Geelong Cats 98 Sydney Swans 39

Australian Football League Semi Finals

Zach Tuohy is just two steps away from becoming the second ever Irish man to win the AFL title after Geelong Cats crushed Sydney Swans in the semi final this afternoon.

The Cats are now into a preliminary final where they will hope to get through to the Grand Final.

Geelong ended up here after losing to Richmond last week and they will now be up against Adelaide.

The Swans, who are the club which Stradbally’s Colm Begley used to play for, came into the game as overwhelming favourites after winning 15 of their previous 17 games.

But despite going down by 46 points when the pair clashed in the regulation season, Geelong turned the tide dramatically in the MCG to win by 59 points.

The sides were close enough in the opening quarter with Geelong taking a 19-14 lead.

However, it was the second quarter where the Cats did the damage as they outscored the Swans by six goals to one to move 58-22 ahead at the break.

And there was little change in the third quarter as Geelong ended it 82-33 in front before easing down in the final quarter to seal the win.

Tuohy is also joined by the young Kerry native Mark O’Connor. The 20 year-old broke through this year and has got to play two games for Geelong.

Tuohy, who secured a move to Geelong from Carlton, has been one of the trades of the season and was recently deemed unfortunate by Australian media to have missed-out on the All-Australian shortlisting.

The All-Australian award is the equivalent of the GAA All-Star award and only one Irish man has ever received the award, Jim Stynes.

Tuohy’s superb season has been backed up by his stats finishing third on the list of possessions on the Geelong team in the regular season and most impressively finishing top of the list for the number kicks for his team.

Tuohy has been rubbing shoulders with some of the best players in the AFL as team mates Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood, who made the All-Australian shortlist, are in the running for the Brownlow Medal which is awarded to the player of the year.

The Portlaoise man Tuohy will be hoping that his home club secure their 10th county title in 11 years but the chances of the AFL star returning home to be involved will seem unlikely if Geelong keep their march towards glory going.

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