They are a proud people in Eglish.
And on Saturday morning that pride will stretch from southeast Tyrone to the centre of the MCG in Melbourne when a son of the parish aims to become just the second player in history to win both a Sam Maguire and an AFL Premiership.
If Conor McKenna’s Brisbane Lions beat Collingwood in Saturday’s AFL Grand Final then he will join Tadhg Kennelly (Sydney Swans 2005 and Kerry 2009) in claiming both.
McKenna’s second coming in Australia has gone better than some predicted. But around Eglish, it has turned out just as they anticipated.
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“Conor is a winner, you meet many people in this life but some are just naturally driven, and that’s Conor for as long as I’ve known him,” says Eglish senior football manager Mattie McGleenan, who also taught McKenna in St Patrick’s Grammar School, Armagh.
“His competitive nature is unbelievable, whether it’s table tennis or soccer or Gaelic football, Conor wants to win.
“The whole club, the school, everybody in the area, we are immensely proud of what he has done.
“Obviously we would love to have him playing Gaelic football with us, but to have a lad from Eglish as a professional sportsman playing in such a huge game on the other side of the world, everybody here is behind him.
“He is one of our own, from a small club in Tyrone, it’s unreal.”
Eglish, which lies just outside Dungannon, is the kind of place where community matters. In 2011, the Eglish Historical Society published The Book of Eglish: Where the Oona Flows. One of the main drivers behind the project was the late Brendan McAnallen, father of Cormac who tragically passed away in 2004.
Kennelly captured his AFL title before returning home to Kerry in search of Sam, while 27-year-old McKenna is now hoping to land the same prizes but in reverse order.
He signed a rookie contract with Essendon in October 2014 but returned to Ireland in late 2020. It seemed, after 79 AFL appearances, McKenna’s dalliance with the oval ball was over. He accepted an invite to join the Tyrone squad for the 2020 winter championship and remained on-board for 2021 – a season which ended on the top steps of the Hogan Stand as an All-Ireland SFC winner.
Then in late summer last year it emerged McKenna had received offers of a possible AFL return. He eventually agreed to join Brisbane, but initially only on a one-year contract.
“He bet on himself,” says McGleenan. “He took a one-year deal and said, ‘I’m going to turn up and play and you are going to see I am worth signing for longer.’”
Just days before last week’s preliminary final victory over Carlton, McKenna agreed a new two-year contract with the Lions.
“I know from speaking to him last year that a huge goal of his was to win 100 caps and also when he was going out again it wasn’t to go to just any team, he wanted a team that was going to compete at the latter stages of the competition,” continues McGleenan.
“His attitude, his drive, his motivation to get the best out of himself has always set him apart from other players. Whatever he puts his hand to, he goes after 100 per cent and I’ve no doubt he will pour everything has to try win on Saturday.”
McKenna has now made 25 appearances for Brisbane this season, taking his overall AFL figure to 104. Kilkenny’s Darragh Joyce is also on Brisbane’s books and he has made five appearances this season – the last of those in their Round 6 win over the GWS Giants.
Dublin’s James Madden has made two appearances during this campaign for the Lions, the most recent of those in a Round 17 victory over the West Coast Eagles, so three Irish players could pick up a Premiership at the weekend.
Only three Irish players have won AFL Premierships – Zach Tuohy and Mark O’Connor with Geelong in 2022, and Kennelly with Sydney in 2005.
Coincidentally, it was a phone call a decade ago from Kennelly – who was recruiting Irish players at the time – that set McKenna’s AFL career in motion. McKenna excelled during trials in Dublin and London, leading to an AFL Draft Combine in Melbourne after which he signed for Essendon.
“From not really hearing about AFL to actually getting signed was probably a nine-month period, it all happened pretty quickly,” McKenna said in a recent interview with the Brisbane Lions website.
During that interview he also outlined his struggles adapting to the oval ball, dealing with homesickness and eventually returning to Ireland during Covid in 2020.
“One of the reasons to go home was to play Gaelic football again and try win an All-Ireland title. I was lucky enough to succeed second year home and it definitely had a massive impact on me coming back,” he added.
McKenna’s Eglish clubmates will be tuning in early on Saturday morning to watch the AFL Grand Final (kick-off is 5.30am Irish time), while he will also have family at the MCG.
“It comes down to good parenting, he comes from a great family. His mum and dad, Sheila and Pat, they have been role models for Conor and he has been a role model for so many kids in the area,” says McGleenan.
“It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, it’s just brilliant. His family are heading out to see him, it is going to be a fabulous weekend, we just hope he can do what Tadhg Kennelly managed and win both. It would be heady times in Eglish.”
Speaking after last week’s preliminary final victory, during which McKenna kicked an important second-quarter goal, Brisbane coach Chris Fagan touched on his overall contribution.
“Conor McKenna wants to be an Irishman who plays in an AFL final, so he played like that – he wants to play in the Grand Final next week,” said Fagan. “He’s a terrific story.”
And it’s not over yet.
