Glory for Irish duo as Zach Tuohy and Mark O'Connor win AFL Grand Final with Geelong

They join Kerry All-Ireland medal winner Tadhg Kennelly as the only Irish players to win a Grand Final.

The Geelong Cats club crushed the Sidney Swans by 81 points (133-52) in a hopelessly lopsided decider to claim the title for the tenth time.

Tuohy, a native of Portlaoise was making his 250th appearance in the AFL, just 14 short of Jim Stynes’ all-time record for an Irish player. This is his eleventh season in the AFL. The 32-year-old brought the Portlaoise GAA club flag with him when he went to collect his medal.

From Dingle, Mark O’Connor was included on the match day squad of 22 when Max Holmes failed to recover in time from a hamstring injury he suffered in last weekend’s Preliminary final and the Kerryman was introduced during the game.

Tuohy had 21 possessions and six marks while O’Connor had ten possessions and six marks during the final.

It was a day for veterans as the more experienced Geelong side who were beaten in the 2020 final hit 20 goals compared to the Swans’ eight and won on a final score of 20.13 to 8.4.

The inexperienced Swans, who Kennelly won his Premiership ‘flag’ with in 2005, had no answer as the Cats powered away right from the start.

Veteran superstars of the AFL including Patrick Dangerfield – who was winning his first Premiership – Joel Selwood – who became the first player to win four titles at Geelong – and Isacc Smith – who was also winning his fourth flag but first with the Cats – played key roles as the favourites blitzed the Swans, establishing one of the largest quarter-time leads (41-6) in 33 years of Grand Finals.

The Swans improved in the second quarter only losing it by a point. A six-goal third quarter put the result beyond doubt, which allowed the Geelong fans and players to enjoy the final quarter as they romped to their first title since 2011.