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Sports Extra Roundup: History made Down Under

February 17, 2011

By Staff Reporter

The former Kerry minor and under-21 star starred for the Sydney Swans who defeated the West Coast Eagles in the final in Melbourne in front of 92,000 spectators.
The 24-year-old Listowel native, whose father Tim won three All Ireland medals, achieved what the legendary Jim Stynes failed to do during his illustrious career in Australia. Stynes lost consecutive Grand Finals with Melbourne in 1987 and ’88, while Kennelly has now won the coveted championship at his first attempt.
“When I joined the Swans in 1999, I seriously didn’t know any rules of the game or what exactly the AFL was,” Kennelly admitted. “If someone had said to me, ‘you’re going to win a premiership with the Sydney Swans.’ I’d have said, ‘Who are the Sydney Swans and what’s the Premiership?’ Honestly, it’s a bit surreal, just unbelievable.”
Kennelly will now feature in Ireland’s International Rules team that plays a two-test series in Australia next month.

IRELAND GO DOWN IN BASKETBALL
Ireland’s dream of competing in the elite division of European men’s basketball was dashed last weekend when they suffered a controversial overtime defeat in the second leg of a play-off in Denmark.
Leading by 14 points from the first leg, the Irish ended up losing by 86-70, but coach Gerry Fitzpatrick was incensed when Jay Larranga was clearly fouled as he drove towards the basket with seconds of normal time remaining. With the scores tied, Larranga would have had the opportunity to win the game from the free-throw line and to secure Ireland’s place in Division A.
“There are plenty of WWF wrestlers who would have been happy with that move made on Jay,” said Fizpatrick. “It was a frustrating game that became more about the refereeing decisions than about the game itself.

ULSTER WIN IN WALES, TWICE
Meanwhile, after nearly two years of waiting for a victory in rugby’s Celtic League in Wales, Ulster now have two in the space of a week following their 22-19 win over Newport Dragons.
Having recently got the better of Cardiff, Ulster came through last weekend at Newport despite trailing by 19-14 with just 20 minutes to go. Then Paddy Wallace reduced the gap with a penalty before Neil Best scored his second try with five minutes remaining.
Munster edged out the Llanelli Scarlets by 14-13 at Musgrave Park where debutant wing Ian Dowling scored their only try, while Ronan O’Gara landed three penalties. However, Connacht lost for the third time in a row when they were edged out 17-15 by the Scottish Borders in Galway.

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