After a prolonged period of soul searching, Tadhg Kennelly will return to Australia with the Sydney Swans. The Kerry All-Ireland winner has agreed a new two-year deal with his former employers.
Kennelly had admitted to being conflicted while he considered a return Down Under having followed in the footsteps of his father and brother by claiming the Sam Maguire with his native county.
The 28-year-old’s girlfriend remained in Sydney while he came home to fulfill his dream and Kennelly clearly feels he has unfinished business in Australia.
The Listowel man played with the Swans from 1999 to 2008 and won a Grand Final with the club in 2005. He remains the only Irish player to win a Premiership medal in the Aussie Rules code.
Paul Roos, manager of the Swans, broke the news this afternoon.
“It’s like a good Christmas and you just keep opening presents and every present is a good one,” he told realfooty.com.au.
“We finalised everything today. We had a feeling that he might have been going to come back but until we heard definite, you never know. And it was hard with him over the other side of the world, and with it being very difficult to get in contact directly with him.
“I had a discussion with him a couple of weeks ago, and since then we’ve been dealing with Michael [Quinlan, his manager]. We’ve been waiting to see whether he is absolutely, definitely going to come, and we found out tonight, and he’ll be here next week.”