Eight Ulster players in initial Irish squad of 17

A number of players who featured in Sunday's All-Ireland final will compete in the last Irish trial for the International Rules series against Australia in Croke Park on October 11th and 18th. Manager Colm O'Rourke will add eight names to his initial panel of 17 announced yesterday.

The squad - sponsored by First Active - contains players from 13 different counties, but overall the list has a predominantly northern slant with eight Ulster players chosen. However, it is expected that a number of Galway and Kildare footballers will feature in the full panel, which will be announced on October 6th.

Neither county has had representatives at training sessions so far, as players are asked to attend training only after their team has been eliminated from the All-Ireland championship. Six Galway players and seven from Kildare have been invited to attend the concluding trial in Omagh this Saturday.

O'Rourke said yesterday: "I spoke with Ja Fallon and Michael Donnellan today and they are very keen on playing and I will speak with the others in due course. I talked with some of the Kildare lads on Sunday evening and while they are also very interested, their hopes have been somewhat diminished through injury."

O'Rourke stressed that panel contenders unable to make it to Omagh for the final session could not be considered.

Meath's John McDermott will captain the initial panel, with Tyrone's Peter Canavan selected as vice-captain. Kerry, surprisingly, have just one representative (Seamus Moynihan), as have Dublin (Brian Stynes), while no Cork player has been selected. While a number of high-profile candidates appear to have been omitted form the squad, O'Rourke explained that there were contributing factors in each case.

"We would have had quite a number of others involved but there were various factors. Tony Boyle and Barry McGowan, both of whom were going well, had to withdraw through injury and Mark O'Connor from Cork and Down's Mickey Linden both had club match commitments. Not as many of the Kerry lads could get involved as we would have liked but the reality was that they were driving long distances to train with us on a Saturday up to one o'clock and then rushing back for club games at six in the evening."

Cork's Ciaran O'Sullivan, another player who might have been expected to feature on the side, withdrew because of family responsibilities while Maurice Fitzgerald, the most striking absentee, "expressed no interest in it", according to O'Rourke.

O'Rourke, along with assistant manager Mickey Moran and co-selector John O'Keeffe, placed an emphasis on skill and mobility in selecting the final panel from a group of 40 players.

"We will try to win the games on skill and will not be resorting to any type of toughness. We want to see a fast, open skilful series and feel that rough-house stuff would not suit us, nor will it benefit the continuity of the series in the long term," he said.

O'Rourke pointed out that even the bigger players on the panel, such as Anthony Tohill and Darren Fay, were notable for their mobility and natural ball-playing skills. He predicted that the Irish side would simply not be able to match the Australians in terms of fitness or physical strength and said that skill and adaptability would prove crucial if the home side were to triumph.

Confessing that he knew little about the Australian players, he suggested that Ireland would attempt to exploit them by creating space along the wings.

"They will kick on a straight, as is their style, whereas we will try and direct ball from the middle to the wings and create scores from there. We also have a number of goal specialists in the side and they will all play as inside forwards," he said.

He expressed the hope that the panel gave a fairly balanced representation of Gaelic football, commenting that newcomers such as Donegal's Brendan Devenney and Laois defender Colm Parkinson had forced their way in through enthusiasm and skill.

Interestingly, no goalkeeper has been chosen in the initial squad but Finbar McConnell will play in Saturday's trial. The management team have been examining the option of using outfield players - including Kerry's Seamus Moynihan - to play as goalkeeper.

Ireland (17-man squad): J McDermott captain, D Fay (both Meath), P Canavan vice-captain (Tyrone), K McGeeney, D Marsden (both Armagh), A Tohill, SM Lockhart (both Derry), P Brewster (Fermanagh), B Stynes (Dublin), J Ken- ny, F Cullen (both Offaly), C Parkinson (Laois), S Moynihan (Kerry), B Devenney (Donegal), D Foley (Tipperary), J Nallen (Mayo), D McCabe (Cavan).

The Galway and Kildare contenders are Tomas Mannion, Sean de Paor, Michael Donnellan, Ja Fallon, Kevin Walsh and Gary Fahy (all Galway) and Glen Ryan, Niall Buckley, Declan Kerrigan, Eddie McCormack, Dermot Earley, Anthony Rainbow and John Finn.