Mulvihill welcomes platform for GAA

The International Rules series in Australia later this month will give the GAA the sort of international platform the association…

The International Rules series in Australia later this month will give the GAA the sort of international platform the association dreamed of two decades ago, writes Sean Moran.

That is the view of the association's director general Liam Mulvihill, who has been involved with the international project since it was first discussed in the early 1980s.

Mulvihill was referring to the festival of sport in Melbourne when the second International Rules Test will be played the night before Ireland face Australia in the rugby World Cup and within four days of the renowned Melbourne Cup race meeting.

"It can't be under-estimated," Mulvihill said yesterday, "that the eyes of the sporting world are going to be on Australia in October and November so the fact that we have our own international game being showcased there as part of this major occasion is a marvellous opportunity for us, something we dreamed about 20 years ago when we first started talking about this concept of an international game.

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"It's a marvellous opportunity for us to say: 'listen lads we're here too and we have a game that as a major spectacle can hold its own with anything else that's happening."

The director general's comments were made at a press conference to announce the finalised panel, which will travel to Australia in a fortnight's time.

Manager John O'Keeffe unveiled his 27 choices, which include a total of 15 players who will make their debuts in Australia.

They are Kildare goalkeeper Enda Murphy, Declan Browne, Kevin Cassidy, Colin Corkery, Brendan Coulter, Gary Cox, Cathal Daly, Brian Dooher, Thomas Freeman, Joe Higgins, Kevin Hughes, Tomas Kelly, Brian McDonald, Steven McDonnell and Odhran O'Dwyer.

Although Corkery is on the rookies' list, he in fact was a member of Eugene McGee's Ireland panel in 1990, the last series before an eight-year hiatus in the international games.

The big Cork forward was on the books of the Melbourne Demons for a two-year spell and was called up as a 19-year-old when McGee's panel ran into injury problems. Although Corkery trained with Ireland he never actually played in the Tests.

O'Keeffe explained the thinking behind the Corkman's recall.

"Last year we set out our stall and picked players we thought would get six-pointers (goals in football) but it didn't work. So this time we set out to unearth a target man as a plan B.

"The three I had in mind were Dermot Earley, Darragh Ó Sé and Colin."

Injuries settled the matter, as both Earley and Ó Sé are not fit to travel but O'Keeffe has been impressed by Corkery's preparations.

"He has great ability if he gets the ball into his hands and he has been very, very enthusiastic about the series."

There are no Kerry players, a source of regret to the manager and not just because he wished to see his county represented.

Ó Sé, original captaincy choice Seamus Moynihan and Tadhg Kennelly, the former minor who now plays AFL with the Sydney Swans, are all out through injuries.

Kennelly, who is home visiting his family in Listowel, has been asked to speak with the Irish squad to brief them on the likely Australian opponents. He will not, however, be part of the official party and O'Keeffe didn't even know if the player would have returned in time to give the team advice in Australia.

The manager also explained his choice of captain, Cork's Graham Canty, ahead of Armagh's captain Kieran McGeeney.

"The advantage with Graham is that because Cork didn't go so well in the championship he has been able to attend all the training sessions. He also showed commitment in training and the interest to travel to Dublin each week.

"Kieran wasn't able to be with us, through no fault of his own while Graham has been focused on this for so many weeks. But Kieran will have a major role."

Australian improvement in adapting to the international game has impressed O'Keeffe.

"I have been amazed at how they have adapted to the round ball with some of them as accurate as our players in kicking it. They're wising up to the type of player it takes to do well at this.

"Also a lot of the players coming through have had experience of the under-17 series, which has been running for the past five years as well as the senior."

Of the 12 players with experience, only Seán Martin Lockhart, who returns after a year's absence, was not part of last year's panel.

Seventeen counties in all are represented with All-Ireland finalists Tyrone and Armagh having three representatives each while Laois and Cork also have three players each on the panel.

Offaly's Ciarán McManus is the only player to have been selected for all six series since the International Rules project was revived in 1998 after an eight-year lapse.

McGeeney and Lockhart are the only other survivors from five years ago.