Zach and Mark join the elite club of Irish AFL winners
IN AN emotional reflection on a rare achievement, Zach Tuohy suggested there was one very pragmatic motivation for him in yesterday’s Aussie Rules Grand Final. Tuohy, along with Mark O’Connor of Kerry, was part of the Geelong Cats team that annihilated the Sydney Swans. The pair join Tadhg Kennelly as the only Irishmen to win the most coveted prize in Australian sport.
And for Tuohy, it happened on the occasion of his 250th AFL match.
The 32-year-old from Laois spoke
Everyone has hard times but homesickness is unique to the Irish boys
at length about the sacrifices involved in making a successful career in one of the hardest professional sports.
He also remembered the short-term sacrifice made by all of his friends and family back home, crawling out of their beds for a game that had a pre-dawn start in Ireland.
‘It was a 5.30am start I think,’ he said afterwards. ‘Everybody got up, all my mates got up, the extended family got up and it would have been a shame to ruin their good night’s sleep for no reason.’
The achievement by the pair will rank among the very top sporting successes by Irish athletes this year.
Aussie Rules is easily the most popular sport in Australia, with the Friday before the final a state holiday in Victoria.
A crowd of 100,024 squeezed into the storied Melbourne Cricket Ground for a game in which Geelong were strongly fancied.
Even with that status, though, their margin of victory was vast: the final score 133-52 in their favour.
And for Tuohy, clutching a Portlaoise flag as well as celebrating with a Tricolour with O’Connor, it seals a remarkably successful career, and one with one big landmark remaining: he is 14 appearances behind the total set by the late, great Jim Stynes, a venerated figure in the sport.
‘I tried FaceTiming in my parents out on the ground and showed them and I couldn’t hear a thing to be honest,’ laughed Tuohy. (below). Everyone got up and watched. This is honestly as much for them and particularly my parents.
‘You want good values and good people around – I’m just so lucky to have the parents I have, honestly.
‘I’ve got a Portlaoise flag, which is where I started. It hasn’t sunk in,’ he explained.
And he tried to describe the magnitude of the challenge it is for a young Irishman moving to a different country, playing a sport they had never tried before.
Tuohy went to Carlton on trial when he was 19, made a strong career there before moving to Geelong six years ago.
‘Every player has tough times, but I think the homesickness is a unique experience for the Irish guys,’ he said.
‘Although players shift states, you can’t even pick up the phone at times to call your family because it’s the middle of the night.
‘Even that alone, I think people probably don’t appreciate how hard that can be.
‘I’m lucky to be in the environment I’m in, but there were a lot of bad days early.
‘We’re in a privileged position, I don’t want anybody’s sympathy, but it is hard, especially when you’re 18 and I’d never left Ireland by myself, much less come to Australia.
It’s a big part of why I came here. Geelong’s reputation is a club that constantly competes at the pointy end,’ he reflected.
O’Connor was a late inclusion in the starting side but his contribution was well regarded yesterday. Observers of the AFL have suggested injury has been the only impediment to him becoming a star in the game, but his reputation will bloom following this success.
The 25-year-old, a star minor with Kerry and a two-time All-Ireland medalist, has spoken of his desire to win a Sam Maguire, but one suspects Jack O’Connor may have to wait.