Tadhg Kennelly: I'm staying
Tadhg Kennelly has given the strongest indication yet that he is committing his long-term future to Kerry football.
Kennelly has an open invitation to return to Sydney Swans, the club where he won his AFL Premiership medal in 2005.
But the lure of more success with the Kingdom seems to have convinced him that his future is at home.
Swans head coach Paul Roos attended Sunday's All-Ireland final and met up with his former player after the game.
The speculation has been strong in Kerry and in Sydney that Kennelly will make a return to Australia having fulfiled his dream, but yesterday he made it clear where his intentions lie.
"My head is truly, truly set on Kerry. And my heart. That's probably the main thing that has come out here," Kennelly said at Kerry's team hotel yesterday.
Kennelly will visit Sydney at the end of October -- his autobiography is due to be released there in early November -- and he will no doubt come under pressure to change his mind.
But the physical toll on his body and the prospect of exciting times ahead for Kerry appear to have already swayed his mind.
"I am committing (to Kerry). I've had a great time at Sydney. I haven't really thought about it at the moment but I will sit down and have a good think about it.
"I still haven't hit my straps. Personally I'm not happy with my game. That's what I'm really looking forward to over the next six months, getting it together after these few weeks, playing with the club.
"That's one of the main reasons I came home and that's what I'm really looking forward to, knuckling down with the club."
Kennelly and his colleague Tomas O Se could come under the GAA's disciplinary spotlight this week, Kennelly for the blow to Nicholas Murphy's face at the throw-in which referee Marty Duffy awarded a free for but showed no yellow card, and O Se for a second-half incident involving John Miskella.
There is no suspension carry-over to next season but Dublin's Ciaran Whelan and Denis Bastick were both suspended for four weeks after the All-Ireland quarter-final in August.
- Colm Keys
