INTERNATIONAL RULES AUSTRALIA v IRELAND (Friday, Gold Coast, 9.45am, Irish-time):IRELAND MANAGER Anthony Tohill says he is happy with the progress of his injured players with the second Test against Australia just a few days away.
Pearce Hanley, Neil McGee, Joe McMahon and Emmet Bolton all skipped training in the Gold Coast’s Metricon Stadium yesterday but no decision has yet been taken on their likely participation in the series finale.
Speaking after training on the pitch, which he described as “patchy” but playing well, Tohill said: “Joe didn’t tear his calf but he tore a few fibres in the muscle early Friday night so he wasn’t able to play. The injury wasn’t as bad as was feared. He had a scan yesterday and it was pretty okay so both of them should be available to play.
“Pearce is fine. We just gave him a night off. He’s in good shape. He’d a good game the other night so we’ve no concerns about Pearce.”
The biggest injury concern was Kildare’s Emmet Bolton, who had to be removed on a stretcher with a serious-looking head injury and was detained in a Melbourne hospital on Friday night pending the outcome of tests, which gave him the all clear although his match fitness hasn’t been decided.
“He’s recovering well,” said Tohill. “His whole neck area is stiff and sore, as you can imagine if you saw the collision. He has been sore for a few days, but it’s freeing up and he was up to a good three-quarter pace there this evening. It’s all looking positive and we expect him to be available.”
With Bolton not definitively ruled out, there remains the prospect that Donegal All Star Karl Lacey, included in the party as stand-by for Finian Hanley, who was eventually able to travel, might see no action in the series.
“There’s that danger. To be honest, we haven’t spoken about that until we see where we’re at with our injured players. We’ll make a call on that when we know the full situation with Joe and Emmet – those are the two we are mainly concerned with.
“Kevin Reilly is in really, really good shape tonight and he’s in much better condition than he was last week.”
The Ireland manager wasn’t getting worked up over the increasingly bellicose utterances coming from the Australia camp concerning the need to intensify the physicality of their game after a disappointing first Test.
“Nah. When a team suffers a defeat at all you expect the players to respond the next time out and I’m sure there’ll be a response from Australia. If it’s within the rules of the game and it’s hard and fair we’ve no issue at all.”
Although concerned about the long-term future of the series in the light of Ireland’s big win and the low crowd at the first Test, his immediate focus is on Friday’s encounter.
“Our department is about winning the series and, as I said after the first Test, Ireland played really attractive, open football. It should have been entertaining for those from Ireland anyway. The crowd’s not something we can deal with, but it is a concern for the wider future of the series.
“We talked about what the risks were and apathy was one of them – either from spectators or players. It’s not a worry right now, because we’ve got to worry about Friday night and that’s where our focus us, but it is a wider concern.”
He also said he was surprised by the Australians allowing media attend their pre-match, half-time and post-match dressing-room briefings.
“I was, yeah! I found that really surprising. It’s a different culture and I don’t think they do it in the AFL. There were a couple of articles written about it and they were an interesting read.
“I can see why people would want to get in there, but there are cultural differences between Australia and Ireland. Cameras are obviously in dressing rooms in the AFL.
“They’re not in the GAA and it will be quite some time I’d say before we have you boys in the dressing rooms listening to half-time team-talks in All-Ireland finals!”
