Keith Duggan talks to Matthew Pavlich about his match-winning debut in International Rules.

A strange time to be in a strange land for a 20-year-old. Matthew Pavlich takes a deep breath and attempts to explain how he feels at this moment.

He has just become the star of a game that he really doesn't know all that much about. He has just worn his national jersey in competition for the first time.

On a small island in Indonesia, some of his best friends are walking around dazed after being caught up in the latest chapter of global terrorism. And he has managed to achieve the impossible: he has mastered the round ball. It has been a big day.

"To win for Australia is something I will never forget. And with all the turmoil at the moment, it's a cliché, but this is something I'll tell the grandkids. I'm just so proud to have worn the Australian colours here on Irish soil and to have won."

In Oz, Pavlich is the brand new poster boy of the domestic football game after a stunning season with Fremantle. Had it not been for the International Rules, he would have made the short leap from home to Bali for some off-season sun and partying.

News of what had happened on the island stunned Pavlich and the touring party.

"We were just getting calls from everyone and it was a bit unsettling. It put the game in perspective and the minute's silence beforehand really made us reflect on it. About 35 of my team were in Bali, but fortunately they were all unscathed.

"Bali is such a popular destination with AFL players. I was there last year and would have been there again now had it not been for this tour. It's scary to think about."

In the first half, the visiting team played as if their minds were elsewhere. It was a slow-burning performance and the visitors really only came alive when Pavlich nailed the first goal of the game.

"We were very positive at half-time knowing that if we could just convert a few opportunities, we could make them pay," he explains.

"Basically they were getting a free ride in the first half and we had to hold them up and then start to take our own chances."

He admits that he has spent the last week kicking and kicking the unholy curse that is the round ball with some and occasionally no success. But practice makes perfect and, cometh the hour, he placed his goal chance neatly beyond Peter Burke.

"Obviously a six-pointer is massive. I think Chris Johnson made a fantastic tackle and turned the ball over and then I got the opportunity.

"I wasn't actually sure when the umpire called advantage which way it was going so I just played on and it went in. So, yeah, it was great."

Goals are a novelty for the Australians, and so surprised was the forward to see his shot hit the net that he was unsure how to celebrate. He has seen enough soccer games to know the scene, and even if it was way too Arctic for a bout of shirt waving, he had planned to cut loose.

"Yeah, I had said to my mates in Australia that if I kick an under, I'd go crazy," he admits ruefully.

"But when it happened, I think all I did was go 'yessss'," he says, raising his arms tamely.

Worst of all, most of his friends Down Under were staying up late in the hope of seeing his Beckham impression.

"I hope so. I'd say they are out watching it in a pub somewhere. Looking from the outside before, there has been a reasonable amount of hype, so when everyone gets up tomorrow and learns

Australia have beaten Ireland, especially given what has happened, there will be a lot of pride."

And they will tune in next Sunday expecting the Pavlich goal shuffle.