Australians top Irish in rules series

Once more this hybrid of Aussie Rules and Gaelic football proved to be a success, with 60,000 spectators braving the rain to witness Ireland’s failed attempt to claw back from a 10-point deficit from the first game. Like the rugby players a day later, this was still a courageous performance, but despite a valuable victory for the visitors, this was the first time that Australia had won a series on home soil.
Predictably, the GAA and the Australian Football League put pens to paper afterward to secure the series until 2012. “It’s definitely here to stay, so we have to make sure that the GAA does everything we can to put ourselves in a position to win as often as possible,” said the GAA president, Sean Kelly. “The Australians are taking it very seriously so we have to ensure that we don’t fall behind in any way.”
Trailing going into last Friday’s second test, the Irish once again got off to a flying start only to be pegged back by the Australians in the final quarter. There were high hopes of a success in that final 20 minutes, at the start of which the Ireland led by 44-27, but with the introduction of Nathan Brown and with the disparity in the fitness levels of the home professionals and the visiting amateurs, the gap was inexorably closed.
Strangely, manager John O’Keeffe, who is stepping down after two years in charge, left out Colin Corkery at the start, but it didn’t affect a blistering first quarter, during which the Irish scored two goals through the outstanding Steven McDonnell and Brian McDonald. With Kieran McGeeney mopping up a lot of loose ball and with captain Graham Canty doing a highly effective marking job on Barry Hall, who had dominated the first test, Ireland were looking good.
In fact, so impressive were McDonnell and Canty that Australia’s coach, Garry Lyon, expressed his surprise that more GAA players weren’t being signed by to play professional Aussie Rules. In recent years, only Dublin’s Jim Stynes and Tadgh Kennelly of Kerry had made an impact. “When you look at Jimmy and Tadgh, I’m surprised there aren’t 15 or 20 that haven’t been tried,” he said. “They’ve definitely got what it takes for the game.”
As last year, Canty was Ireland’s player of the series and the way he handled the physically stronger Hall — with greater anticipation and clever prevention of clean marks — was one of the keys to this improved performance by O’Keeffe’s team. By halftime, with Ciaran McManus and Padraig Joyce also making an impact, the Irish were 5 points clear.
It was expected, just like in the first test in Perth, that Australia would significantly up the tempo in the important third quarter. However, the Irish kept up their momentum despite conceding a penalty, which was dispatched by Robert Harvey. Joyce and Cork’s Anthony Lynch made important contributions and the lead was up to 17 points going into the last quarter.
But the home side, with Brown breaking free from his marker Sean Martin Lockhart, to cause havoc in the Irish defense, turned on the style as the Irish tired. There is a possibility now that the game might be reduced from 80 to 70 minutes to give the less fit Irish amateurs a better chance, and even though they held on for the win, Ireland were unable to create any chances in the closing stages to save the series.
“It was a big task to reverse a 10-point lead and I think it was obvious that we lost the series in Perth,” O’Keeffe said. “Some people asked questions about the team because the emphasis was on skill rather than physique, but with a big heart and good legs, you can make that up.”