International Rules Countdown: Ireland manager John O'Keeffe angrily admitted yesterday a practice match in Perth may have cost Declan Browne a place in Friday's test, writes  Seán Moran in Perth

The Tipperary player was only used sparingly and sustained a dead leg after being body-checked off the ball by a Western Australia player. O'Keeffe even threatened to halt the match.

"I was upset," he said afterwards. "It was totally off the ball and way outside the rules. The damage is done now and we have to move on. I was inclined to pull up after two quarters because I was worried whether they'd hold their heads because we were so dominant. If that sort of tackle had spread through the field we couldn't afford to lose any more players.

"I was upset at the intent behind the foul. It happened a good 12 yards from the ball and that's not on in a friendly. You might expect it on Friday evening but even then it wouldn't be acceptable."

Although Browne had to be carried off the field there is still a chance that the injury can clear. O'Keeffe lamented the fact he had intended to use the accomplished forward only sparingly.

"Declan is one of these superb finishers that I was actually minding tonight. I held him on the bench for a long time. I just wanted to give him a short run but he was unfortunate to get caught. But it's a soft tissue injury, there's nothing on the knee joint."

In Australian Rules players are allowed "bump" opponents within five metres of the ball to protect a colleague in possession. But O'Keeffe rejected this mitigation, from a local journalist, by pointing out the incident wasn't within the prescribed distance.

The player involved is Ashley Prescott, a former AFL footballer with Fremantle and Richmond. He was apologetic about the incident when questioned afterwards.

"I've only had two training sessions and I'm pretty scratchy on the rules and I probably should have made sure I knew more about the game. Whatever pressure's coming from behind in our game we look to put a block on. After playing the game since I was about nine years old I suppose instinctively I was just looking to protect my team-mate.

"Pretty much that was it but I certainly apologise to the Irish players and there was no malice in it. I chose to make that decision in a split second, which was obviously the wrong one."

The match itself fizzled out as Ireland overcame a slow start to pull away on the scoreboard for a 53-10 (3-10-5 to 0-3-1) win. The match was only 55 minutes long (two periods of 20 minutes plus a third of 15) but three six-pointers (goals in football) from Down's Benny Coulter, Stephen Kelly of Limerick and Dublin's Shane Ryan bulked up the Irish score.

The Western Australian selection looked tired after their exertions against Australia in Monday's practice match and never managed to put much pressure on Ireland.

"I think they were struggling with the ball and missed numerous chances but our defence was quite tight," said O'Keeffe.

With all the evidence of training and yesterday's match now in, O'Keeffe and his selectors must pick the team for Friday. The Ireland manager admitted the practice match had influenced him more than he had expected.

"I was impressed with four or five players who I didn't expect it from and they've played themselves into the equation. The four players to be left out is probably down to three (assuming Browne is out) now but we've definitely learned something new."

Laois's Ben McDonald is another injury concern. He twisted his ankle after tripping over a bootlace but is expected to be available.

Ireland emulated the Australians in their practice match by wearing incorrectly numbered jerseys to confuse any scouts. For their part Australia slipped Glen Jakovich into goal to give him some much needed extra practice. One negative from an Irish perspective was the inability to rehearse the rapid-fire inter-change that is a feature of the international game.

"We didn't do it properly because we didn't have the communication equipment upstairs," said O'Keeffe, "which was disappointing because we'll want to be a lot slicker on the inter-change. We realise we're falling down in that area."

IRELAND (full panel used): E Murphy (Kildare); J Bergin (Galway), D Browne (Tipperary), G Canty (Cork; captain), K Cassidy (Donegal), P Christie (Dublin), C Corkery (Cork; 9, 0-3-0), B Coulter (Down; 6, 1-0-0), G Cox (Roscommon; 1, 0-0-1), C Daly (Offaly), S Kelly (Limerick; 6, 1-0-0), D Dolan (Westmeath; 9, 0-3-0), T Freeman (Monaghan), S Ryan (Dublin; 6, 1-0-0), J Higgins (Laois), K Hughes (Tyrone), P Joyce (Galway), T Kelly (Laois), SM Lockhart (Derry), A Lynch (Cork), C McAnallen (Tyrone), C McManus (Offaly), B McDonald (Laois; 4, 0-1-1), S McDonnell (Armagh; 5, 0-1-2), K McGeeney (Armagh), P McGrane (Armagh; 4, 0-1-1), O O'Dwyer (Clare; 3, 0-1-0).