FOR A team who have just posted the record win in an International Rules series, Ireland seem, well, a bit grumpy. Manager Anthony Tohill walks in with his vice captain Ciarán McKeever and immediately protests at the ambient temperature in the sweltering media room in Gold Coast’s Metricon Stadium.
“The air-con’s on,” he barks incredulously. “Is it turned to warm?”
We know. We’ve been waiting all this time for him to arrive.
Once the questions start, Tohill – the only person to captain and manage a series-winning team – ummm, warms to his task.
“Yes. Our target before we came out here was to win the series 2-0 and we did half of that job last Friday night and we finished that job tonight. We’re very relieved and satisfied with our victory.”
He spoke about the decision to leave Donegal’s Karl Lacey out for a second week after he had made the long journey as back-up for Finian Hanley. “It’s the hardest thing I had to do – tell Karl Lacey that he wasn’t going to take any part in the game. But I had a conversation with him before we left Ireland on that basis and there were no guarantees that Karl was going to see action.”
There is clearly an undercurrent of unhappiness about some of the refereeing decisions, including the six yellow cards or sin-binnings handed out. Tohill doesn’t want to detour around the referees but McKeever, one of the yellow-carded, is as direct and abrasive at the press conference as he is on the field.
Asked was he surprised at the decision against him, he replies: “Nah, I wasn’t surprised. It’s not uncommon for Australian referees to give them everything that goes. I wasn’t surprised when I charged and the boy hit the deck to get a yellow card. You just have to get on with it.”
Asked was it a relief to have come through a match where the physical confrontation had been intensified by the Australians without it turning into a blood bath, Tohill cautions against complacency.
“It’s a very, very fine line. For a while tonight, I thought it was going to boil over. I’m relieved to get all my players off that pitch with no injuries. There was a time there tonight when I was concerned where that game was going. I’m just glad that it settled down and we finished with no injuries.
“It’s a fine line when you start asking for that type of aggression in a game of football because, once you play with the same players out there, in the heat of the game players will do things, you can’t say ‘well go so hard but not that hard’. It’s a fine line.”
For AFL coach Rodney Eade it’s been a frustrating couple of weeks but he rounds off with a gracious concession.
“Well done to the Irish. I thought they were fantastic. They thoroughly deserved to win. They were very professional. To me, professionalism isn’t measured in money. It means the way you go about it. Their application was outstanding and I thought it was probably the best squad they have picked. I thought they were terrific and we need to come up to that level next time.”
James Kelly, winner of the Jim Stynes medal for best Australia player after another non-stop display, believes the AFL side will attract more big names for the next series in 2013.
“I think so, it would probably make it a bit easier if it is in Ireland. The boys will get a trip over there, and get to go to Copper Face Jacks. Yeah, I think so, it didn’t work out this year with a few guys because of operations and injuries but hopefully the guys will see that we didn’t perform that well today and they will want to put their hand up in a couple of years time.”
“Where did you hear about Copper Face Jacks?” comes the curious supplementary. “I’ve heard it around the traps, mate.”
Looking forward to the resumption of the cultural interchange in two years’ time.
