Sydney Swans deny Kennelly quit reports

The Sydney Swans have denied claims that Tadhg Kennelly is set to quit the Australian Rules side and return to Ireland.

A report in this week’s issue of The Kerryman had claimed that Kennelly had returned to Australia, having spent Christmas in Kerry, in order to tell officials that he no longer wanted to stay in Australia.

However; Sydney football operations manager Andrew Ireland denied the reports, saying: ‘He's here. He signed a three-year contract a while ago and indicated this would be his last year,’ he said.

‘He came back after Christmas and he's back into training and looking forward to the year ahead.’

‘He always heads home for Christmas and New Year and I think at this time of the year there's always a bit of speculation about him. But he's made no bones about the fact that he wants to get back to Ireland,’ Ireland said.

It is likely that this will be the Kerryman’s last season in Australia, after he told the media last April that he wanted to return to Ireland while he was still young enough to gain success with Kerry, saying ‘I'm definitely going home next year to try to win an All-Ireland Medal.

‘I will always miss Aussie rules and I won't cut my ties to Australia, but I want to win an All-Ireland with Kerry.’