Special players just seem to have a catalogue of special moments to call upon. Conor McKenna is no different.
Here, people will point to his two-goal salvo to dump Kerry out of the All-Ireland race in 2021, but in Australia, they see a guy who kicked a goal with his very first play on his debut for Essendon nine years ago and look to the man who kicked a superb goal in the semi-final win for Brisbane against Carlton last weekend.
On Saturday, the Irish man will be aiming to round off an incredible season in the perfect fashion as the Lions take on Collingwood in the 2023 AFL Grand Final.
The Tyrone man's run to this point of his sporting life hasn’t been easy. A three-game ban for biting, a media witch-hunt after a Covid test that led to a postponed AFL game and the almost never-ending yearning for home life in Ireland. Bumps, there’s been a few.
But the 27-year-old has come through it all and when everything is said and done, he’ll maybe wonder what the big deal was all about anyway.
The final will be hosted at the famed Melbourne Cricket Ground, one of the biggest sporting attractions not only in the city, but the entire world with a capacity of 100,024 and over a century and a half of sporting history.
For McKenna though, his eyes would naturally be drawn nine kilometres out the road to Flemington Racecourse, the host venue of the Melbourne Cup.
McKenna didn’t grow up wanting to be the next Peter Canavan, he grew up wanting to be the next Tony McCoy.
His family trained horses for generations, his father Pat still does. Ultimately too heavy to be a jockey, McKenna has dabbled in owning horses. One under his banner for a while was called No Speed Limit – a fitting summation of his sporting prowess.
Gaelic football or Aussie Rules, the Eglish man doesn’t seem to be confined by boundaries.
Perhaps it’s due to his nonchalance towards the serious side of the game – or games in his case – but McKenna shuts down the outside noise and marches to the beat of his own drum.
"Almost Bohemian like," Mickey Donnelly tells RTÉ Sport about the player that he managed for three years with the Tyrone minors.
It was under Donnelly’s tutelage that McKenna’s name came to prominence.
In the third of those, in 2014, he was called up to the Tyrone senior squad by Mickey Harte at a time when Australian clubs were starting to circle.
It was the year before though, when Tyrone made it all the way to the All-Ireland final, that Red Hand fans started to get truly excited by this raw young talent from Eglish.
Despite McKenna’s 1-03 from play, Tyrone actually lost the Ulster final to Monaghan in a Clones thriller but responded with wins over Kerry – after extra-time – and Roscommon to set up a final date with Mayo where the Westerners prevailed at Croke Park.
"There was no pressure, no massive system, no massive strappings on you, it was just go and play. He loved sport but he loved sport without the constraints."
"What always struck me about Conor was his lack of nerves," Donnelly continued. "A love of life and he wouldn’t have been taken in by big motivational speeches or things like that. Video analysis? He’d have rather have been doing hand-stands.
"Nothing seemed to faze him, he didn’t get particularly nervous, but I do know that he looks back on that time as being the best time of his life.
"I can understand why. There was no pressure, no massive system, no massive strappings on you, it was just go and play. He loved sport but he loved sport without the constraints.
"Look at him, that’s all he wants to do and that’s where he is best."
A few weeks after his time with the Tyrone minors came to an end, McKenna travelled to London for an AFL developmental camp. A game was set up between those attending and McKenna scored four goals in a standout performance.
Six clubs showed interest. No doubt they were impressed by his performance in London and at a prior event in Dublin, or maybe they’d caught wind of his supposed party piece, standing beside a bin and being able to leap on top of it – the vertical jump is one of the cornerstones of an AFL combine, after all.
Of the six clubs sniffing, Essendon won the race and the player signed a Category B rookie contract in 2014 and would go on to play 79 games for the Bombers.
Never go back. A golden rule that can apply to many facets of life, and when McKenna decided to leave Essendon in 2020 and head back to Tyrone it was framed firmly as AFL retirement.
His homesickness was well known. Even though just 24 years of age, his decision to head back to his townland of Benburb brought with it little shock.
"His desire to return back home to Ireland has been no secret," then Bombers’ GM Dan Richardson said at the time.
The bigger surprise came in August 2022 when the news came that McKenna was ready to step out of retirement and reignite his AFL career.
He met with a number of clubs, including former team Essendon, but it was the Lions who brought him in for an initial one-year deal, extended by two earlier this month.
It was a move that piqued the interest of Marty Clarke, who said he would be delighted to see McKenna prevail this weekend despite what it would mean to his beloved Collingwood.
The Down native took the AFL by storm after making his Magpies’ debut in 2007 and quickly became one of the 'Irish Experiment’s’ most successful punts.
Like McKenna, he decided to announce his AFL retirement at a young age in 2009, and like McKenna he reversed that call as he rejoined Collingwood two years later.
His second spell, however, lacked some of the verve of his first outing, and he believes McKenna’s decision to switch environments has been crucial to his stunning form this season.
"The best decision that Conor made was going to a different state, a different club," Clarke told RTÉ Sport.
"It meant that everything he’d done before was kind of parked and he could go to a new environment and bring everything all over again, and that’s exactly what has happened.
"Queensland, where Brisbane is, is different. They have rugby league up there, it’s a different way of life. The climate is much warmer all year round and it’s really suited him.
"That’s not taking away from the energy he would have had to put in to get into a Grand Final game; to play every game, to do so well, is a credit to him.
"I do think that Brisbane lifestyle and getting around people who didn’t know that much about him has really helped him."
When Clarke was heading back to the AFL, GWS were interested but his old club Collingwood worked out a trade agreement with the Sydney outfit.
He has no regrets over that decision, but seeing how McKenna has adapted to his second term, he does wonder if a change of scenery may have been more beneficial.
"I loved Collingwood, I still have a great relationship with Collingwood.
"At the time, GWS were just starting out and they had a priority pick, but I never had it in my head that I wanted to go anywhere else.
"I don’t regret that and I have that loyalty for a club that has been very good to me, but thinking about it again with it not going the way I would have liked, potentially a fresh start could have been better for me.
"McKenna has certainly made the most of his fresh start. To play every game in a season is a big thing for any player never mind an Irish player."
The alarm clocks will be set around Tyrone for Saturday morning. First bounce is 5.30am.
When McKenna departed for the other side of the world in 2014 he left with well wishes from a Tyrone fanbase who knew that they were giving up one of their most valuable assets. It was bitter-sweet for many die-hards.
McKenna in the Brisbane jersey isn’t just as hard to stomach for them anymore. During that return home after Essendon, McKenna was pivotal as Tyrone lifted Sam Maguire for a fourth time in 2021. Mayo, Croke Park, redemption for the minor final loss of 2013. McKenna’s name was etched all over the success given his two-goal haul in the semi-final shock win over Kerry. Like 2013, that needed extra-time too.
Back at minor level, he was looked at as a player who could spearhead their next Sam Maguire charge. The journey may have been different than anticipated, but the destination was the same as they had imagined.
"You’d love to see Conor playing with the Red Hand on him," Donnelly added.
"But he came back and he won us an All-Ireland, one we probably won against the head. The romance of that story and to put the tin hat on it with an AFL title, no one would wish him anything but good luck.
"Conor in 2013 is the same as Conor in 2023. No ego, no nonsense, just a wonderful, wonderful person."
On Saturday, McKenna will become the second Tyrone player to compete in Grand Final following Brocagh-born Aidan Corr’s losing appearance with the GWS Giants in 2019. He’ll aim to become just the fourth Irish player to win a premiership medal after Tadhg Kennelly (Sydney Swans), Zach Touhy and Mark O’Connor (both Geelong). Achieve that and he’ll be only the second-ever play to pocket a premiership medal and a Celtic Cross after Kerry’s Kennelly.
All those potential landmarks, all the build-up, it’s all likely to slip through McKenna’s ears. He’s blocking out the noise. Just go and play.
