Early withdrawals for late start

International Rules: Ireland manager Seán Boylan has released details of his provisional training panel for October's International Rules series against Australia in Galway and Croke Park. The group of 44 players has not been fully confirmed but those available will convene for the panel's first training session this Saturday in Westmanstown, Dublin.

The panel is open and doesn't include players from the five counties still involved in the concluding stages of the All-Ireland football championship, Cork, Kerry, Mayo, Laois and Dublin. There are some other counties that haven't been considered yet because of county championship fixtures.

"The response has been very good," said Boylan yesterday. "We've been going around looking at matches and talking to players to see who's interested. We haven't finished talking to everyone so this is only a provisional panel until we sort out availability and before we look at the counties that are still involved.

"Barry Owens and Marty McGrath from Fermanagh had championship matches and we decided to give them and the Westmeath players some extra time."

There have, however, already been problems with some of the players on the announced list.

"Some lads are going to be away when the series is on," said Boylan. "Ryan McMenamin and Philip Jordan are two. Then Paul McGrane's wife is expecting a baby so that will tie him down. Eamonn O'Hara is committed to a charity fund-raiser abroad but I haven't fully given up on any of the players named and if there's a way around their difficulties we'll try to find it."

There would have been some scepticism about the intentions of McMenamin and Jordan after last year's notorious second Test in Melbourne's Telstra Dome when Jordan was assaulted by Australian joint captain Chris Johnston, earning the Brisbane Lions back a stiff suspension that will keep him out of this year's series.

McMenamin, identified in the Australian media as Ireland's "hit man", was also the subject of special attention. There had been speculation some of the players had decided not to participate in the series again after the violent scenes that scarred the second Test.

Nonetheless Boylan emphasised his main concern was the far greater facility the Australians showed with the round ball in recording a record series victory and becoming the first senior international team to break the 100-point barrier in a Test.

Training begins in Westmanstown at 10am on Saturday, a week later than Boylan had originally intended. "We'll have about 30 available to attend this week," he said. "Last week it would only have been 16 because of county championships and players sanctioned to play overseas."

The picture will become clearer after this weekend's championship matches, which should cut the All-Ireland field down to three. Laois, Mayo, Cork and Kerry all had representatives in last year's Ireland squad and their players will come into consideration.

Boylan is facing into his first series since being appointed in succession to Peter McGrath. His selectors are two former Ireland captains, Galway's Pádraic Joyce and Anthony Tohill from Derry, as well as Kerry's Eoin Liston, a survivor of the series' early days back in the 1980s and 1990s.