Game closer to full flowering

More International Rules records were broken in Football Park, Adelaide, last night. The capacity attendance of 45,187 was a record for the ground and brought the aggregate for the two tests to 109,513 - well over the six figures hoped for by the AFL after last week's big turnout in Melbourne.

On the field the crowd were treated to the first drawn encounter in the series and the first penalty, which Australian vice-captain Shane Crawford goaled. Yet the only statistic which mattered under the stand in the Irish dressing-room was the one that they had retained the Coca Cola International trophy by an aggregate score of eight points, 122-114.

Individual plaudits went to two excellent defensive performers, Kerry's Seamus Moynihan who curbed Australian captain and dangerman Nathan Buckley and, on the Australia side, Jason Akermanis, who shepherded Peter Canavan effectively in both tests.

Ireland manager Colm O'Rourke said the victory felt "much better than last year. We came to the pantheon of the MCG and won. Now we've come here and basically repeated the dose.

"In the first quarter everything seemed to go wrong for us. This time instead of moving the ball by foot, we had to handball it and try and cut them open with quick movements. We created a lot of goal chances but didn't really take them."

He acknowledged that the thrust of preparation had been directed at the final quarter. "They probably were fitter in some ways and we tried to keep as many fresh players as possible for the final quarter."

O'Rourke came to Australia as a player with Kevin Heffernan's panel in 1986 but said there was no comparison between the two experiences.

"Back then the idea hadn't the full support of the authorities and the crowds were very small. I'm not running down the achievement of winning but there was no atmosphere at the matches, not compared with this."

For captain John McDermott, the experience exceeded that of last year's victory for the Ireland team and was comparable to his successes with Meath in recent All-Irelands.

"It's right up there with it. Ask any of the lads in the dressingroom and they'll tell you it's unbelievable playing in front of 110,000 in two games. It ranks up there with winning an All-Ireland.

"I think it's better than last year to come out here and beat the Australians on their home turf. We came out and were very strict with our regime. We said we'll do the job and then take a few days to enjoy ourselves. Now we'll enjoy ourselves."

On the topic of whether the management team would stay on, O'Rourke said: "That's somebody else's decision."

On the other side of the pitch, Australian manager Dermott Brereton wasn't making excuses. Well, not many. "We had only six hardcore defenders, six heroic blokes who played on without any rest."

This is the direct consequence of the AFL's selection policy of choosing All-Australians without making a priority of players' suitability for the international game.

However, Brereton said that he didn't think his team would lose a lead going into the last quarter.

The press queries then moved on to the Australian media's favourite line of questioning: the merits of the international series against the State of Origin competition, which sounds more and more like the Railway Cup every time it's discussed.

When asked about the possibility of a three-match series, Brereton made the point that his players are tired enough after the season and have taken up a lot of their "down-period".

"Shane Crawford's team (Hawthorn) start full-tilt training in 10 days. I don't think it would be fair to ask players to play an extra three weeks at the end of the season."

AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson said it was too early to make a decision about whether the series in future should be on an annual or biennial basis.