I. It was quite emotional for everyone. When players retire it's always emotional but I think the boys know they won't be seeing me around the place. I'm on the other side of the world and I won't be just popping in to the club to say hello every so often."
But he had to do what he had to do even if it's eight years after he thought it would be. When he met Rick Barham, still the Swans recruitment agent in this part of the world, in the Curragh with his parents in 1999 he accepted the offer, almost to get away from the potential burnout that life as a Kerry footballer promised him.
He played minor and U-21 football that year, losing an All-Ireland U-21 final to Westmeath.
"There was the worry about burnout. I was 18 years old, maybe I would have been straight in with Kerry. I clearly went with the mindset that I would go out for two years and that would be it.
"But after about six month I started to become so driven that I didn't want to be seen as a failure. There was a fear of failure there. It was that which drove me on more than anything else."
The 2005 Grand Final was the obvious highlight, the first Irishman to win a Premiership and the first player to play every minute of a successful campaign (25 games). Not once did they opt to interchange him. With hindsight that weight of that achievement has grown upon him.
Within two months, however, the sudden death of his father Tim cast a long shadow over his Australian sojourn. It almost ended his time there until his mother convinced him otherwise and he decided to stay.
Another Grand Final was reached and lost in 2006 and then the injuries kicked in, a bad knee injury in 2007 and dislocated shoulder and groin trouble last year. "I'd been extremely lucky up to that. I didn't miss a game for my first 120 games. But the injuries took their toll, though they're fine now."
In reaching a decision he weighed up the pros and cons and obviously financial considerations came into it. This year alone he could have earned close to €250,000, the same again in 2010 with a rolling contract extension.
"People say I'm mad to be walking away from it. I've no doubt I could have done it for the money but my heart wasn't in it. I've always said I love Gaelic football, it's bred into me.
"That's what the decision came down to. I wanted to play Gaelic football and I don't care about anything else. I'm in the market for work, like a lot of people, I think I can contribute something in the area of tackling the problems kids have with obesity, drink and drugs.
"But the prospect of Gaelic football, it's given me a bit of a spark, a bit of get-up-and-go. I'm very energetic. I just can't wait. I've three balls in the back of the car and I'll stop literally anywhere for a kick-around."
The lifestyle will take getting used to. When he goes for a run the sun isn't guaranteed to shine and finding an outlet in Listowel that does yoga twice a week may be a challenge! But it's a challenge he wants.
"The biggest thing for me coming from a professional game is that everything is given and done for me. If I wanted a new lounge I'd ring up the club and they'd go and do it. If I wanted my arse cleaned, metaphorically speaking, they'd go and do it. A happy player was a good player and they went out of their way to create that."
His transition back creates one of the most exciting forks of the 2009 season. Can Tadhg Kennelly recreate himself as a Gaelic footballer?
meltdown
Will Kerry benefit from that? Last September they were in meltdown, now Tadhg, David Moran and Tommy Walsh offer green shoots of recovery.
He's circumspect about Kerry though. For now it's just Listowel and training tonight in the local field.
"Mentally I know what is ahead of me. I just can't wait. It might take me a year, it might take me two years but at least I know myself that I have given it a crack. I know what is ahead of me. Kerry have probably been the most successful team this decade it's going to be extremely hard for me.
"I know there'll be detractors but that will give me a bit more bite. I've no pathway to follow it. It's a challenge and I like a challenge. In the past I've always stepped up to them."
He'll continue to live the professional life and train daily for as long as he can. "I've come from a system where if I don't train I feel that there's something wrong. Maybe job-wise I won't have the time to do it. But I don't think I can sit back and not do anything.
"All the little things that I know are so important now having been in professional sport. They take the longest and they give you the biggest pain in the arse but they're the best and most important. If I don't do it at least I know I've had a crack.
"I'm not set on this be all and end all, that I have to achieve something. I'm set on having a crack. If it works, it works. I know what's ahead of me."
- COLM KEYS
Tadhg Kennelly tells Colm Keys how he knew the time was right to come home
By COLM KEYS
Saturday February 07 2009
Two things he always heard would never again beset Ireland were unavoidable to him on his arrival home last Tuesday -- economic depression and cold winters.
Tadhg Kennelly reckoned he hadn't seen snow in the decade he was away.
Even his frequent trips back to Listowel at the end of every AFL season hadn't exposed him to it.
The economy? He's been unable to bring himself to read or listen to the new grim reality over the last few days. So papers and TV have been sidestepped.
Having left a sweltering Sydney it was a timely reminder of the scale of the decision he had come to in the preceding weeks. Kennelly first began to put flesh to his burning desire to return to his roots last July when he intimated to one of Sydney's coaches that the torch inside him for the Australian game was diminishing.
By October, with the arrival of the Irish International Rules team, that feeling had grown. A Christmas in north Kerry sealed it.
"I was still up in the air when the season ended in October. I think being involved with the Irish boys for the International Rules gave me that bit of bite back. It was great being around them, great being around the Kerry boys again and I began to think, 'I'm starting to miss this.' I had made my mind up before I left Ireland at Christmas. I'd had had it, I'd lost my motivation. I'd lost my spark. I'm normally a very positive person but I was really flat."
As final as he knew it was, however, it didn't make it any easier. His ties with Sydney over 10 years grew deeper than he ever imagined and it was only in cutting them that he appreciated their strength. To Kennelly the head coach at Sydney, Paul Roos, was like a family member. Roos' arrival at Swans had fast-tracked his adaptation to AFL and made him the player he was. With an American wife, Roos appreciated the sacrifice he was making in coming to the other side of the world.
"When he took over he had so much belief in me, he opened up his family to me. His wife is fantastic. She's from America so he understood what it was like to move. He'd often remind the team of that when things were going bad. He'd say, 'look at the sacrifices this bloke has made, look what he has given up.' He really knew me and he really understood when I made the decision. It made it a little easier.
"And then of course the family, the family was the main reason. The hardest thing in the world was leaving. I'd have a sick feeling on the day that I'd be going. I wouldn't eat. I'm looking forward to playing with my mates and my brother Noel. My uncle (Michael) is 40 and he's still in goals, I'm looking forward to a slower lifestyle. I've swapped the Harbour Bridge for Feale Bridge but it's a good complaint. I'm happy."
Leaving was more emotional than he ever imagined it would be. On the day it came to telling his team-mates, he sat in front of them in an auditorium where they held regular team meetings and promised himself not to break down. Within two words he was in floods.
"I've a lot of friends over there because they are such good people. When things were bad, like when my father passed away, they made it a lot easier. If they weren't around I wouldn't have stayed but they made it easier to stay which, in reverse, when it was time to go, made it harder to face up to them and say, 'I'm off, my heart's not in it anymore.'
"They were teary, so was I. It was quite emotional for everyone. When players retire it's always emotional but I think the boys know they won't be seeing me around the place. I'm on the other side of the world and I won't be just popping in to the club to say hello every so often."
But he had to do what he had to do even if it's eight years after he thought it would be. When he met Rick Barham, still the Swans recruitment agent in this part of the world, in the Curragh with his parents in 1999 he accepted the offer, almost to get away from the potential burnout that life as a Kerry footballer promised him.
He played minor and U-21 football that year, losing an All-Ireland U-21 final to Westmeath.
"There was the worry about burnout. I was 18 years old, maybe I would have been straight in with Kerry. I clearly went with the mindset that I would go out for two years and that would be it.
"But after about six month I started to become so driven that I didn't want to be seen as a failure. There was a fear of failure there. It was that which drove me on more than anything else."
The 2005 Grand Final was the obvious highlight, the first Irishman to win a Premiership and the first player to play every minute of a successful campaign (25 games). Not once did they opt to interchange him. With hindsight that weight of that achievement has grown upon him.
Within two months, however, the sudden death of his father Tim cast a long shadow over his Australian sojourn. It almost ended his time there until his mother convinced him otherwise and he decided to stay.
Another Grand Final was reached and lost in 2006 and then the injuries kicked in, a bad knee injury in 2007 and dislocated shoulder and groin trouble last year. "I'd been extremely lucky up to that. I didn't miss a game for my first 120 games. But the injuries took their toll, though they're fine now."
In reaching a decision he weighed up the pros and cons and obviously financial considerations came into it. This year alone he could have earned close to €250,000, the same again in 2010 with a rolling contract extension.
"People say I'm mad to be walking away from it. I've no doubt I could have done it for the money but my heart wasn't in it. I've always said I love Gaelic football, it's bred into me.
"That's what the decision came down to. I wanted to play Gaelic football and I don't care about anything else. I'm in the market for work, like a lot of people, I think I can contribute something in the area of tackling the problems kids have with obesity, drink and drugs.
"But the prospect of Gaelic football, it's given me a bit of a spark, a bit of get-up-and-go. I'm very energetic. I just can't wait. I've three balls in the back of the car and I'll stop literally anywhere for a kick-around."
The lifestyle will take getting used to. When he goes for a run the sun isn't guaranteed to shine and finding an outlet in Listowel that does yoga twice a week may be a challenge! But it's a challenge he wants.
"The biggest thing for me coming from a professional game is that everything is given and done for me. If I wanted a new lounge I'd ring up the club and they'd go and do it. If I wanted my arse cleaned, metaphorically speaking, they'd go and do it. A happy player was a good player and they went out of their way to create that."
His transition back creates one of the most exciting forks of the 2009 season. Can Tadhg Kennelly recreate himself as a Gaelic footballer?
meltdown
Will Kerry benefit from that? Last September they were in meltdown, now Tadhg, David Moran and Tommy Walsh offer green shoots of recovery.
He's circumspect about Kerry though. For now it's just Listowel and training tonight in the local field.
"Mentally I know what is ahead of me. I just can't wait. It might take me a year, it might take me two years but at least I know myself that I have given it a crack. I know what is ahead of me. Kerry have probably been the most successful team this decade it's going to be extremely hard for me.
"I know there'll be detractors but that will give me a bit more bite. I've no pathway to follow it. It's a challenge and I like a challenge. In the past I've always stepped up to them."
He'll continue to live the professional life and train daily for as long as he can. "I've come from a system where if I don't train I feel that there's something wrong. Maybe job-wise I won't have the time to do it. But I don't think I can sit back and not do anything.
"All the little things that I know are so important now having been in professional sport. They take the longest and they give you the biggest pain in the arse but they're the best and most important. If I don't do it at least I know I've had a crack.
"I'm not set on this be all and end all, that I have to achieve something. I'm set on having a crack. If it works, it works. I know what's ahead of me."
- COLM KEYS
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Thanks for that RC, has his girlfriend gone with him?
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that made me cry. (well 2 tears) and i am a very unemotional person.
the bit where it says "the first two words i just started breaking down" or something was heartbreaking.
the bit where it says "the first two words i just started breaking down" or something was heartbreaking.
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OMG i hate nothing more than when full grown men cry its heart breaking
totally would have loved 2 be there 2 comfort them though lol
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I think I know what Roosy meant in the press conference when he said he knew that Tadhg was making the right decision.
bennymac1
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kennelly back in training with the kerry squad at the weekend past, kerry have a big game this weekend coming vrs all ireland champs tyrone, kerry have waisted no time in getting tadhg back into training' it should'nt take the former swan to long to get his skills back with the round ball, we could even see him back in the kerry colours as soon as even this weekend' will keep you's updated..... anywhere online i could find his last press conference the 1 were he anounce's he's leaving? and i can't get bigpond, anywhere else?? thanks
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thanks for youre input mate, Im not very good with computers so Im sorry I cant help you with youre bigpond prob, but pls keep us posted, also do you know if Kennellys game will be shown on tv?
I have fox, but not sentana sports, thinking of hooking it up even if for only a month, just to catch his games if they are shown, anyone confirm this?
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you should wait a few months before hooking up to setanta then the bigger game's will be on (the championship) thats the game's all guns are blazing for
thanks mate, Ill look into it...
rebelcounty
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Kennely's ruled himself out of the Tyrone game. He wants more time with the round ball..club, club, club times is all he's looking for now at the minute.
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sounds commited...
I would have thought changing back to the round ball would have been real easy for him though, anyway, best of luck to him!
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God it has really sunk in now. Tadhg's gone. He's off playing another game in another country!
I'm sad
I'm sad
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I just changed my MSN Personal Message to KENNELLY17THANKSFORTHEMEMORIES
Oh it makes me so sad !
Oh it makes me so sad !