'One of us is going to come out on the wrong end of it - but that’s sport'

On Saturday morning, Tanya Kennedy and Niamh McLaughlin go head to head in the knockout stage of the AFLW season as Sydney Swans and the Gold Coast Suns clash.

Both girls are not only Donegal teammates but best friends. Alongside another Donegal native, current Irish senior International Ciara Grant, the pair were also part of the national woman’s underage set-up right through the ranks.

They’d get to the 2010 European U-17 championship final in Switzerland but would heartbreakingly lose out to Spain 4-1 on penalties.

That same year, despite suffering the second of three ACL tears McLaughlin, in a moral support capacity, still travelled with Kennedy and the Irish squad to Trinidad and Tobago for the U-17 Woman’s World Cup.

In 2012 Kennedy, still in her late teens decided to take a three-month sabbatical in Australia, to travel and work. She ended up making Sydney her permanent home.

She finally made her Donegal senior bow in 2022 when Maxi Curran convinced her to return for one summer. Gaelic Football’s best-kept secret, she made her mark curtailing some of the country’s best forwards as Donegal reached an All-Ireland semi-final.

She’d be sprung once more in this season’s Ulster decider against Armagh, putting the clampers on Aimee Mackin as Donegal upset the odds in spectacular fashion to once again lift the provincial crown.

McLaughlin’s prowess on a Gaelic football field was well established, even before picking up the LGFA Player of the Year in 2022. But that gong made her an obvious candidate for AFLW draft suitors.

“I really didn’t know what to expect,” the Moville girl told DonegalLive. “I’ve enjoyed it so much more that I thought I would. There was just so much apprehension to the move as well as picking up basically what was a different sport.

“The Gold Coast is exactly what you imagine when you think of Australian life. In relation to the actual game itself, I feel like I’m only now getting into it and the season is nearly over!

“Like, they took a real chance on me taking me over - I’d never kicked an Aussie Rules ball in my life. But they’ve been brilliant, they’ve let me be me on the field. And that’s been brilliant just going out and going at it.

“But there is still lots of structure stuff and tactics to get to grips with. I’d started at half-back but have played the last seven as a forward.

“Every day you’re learning and transitioning. But we’re down to the knockout stages now so it’s all on the line.

“But when the ball goes in I just go for it. You hope the football brain takes over. It’s funny, I was told this week I’ve the most bounces of the football in the league so far this season.

“There is the professional element to it as well, especially the rest and extra downtime. It’s really interesting to see the influence of that. The recovery time between training and the games, you don’t feel as sore.

“You aren’t going 9-5 in a day job like back home. One of the things I’ve really noticed is how well my sleep has improved”.

While there was trepidation on McLaughlin’s part, she says she’d “no doubt in the world” that Castlefin’s Kennedy would transition seamlessly.

“Ah, she’s amazing. She’s so committed and the intensity she brings to the field, she leaves it all out there. I knew the AFLW was a real ambition of hers.

“It’s funny how things work out, that’s we’re here in Australia getting ready to go up against each other for different teams at the weekend. This is knockout championship from here on in. One of us is done come Saturday!”

And if the curtain was to come down for the Gold Coast at the weekend, would McLaughlin like to give Oz another shot in 2024?

“I think it’s come at a really nice time, the right time in life, this opportunity I mean. Look, I’m definitely coming back home because I love playing for Donegal.

“I’ll never say never but if there is a chance to come back out next season I’d definitely be interested in giving it another whack. Like I said, I feel like I’m only now really getting the hang of it. I’m really happy I decided to give it a shot”.

Burning Ambition 

Unbelievably, Kennedy’s elevation to the Sydney senior ranks only came about as a late draft pick back in July after another of the squad’s members was ruled out due to a season-long injury.

But she’s been one of the main reasons the team - who didn’t pick up a single win last term - have secured a top-eight finish and a finals spot.

“I’ve been keeping a really good eye on Niamh and she’s been awesome - a little machine,” says Kennedy when asked about McLaughlin’s impact Down Under. “We’ve been through it all, we go way back.

“We were up and down the road to Dublin together going to trials for the national U-15 sides. We went to Irish tournaments and, right up until I left for here, we were teammates of some description.

“It’s mad to think, at this stage of things, we’re meeting in the AFLW finals on Saturday. She’s been through it as well. She’s had her adversity and her knockbacks. The ACL injuries, like I can’t begin to imagine the toll that took.

“We’re two different characters but underneath it all she’s one of the most determined and single-minded people I’ve ever met. When she wants something she goes and gets it”.

While the opportunity to give Aussie Rules a go was presented to McLaughlin, Kennedy’s road was the one more travelled.

She’d already booted the oval ball around at local level in Sydney and it’s there that she eventually caught the eye of ex-Tipperary and Swans star Colin O’Riordan, who now works with the club in a coaching and recruitment capacity.

“It was very quick. I’d come home to play for Donegal last year and getting to that level that season, going back I really wanted to ramp it up over here as well. I really wanted to aim for it (AFLW) - it became my sole focus and desire.

“I’d come on the Swans’ radar but I still wasn’t getting drafted. But when one of the other girls got injured I got picked”.

Kennedy is still employed in traffic control in the city but is fazing out that workload with the ambition of becoming a full-time athlete.

And the AFL Players Association (AFLPA) is proposing that all AFLW players become full-time athletes in the very near future.

“Since I got onto the AFL programme, there are different pathways and opportunities. There is still that wee juggle right now but it’s something I’m looking at. Rest and recuperation are priorities and with work commitments, it’s harder to get that balance.

“So it’s something I’ll definitely be looking at moving forward”.

Having turned 30, Kennedy admits that this late opportunity to realise what was a childhood dream, isn’t lost on her.

“You take it for granted when you’re younger - those trips away with the national football team. But the older you get the more you realise it’s not forever and that chances like this don’t come around that often.

“Again, that chance to go back for Donegal is part of that thought process too. The last two years have been amazing - I’ve been so, so lucky. We won an Ulster title and we were within a whisker of an All-Ireland final at Croke Park against Meath.

“It meant everything. The way it worked out was amazing. And I mean just getting back to play with the girls as well. I missed that and I missed them.

“I know it didn’t work out against Meath but we were so close. To have had it right there in our hands… it’s still an experience I look back at positively. It put me on the path to what I have now”.

Kennedy doesn’t know just yet who she’ll be assigned to tag when the Gold Coast Suns come their way on Saturday. But if it's McLaughlin, it’ll be a duel with the very real potential to be decisive on the end result.

“Of all people, I don’t want to see her coming! It’s all on the line, knockout football. One of us is going to come out on the wrong end of it - that’s sport. I know she’ll be on her game, she always is. I just have to make sure I am as well.

“Regardless, we know as a club we’ve made real progress this term. We’re going into it with nothing to lose. I’m sure there’ll be eyes from home on it so who knows what will happen. Leave it all out on the field, that’s the plan”.

Regardless of the weekend’s result, there is still the potential for another all-Donegal head-to-head in the finals with Glenfin’s Yvonne Bonner starring for the high-flying Adelaide Crows.

“The Crows are one of the best teams in the league,” said Kennedy. “They are the form team. And Yvonne is making her usual impact, scoring goals. Fair play to her, what a move to come back out with the family.

“She just has it. And it’ll take a serious team to beat the Crows. They’re coming into the finals with serious momentum”.

To stream the game live, click here . The action gets under way on Saturday morning at 8.15am Irish time.