Fears have been expressed that this autumn's International Rules series will again be disrupted by club fixtures, as it was during the last home Tests two years ago. Then manager Brian McEniff's preparations were wrecked both by the replayed All-Ireland football final the day before the first Test and the number of players who weren't available or had to play club matches in the days before the international. The series ended in Ireland's worst result, a 2 - 0  whitewash.

The national picture has been adjusted with any All-Ireland replay now taking place a week earlier, but there are no guarantees on the club front. According to new manager John O'Keeffe the concern is real.

"I remember the disruption well. Many counties are going to have a backlog of matches with the qualifiers and particularly the draws at the weekend. I am very concerned. I don't want players having to play a club championship on Saturday evening and play this the day after."

GAA president Seán McCague said no measures had yet been taken at central level. "It's impractical at the moment because we can't gauge what clubs might be involved in the latter stages of their championships and what players will be affected. When the time gets nearer we'll have a better idea of what difficulties might arise and what course of action can be taken."

One Croke Park source was gloomy about the prospect. "The qualifiers mean that more and more counties have delayed championships and I can't see two Sundays in the middle of October not leading to problems."

The chief business of yesterday's media briefing in Croke Park was to announce the appointment of Séamus Moynihan as captain for the coming series, the fifth since the international project was revived in 1998. This would have caused little surprise in any circumstance, but with last year's captain, Anthony Tohill, retiring from International Rules, Moynihan was almost a certainty. Consistently Ireland's best performer over the past four years - in a variety of positions from corner back to centrefield - he also captained Kerry to the 2000 All-Ireland title.

"I won't say much today," he told yesterday's meeting. "Hopefully I'll be able to do my talking on October 13th and 20th. It's a fantastic honour for me. I think it's important for us to make amends for what happened here two years ago. But this is a new stadium and a new Irish team. Hopefully we can get capacity crowds and give them something to cheer about."

Very few of the preliminary panel announced yesterday have been involved every year from the start, but Moynihan says there is no difficulty motivating himself.

"I've been involved since 1998 and am fairly familiar with a lot of the lads. I think it's a very entertaining game, very fast and brings out the best in players. The opportunity to pull on an Irish jersey is a rare one and it's great to be asked."

John O'Keeffe will break the cycle whereby an inexperienced manager takes over in every home series. He has been involved as selector and physical trainer with every Irish team since 1998 and will actually be the most experienced manager ever appointed by either Ireland or Australia. His management team is Fermanagh's Peter McGinnity, former Offaly star Matt Connor and former Donegal and Mayo player Martin Carney, currently an analyst on RTÉ's Sunday Game. O'Keeffe's former All-Ireland colleague Ger Power will act as the team runner.

"He's got himself into good physical condition," was O'Keeffe's droll tribute. "The wide expanse of the new Croke Park pitch won't be a problem."

It was also announced that the Irish team will prepare far more thoroughly than has been the case in the past. Players will stay in the Citywest Hotel on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday before each Test. "Before," said O'Keeffe, "players were playing on the Sunday and didn't get together again until the following Saturday."

This will go some way to redressing the imbalance between the close-knit environment of the visiting team and the more scattered preparation of the home side.

Meath's Graham Geraghty has been included in the preliminary panel even though he announced his retirement from intercounty football last month.

"Graham's been notified that the door is open for him," said O'Keeffe. "We have sent letters to everyone on the list asking them to notify Croke Park if they will not be available. Anyone still left in the All-Ireland is exempt from training."

That will take place on Friday evenings in Portmarnock, allowing those involved to fly in and out of nearby Dublin Airport in the one day. O'Keeffe stressed that places in the final panel will remain open to those still involved in the All-Ireland championship as management will continue to monitor individuals.

The series will again be sponsored by Coca Cola.

IRELAND TRAINING SQUAD

Declan O'Keeffe (Kerry), Stephen Cluxton (Dublin), Peter Burke (Mayo), Fergal Doherty (Derry), Cathal Daly (Offaly), Darren Fay (Meath), Gary Fahey (Galway), David Heaney (Mayo), Graham Canty (Cork), Michael McCarthy (Kerry), Coman Goggins (Dublin), Stephen Lucey (Limerick), Seamus Moynihan (Kerry), Declan Meehan (Galway), Tomas Ó Sé (Kerry), Kieran McGeeney (Armagh), Anthony Rainbow (Kildare), Ryan McMenamin (Tyrone), Cormac McAnallen (Tyrone), Paul McGrane (Armagh), John Galvin (Limerick), Colin Holmes (Tyrone), Darragh Ó Sé (Kerry), Ciarán Whelan (Dublin), Joe Bergin (Dublin), Jarlath Fallon (Galway), Michael Donnellan (Galway), Brendan Jer O'Sullivan (Cork), Trevor Giles (Meath), James Gill (Mayo), Paul Barden (Longford), Dermot Earley (Kildare), Mark Stanfield (Louth), Eamonn O'Hara (Sligo), Ciarán McManus (Offaly), Padraig Joyce (Galway), Graham Geraghty (Meath), Evan Kelly (Meath), Brian Dooher (Tyrone), Colin Moran (Dublin), John Gildea (Donegal), Brendan Devenney (Donegal), Colin Corkery (Cork).