ALL-IRELAND SFC FINAL: KEITH DUGGANon the quixotic quest that saw a Kerry man in well-paid sporting exile Down Under return to reclaim a treasure that money can't buy

YOU CANNOT accurately measure delight but it seems safe to guess the joy Tadhg Kennelly felt in the heady moments after yesterday’s final was about as pure as it gets.

In retrospect, Kennelly’s quest to add an All-Ireland medal to what has been a glittering sporting career seems as simple and inevitable as claiming an inheritance.

The nine years he has played Australian Rules with Sydney Swans have been accompanied by a vague pang, a knowledge that in an entirely different and separate sporting life was playing itself out in a parallel universe.

Had the Australian sport not intervened, Kennelly would surely have followed his father, the late, lamented Tim Kennelly, in becoming a giant figure in the grand cast of Kerry football. Instead, his natural athleticism and proficiency meant he was one of the few that got away in Kerry.

Deciding to return to stake his claim and try and win his medal was a brave gamble for Kennelly. He might not have claimed his place. Kerry might not have won the All-Ireland. But he did. They did. All in all, it was a perfect year, a return from the professionalism of his Australian sporting life to the unforgiving standards of Corinthian commitment the Kerry squad sets itself.

It was clear afterwards the Kerry players of many winters were thrilled it had all worked out for the returned son with the storied surname. As the clans raced on to the field, the Kerry players gathered in a small, precious patch of green kept clear by a stewards cordon and they took turns to seek out Kennelly. In the end, they just hoisted him up for the adulation of the crowd, as though he had just been Bar Mitzvahed. And he had been, Kerry style.

Kennelly travelled the pitch with such pace and alacrity few footballers could keep up with him but in the minutes afterwards, the indefatigable Marty Morrissey cornered him and persuaded him to issue a few thoughts through the bedlam.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet. I am a very, very happy man.” Words that have been uttered thousands of times on these September Sundays but Kennelly’s voice was filled with emotion. Afterwards, in his television interview, he quickly attributed the success, the latest title, to his team-mates.

“We talked about it before the game. We knew that Cork were going to come at us and we had a plan and Darragh (Ó Sé) said on numerous occasions that we stick to it no matter what happens during the game. We go a goal down, two goals down, we stick to it. And that is what happened – we went four points down and ended up being two points up at half-time. And that is down to the great character of the team – you stick to what you know and there is a great bunch of lads out there. They had so much thrown at them – they were knocked so, so much throughout the year and they were knocked again this summer and to do what they did was unbelievable.”

What a strange year it must have been for the man. To leave behind a lucrative sporting life is one thing. But he was also putting himself at risk, leaving a league that cannot have any room or time for sentimentalism. Had Kennelly been injured on some sodden league match or during one of the more punishing training nights, what then? A good life, a fulfilling life, would have vanished for a dream which would have seem far-fetched. There was risk involved. Now, with the medal won – the inheritance claimed – it seems simple, even inevitable. But these things are not written in the sky. It was a risk.

Yesterday was not quite perfect for Kennelly but it wasn’t far away either. In the opening seconds, he came at Nicholas Murphy in a rush of adrenaline and caught the Carrigline man high across his cheekbone. It was an act of excitement rather than malice but for a few seconds, the awful scenario of a first-minute sending off hovered over the occasion.

Sportsmanship has defined Kennelly’s debut season. An early dismissal would have been tough justice. After all the debate about whether Kennelly will leave again after this season, the thought must have flashed through many minds that if a red card was produced, then by skipping the shower, Kennelly would easily be in time for the eight o’clock Heathrow-Sydney.

But good sense prevailed and Kennelly settled in to live that long, private ambition of playing in the final, part personal goal and part homage to the years his father had graced this place. He landed two terrific first-half points and struck a shocking wide. He ran his heart out. He never looked flustered. He talked to his team-mates. It looked as if he had been around forever.

As captain Darran O’Sullivan put it: “He is very vocal and he settled in as though he had been in there for years. After one of the first training sessions, he settled in like he was one of the lads and he was never shy about giving his opinions and I just think his own enthusiasm and his own ideas and his different ideas just freshened it all up a bit for us.”

It probably went by in a flash for him. After 52 minutes, his day was done. As he said himself: “I had my money spent by then.” He had toured Croke Park many times by then. Jack O’Connor could see that Kennelly was running on empty.

“ He was fantastic. He ran his heart out for us out there. But Cork have fierce athleticism around the field, that is one thing they have, and we just felt we were getting caught a little bit around the middle third of the field. And Tadhg had done some amount of running – I would like to have had a monitor on him to see what kind of distance he put up but he had put in an awful for us.”

If Tadhg Kennelly’s senior Kerry career is limited to one season, then it will be remembered he put his soul into it and then some. In a county where the accumulation of many seasons and many medals is part of the lore, the lone medal he now possesses stands somewhat apart.

After all, the man went around the world just to get it.