Brian McEniff, Ireland manager for the autumn's International Rules series, expressed satisfaction with yesterday's first major trial for the international panel. "It went very well," he said of the match in Mullingar, where Ulster-Munster beat Leinster-Connacht. "As the game progressed, it got better and better." Thirty nine players turned out for the trial and three others attended but were unable to play - Tyrone's Peter Canavan, Mayo's Noel Connelly and Cork's Joe Kavanagh are all carrying injuries of one type or another. None of the five counties still involved in the football championship are expected to allow their players to get involved in the panel, but as soon as the All-Ireland final is settled, more players will be called to the training sessions. "I expect to be on the phone this weekend after the Dublin-Kildare replay so that players can be invited along as soon as possible," said McEniff after yesterday's trial.
"The players still in the championship will have a good level of fitness, but for those who haven't been in action with their counties, there'll be work to do. They've lost a fair bit of their fitness. John O'Keeffe (the team trainer) put them through a short, sharp session and I said that it would behove them to take care of their fitness.
"In an ordinary football match, the ball is in play for only about 35 minutes out of the 70 but in this, the restarts are a lot quicker and the ball is in play for about 65 or 67 minutes of the 80. Fitness is very important."
O'Keeffe will be detailing fitness regimes for the players and outlining the sort of demands they will face in the two-test series this October. McEniff's final panel will be named at the beginning of September when the numbers will be trimmed to around 30.
Already the captaincy has changed hands. Meath's John McDermott has lost out to his club and county colleague Trevor Giles, although his manager is at pains to point out that there was nothing McDermott could have done. "John's work commitments are up in Inishowen and without a helicopter, it's been impossible for him to attend training sessions at 6.30 a.m. on a Saturday up to now. I didn't displace him and I know it's been a disappointment for him, but I wanted to make the appointment.
"He made a big impact today. For the first 15 minutes it was a disaster. Players weren't getting the hang of it at all and I was thinking: `how is this going to work?' Then John and Trevor began to lead by example and the other players copied them and got a feel of playing together. You could see John's made a fair study of the game."
Training sessions will continue on Saturdays in Dublin for the rest of the month and players from the losing semi-finalists will come on board as the season progresses.
