Zach Tuohy celebrates Geelong triumph with touching homage to his Irish and GAA roots
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Zach Tuohy celebrates Geelong’s win with a touching tribute to his roots as he becomes only the third Irishman to win an AFL Grand Final
- Zach Tuohy paid tribute to his roots at the Grand Final celebrations
- The defender held up a Portlaoise GAA flag, the club he played for in Ireland
- He grew up in Portlaoise in County Laois and played for city and county teams
- The 32-year-old was recruited by Carlton and made his AFL debut in 2011
- He signed for the Cats in 2017 and played in 2020 AFL Grand Final
- REPORT: Geelong beats Sydney by 81 points to end 11 years of waiting for the flag
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Zach Tuohy paid tribute to his roots as he celebrated Geelong’s Grand Final victory against Sydney on Saturday.
The Irish star was spotted holding a green and white flag that read ‘Come on to town’ after the Cats’ 20.13 (133) to 8.4 (52) shellacking of the Swans at the MCG.
The colors are those of Portlaoise GAA, the club Tuohy played for in the Republic of Ireland before moving to AFL in 2011.
Zach Tuohy starred as the Cats destroyed Sydney in Saturday’s grand finale
“Great to see Zac Tuohy fly the Portlaoise GAA flag on Grand Final day,” the club tweeted.
Portlaoise is the county town – the principal town or city in a particular county in the United Kingdom and Ireland – of the county of Laois in Leinster, one of the three counties of the Republic.
Born and raised in Portlaoise, Tuohy became a regular of Laois junior teams, winning the Leinster Minor Football Championship in 2007.
Two years later, the Gaelic football defender switched to Aussie rules after being recruited by Carlton and making his AFL debut in 2011.
Tuohy held up the Portaloise flag, the Irish city in which he was born and grew up
His former club noticed the tribute and shared a photo of his tribute on Twitter
The 32-year-old ended up with 17 divestments when the Cats destroyed Sydney at the MCG
Tuohy is only the second Irishman after Tadhg Kennelly to win the AFL Grand Final
After playing 120 games for the Blues in five years, Tuohy signed for Geelong in 2017, for whom he has since amassed 147 appearances and scored 47 goals.
The 32-year-old was on the losing side as the Cats were hammered 31 points by Richmond in the 2020 Grand Final, but Saturday’s disappointment was made up for with 17 disposals.
The second-ever Irishman to have played at least 200 AFL games after the late great Jim Stynes, Tuohy and Cats teammate Mark O’Connor are the only men born on the Emerald Isle to have won the AFL Grand Final after Tadhg Kennelly.
The latter won the flag when the Swans defeated West Coast by four points to end a 72-year wait for a premiership in 2005 and is the only player to win both the AFL Grand Final and a Senior-All Ireland Championship. career won.