He played for less than ten minutes but it was enough for Conor McKenna to etch his name into the history books this morning by becoming the first Ulster-born player in history to win an AFL Premiership after the Brisbane Lions demolished the Sydney Swans 60-120 at the MCG.
The Tyrone All-Ireland winner has become only the second Irish player in history after Kerry legend Tadhg Kennelly to hold both Sam Maguire and AFL Premiership winner’s medals.
If that wasn’t enough, McKenna has also joined an exclusive club of only four Irish players - Kennelly, McKenna, Zach Tuohy, and Mark O’Connor - to win an AFL Premiership.
On a day of momentous AFL history in Melbourne, Brisbane won their first premiership for over two decades and also became only the fourth team in history to win a Grand Final after finishing outside the top four places at the end of the regular season.
McKenna was named in Brisbane’s starting 18 for the second consecutive week but he was unsurprisingly named as Brisbane’s substitute in keeping with his ‘Super sub’ role in recent weeks.
Troubled by hamstring and groin Injuries this season, the Eglish man has been below his best this season, but Brisbane coach Chris Fagan kept faith with the dashing half-back, giving McKenna the licence to run at opposition defenders with his trademark blistering pace.
McKenna has added another dimension to Brisbane’s attacking threat in the finals series when he has popped up in the forward line and on the biggest day of the season it was no different today. He finished 3 disposals (3 kicks) and 3 marks and gained 35 metres.
Understandably, McKenna was hoping to start the Grand Final and shed the ‘super sub’ tag once and for all but none of that matters now.
Conor McKenna has a AFL premiership winners medal around his neck and the party can start in Benburb.
