Conor McKenna books Grand Final date as Zach Tuohy's AFL career ends in disappointment

Tyrone's Conor McKenna will have another chance of securing a Premiership medal following a thrilling 95-85 preliminary final win over Geelong as Zach Tuohy’s AFL career came to a disappointing end.

A crowd of 93,066 were present at the MCG for an absolute thriller as Brisbane secured a Grand Final date with Sydney, and a chance to make amends for last year’s loss to Collingwood.

A Patrick Dangerfield goal at the start of the third quarter put the Cats 25 points up, but Brisbane’s powers of recovery were evident once again.

McKenna replaced Oscar McInerney, who was subbed out with a bad arm injury and remained on the periphery up front as the Cats dominated possession, but he played a key role with a brilliant assist to set up Logan Morris for a vital fourth-quarter goal.

After that, Geelong came back to lead late on thanks to a pair of Oliver Henry goals as they finally made their dominance count, but goals from Callum Ah Chee and Cam Rayner swung a memorable match Brisbane’s way.

Tuohy had already announced that this season would be his last, and he had to watch on from the stands after being controversially omitted from the squad by Geelong coach Chris Scott.

"It was one of the harder calls that I think we've had to make in a long, long time," Scott had said before the game.

The Laois man is one of the most successful GAA-AFL crossover footballers having made his debut in 2011 with Carlton and winning a Grand Final with Geelong in 2022 - one of only three Irish players to do so alongside team-mate Mark O'Connor and Tadhg Kennelly with Sydney in 2005.

O'Connor also didn’t feature due to injury but Mayo’s Oisín Mullin was involved, catching the eye with some fine passing, but he still ended up on the losing side.

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