It’s a big weekend for the AFL’s Irish recruits with three players lining out for their clubs in the senior competition.

The Sydney Swans Tadhg Kennelly

It will be an emotional night for Tadhg Kennelly and the Sydney Swans at the SCG as the Harbour City club’s coach Paul Roos and co-captain Brett Kirk make their last appearance at the team’s home ground.

Kennelly has made no secret of his close relationship with Roos, who has been at the helm since the 2002 season when he took over as caretaker coach for the sacked Rodney Eade. Ironically the Swans take on Eade’s current club the Western Bulldogs.

The Swans desperately need a win to cement their spot in the top eight.

Meanwhile Down man Jamie O’Reilly has retained his place in the senior Richmond side for the Tiger’s Saturday clash with St Kilda. O’Reilly made his debut last weekend in the club’s 89-point loss to Carlton.

Mayo’s Pearce Hanley will play his seventh consecutive senior game as the Brisbane Lions take on Essendon at Etihad Stadium on Sunday. However he won’t face his compatriot Michael Quinn. Despite being named on an extended interchange bench for the Bombers, he was listed as an emergency player when the final team was released on Friday evening.

At Carlton Setanta O’hAilpin’s remains out of favour. He’s been named on the emergency list for the Blues match against Geelong on Friday night. It’s the sixth week running that the former hurler has been left out of the first 22.

Richmond Tigers Irish defender Jamie O’Reilly makes his debut for the club in this weekends’ clash of the titans against rivals Carlton at the MCG.

The 22 year old former Gaelic football player is the Melbourne club’s first ever Irish player, after picking up the AFL code at a remarkable pace.

The County Down native was first spotted by Richmond recruiters playing U-21s for his county last March, and the following week in an All Ireland semi.

After being offered a trial with the Tigers, he put his commerce degree on hold and made the trip to Australia.

Following an impressive performance at Punt Road late last year, he signed for the Tigers on an international two season rookie contract. “I’m really loving it,” he told  richmondfc.com.au last month.

“It’s everything that I expected it would be, living the professional lifestyle. At home I had a part-time job, was studying full-time and had football five or six nights a week for all different teams.

“So it’s good to be able to concentrate all of my energy on one thing.

O’Reilly also recently told the Irish Echo how he hoped to notch up a senior game in the three remaining rounds of the season.

Now it seems his dream has come true, and after playing for the reserves for the past year, the Irish man will line out on the half back line against Carlton on Saturday.

The AFL rookie will be well represented for the big game, with the Tigers reportedly flying out his parents from Belfast.

He also told the Irish Echo how the dream was to follow the footsteps of fellow Irish players who made their AFL debuts in their first year.

‘You could almost count on one hand the guys who have managed to do it [play in their first year]- like Martin Clarke, Michael Quinn and Colm Begley, so it would be great to do it.

But does he have any hankerings to return to his native Down and Gaelic football?

O’Reilly admits he’s thought about it, but that he has no regrets. ‘I’m out here and I’ve made the decision to pursue another adventure, and I’m fully focused on trying to play senior football’.

Collingwood has signed Down teenager Caolan Mooney to a two-year international rookie contract commencing in the 2012

New Collingwood signing Caolan Mooney

season.

Caolan, who is considered to be one of the finest young players in the county, will finish his schooling in Ireland before he relocates to Melbourne at the end of 2011.

However, the club has played down reports that fellow Down star Martin Clarke may return to the Magpies fold.

“We have not asked him and he has not broached it,” Collingwood’s national recruiting manager Derek Hine told the Irish Echo.

“He’s playing great footy for Down and has an All Ireland semi final coming up. I am in regular contact with him as he lived with my family while he as in Melbourne but at no stage has [a possible comeback to Collingwood] been discussed.”

Clarke played 46 games for Collingwood before he returned to his homeland at the end of 2009. Reports in Ireland had suggested that he may be considering a return down under in 2011.

Meanwhile, Mr Hine said that they were looking forward to welcoming Clarke’s young county-man to Melbourne next year.

The 17-year-old trialled with the Magpies in June and showed enormous potential.

“He won’t be able to commence his contract until the end of the 2011 preseason, once he finishes his school and County commitments,” Mr Hine said.

The teenager’s signing is a by-product of a process that commenced 18 months ago.

“Our team in Ireland have done a lot of work with Caolan over a 6-8 month period,” Hine said. “I personally viewed him at the MacRory Cup semi final at Casement Park in Belfast which ironically was the same venue and same game where we first viewed Martin Clarke.

“On the back of his MacRory semi final performance and subsequent meetings with Caolan and his family, we invited Caolan to Collingwood for a month trial.  As a by-product of that trial we are really comfortable offering Callum a two-year international contract commencing with the 2012 season.

“Caolan’s testing for speed, agility and vertical jump places him up at the very high end in comparison to our playing group. This coupled with Caolan’s ability to quickly adapt to the skill traits required for AFL which our development coaches Luke Beveridge and Paul Licuria observed and tested throughout his stay.

“Caolan’s performance was exciting given he has never had any exposure to structured training programs before so the pure scope for improvement is enormous once he enters our system full time.

“He really brings a point of difference with his sheer power and speed.

“Caolan comes from a terrific family who are very supportive.  It’s a dream come true for him to play professional sport and we are really excited about him.

“It is very important that we continue to develop alternative talent pools to support and sustain our playing list given the introduction of the two new franchises in 2011 and 2012,” Mr Hine concluded.

Richmond hopes the luck of the Irish can replace its horror run of luck at the tribunal, calling up Irish rookie Jamie O’Reilly to the senior list, the Daily Telegraph reports.

O’Reilly was invited to train with the Tigers last year after being spotted by recruiting manager Francis Jackson playing Gaelic football for County Down.

He has been groomed as a rebounding half-back/midfielder, and has played 11 games for the Coburg seniors this season.

O’Reilly, Richmond’s first Irish recruit, will be joined by Robbie Hicks, the Tigers’ first pick in last December’s rookie draft.

The pair replace midfielders Nathan Foley and Adam Thomson, who have both been placed on the long-term injury list and won’t play again this season.

Tigers coach Damien Hardwick has said his focus is on development for the future and he is keen to give game time to as many of the players on the Tigers’ list as he can before the season ends.

Tadhg Kennelly launches his autobiography at Borders bookshop in Bondi Junction on Thursday, November 19 at 6.30pm

by Irish Echo Staff

The Sydney Swans have announced that Tadhg Kennelly has accepted a new two-year contract with the club.

The news ends the speculation about the player’s future after the Irish Echo broke the story last week that the Kerryman was set to make a sensational return to the Swans, the club with which he won a Premiership medal in 2005.

After spending a considerable time making that decision, Kennelly will return to Australia next week to officially launch his autobiography Unfinished Business and at that time, commence training with the Swans.

“It is fantastic news for the Club that he has decided to resume his career with us as he has been a really important player for the Club,” CEO Andrew Ireland said.

“We obviously understand his desire to go back and win an All-Ireland final, and it was fantastic that he was able to achieve it so quickly and emulate the feats of his father.
“As always we appreciate the tough decision it is for Tadhg to come back to us, as he ultimately ends up being a long way from his family.
“We are delighted he has agreed to a two-year contract and look forward to having him join pre-season training next week.”

Sources close to the player in both Kerry and Sydney told the Irish Echo that the 28-year-old was set to announce his return to Australian Rules football before the end of November.

Since then, the chairman of the Kerry County Board Jerome Conway, confirmed the news.

“Tadhg has notified us officially that he is returning to Australia. I suppose as things were turning out over the last few weeks, it is no great surprise to us now,” he was quoted as saying.

“He did very well while he was here. He fulfilled his burning ambition to win an All-Ireland senior medal and emulate his late father. He certainly helped Kerry’s cause in a big way this year.

“His contribution as a coach out in North Kerry has been invaluable. He left a lasting impression with the youngsters he came in contact with.”

Kennelly’s decision to return to Australia will come as a major blow to Kerry with Tommy Walsh already committed to St Kilda and David Moran hoping to secure a similar deal.

The Listowel man owns property in Sydney and his long-term girlfriend Nicole Noonan still lives here.

Irish Echo efforts to contact the player failed.

Kennelly will appear in bookshops in both Sydney and Melbourne next week as he promotes his biography, Unfinished Business.