GAA/International Rules: Ireland manager Seán Boylan has deferred finalising his panel until after a trial match next weekend, less than a week before the first Test in Galway on October 28th. The panel has been updated, however, since last weekend's training camp in France.

A number of players have been omitted since last week's provisional panel - Mayo's Ger Brady and Alan Dillon, Meath pair Joe Sheridan and Charles McCarthy, Darren Rooney of Laois and Karol Slattery from Offaly.

Players not considered because of injury were Conor Gormley (Tyrone), Kevin McCloy (Derry), Ciarán McKeever (Armagh), Bryan Cullen (Dublin) and Setanta Ó hAilpín (Cork and Carlton).

"After the training camp we had hoped to finalise the panel," said Boylan, "but we've decided to hold off and reduce the panel down to 33. There'll be a final session in Galway on Saturday, after which we'll announce the final panel."

The 33 selected will have to be further thinned down to a series panel of 27 or 28.

It was also confirmed that Armagh's Kieran McGeeney would captain the team for both Tests. His vice-captain will be Kerry's Tadhg Kennelly, an AFL Grand Final winner with the Sydney Swans, who will captain Ireland next year in Australia.

"Some people are born leaders and it's a great honour to have Kieran with us," said Boylan. "Over the past couple of months he's been an inspiration to us."

It's been a bit of a resurrection for McGeeney, who is 34 this year and had been left off the last two panels by Boylan's predecessor Peter McGrath. The player confirmed he had been available for selection but just surplus to requirements for both the record Irish win in 2004 and the record defeat a year later.

"It's a tremendous honour," he said about the captaincy, "and I'm proud that Seán and his selectors have placed their faith in me. I hope that I can repay them on the field. As long as I'm fit enough to play, I'm open to play. You're long enough not playing."

This year's series is a critical one after the violence that marred last year's Tests and just as seriously from an Irish point of view the gulf in skills between Australia and Ireland.

"I don't think that Australia have come over to fight," said McGeeney. "Anyway, there are rules in place to counteract that. One yellow card and you're off and your team are down a man."

Kennelly, who wasn't available to play last year but criticised the violent incidents, said the actions hadn't been well received in Australia. "They were very embarrassed about what happened," he said, "both players and public."

Boylan's selectors are all former internationals - Anthony Tohill (Derry) and Pádraic Joyce (Galway) of recent vintage and Kerry's Eoin Liston, who played in the inaugural series in 1984.

Liston declined to comment on the speculation linking him with the recently vacant Kerry job, saying that for the day he'd stick to "the international stuff".

The Australians will arrive next week, flying into Shannon, from where they will set up base in Killarney in preparation for the Galway Test. They won't be arriving in Dublin until the second week of their trip, in advance of the second Test.

It was also confirmed that the first Test in Galway is a sell-out and 45,000 tickets have been pre-sold for the second Test, in Dublin on November 5th.

"It's been very successful so far," said Croke Park's Dermot Power, "and well in excess of anything we've sold by this stage previously. Assuming this keeps up and the series is still in the balance, we should have over 70,000 in attendance for the second Test." The record for a Test to date is the 71,552 who attended the second Test at Croke Park in October 2002.

Power also defended the use of the slogan "It's time to play - hard", used in radio advertising. "It is a hard game," he said. "No one's suggesting anything other than physically fair play within the rules."

The Irish referees for the series will be Pat McEnaney from Monaghan, who also officiated in the 2000 and 2001 series, and Meath's David Coldrick, who travelled to Australia last year.

This double appointment, a departure from having one official from each country, follows last year's precedent when Coldrick shared the duties with Michael O'Sullivan from Cork.

IRELAND (training panel): Aidan O'Mahony, Marc Ó Sé, Kieran Donaghy, Paul Galvin, Brendan Guiney (all Kerry), Tadhg Kennelly (Sydney Swans & Kerry), Kevin Reilly, Anthony Moyles, Graham Geraghty (all Meath), Alan Quirke, Ger Spillane, Nicholas Murphy, Donncha O'Connor (all Cork), Kieran McGeeney, Ronan Clarke, Steven McDonnell (all Armagh), Tom Kelly (Laois), Colm Begley (Brisbane Lions & Laois), Seán Martin Lockhart, Paddy Bradley (both Derry), Shane Ryan, Alan Brogan (both Dublin), Kieran Fitzgerald, Joe Bergin (both Galway), Seán Cavanagh, Stephen O'Neill (both Tyrone), Brendan Coulter, Michael Walsh (both Down), Paul Barden (Longford), Dermot Earley (Kildare), Johnny McCarthy (Limerick), Karl Lacey (Donegal), Dessie Dolan (Westmeath).