Ireland warm up with a win

Ireland's International Rules team had their first serious run-out with a practice match here in Melbourne yesterday evening.

Opposition was provided by an Academy team who despite their youth, gave a good account of themselves before going down 66-17 in a match played over three 20-minute quarters at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground).

The visitors scored 3-13-9: three goals (worth six points in International Rules), 13 overs (points in Gaelic football, worth three) and nine behinds (wides within two outer posts, worth one).

In response the Academy managed 0-3-8. Ireland's goals came from Meath's All-Ireland winning captain Graham Geraghty, Peter Canavan of Tyrone and Westmeath's Dessie Dolan.

Many of their young opponents played on the International Rules youth tour to Ireland last year and hosted the visiting Irish under-17s last April. Such was their physical assurance and competence on the ball that they proved a good test for the seniors although their inability to take scores meant that they were well outgunned on the scoreboard.

It was easy to see, however, why the Irish Youths had been overwhelmed in the series last spring - including becoming the first team in the 15 years of International Rules to concede over 100 points.

Jointly sponsored by the Australian Institute of Sport and the Australian Football League, the Academy is intended to provide specialised training for the best young players in the game. Its purpose is twofold: to prepare young footballers for the draft by AFL clubs and to ensure that they remain involved rather than switch their attentions to other sports.

There was a touch of controversy attending the practice match, involving Meath's All-Ireland winning captain Graham Geraghty.

After being spoken to by Ireland manager Colm O'Rourke and Australia assistant manager Jim Stynes, Geraghty went over at the end of the match to shake hands with his marker - a gesture apparently related to differing interpretations of the tackle.

According to O'Rourke, the matter was "nothing too serious" but that the Australians "weren't happy about a couple of the tackles.

There could have been a few problems with swinging and tackling with the arm coming down over the shoulder from behind."

In general terms, O'Rourke was happy with the run-out for all the players, particularly those All-Ireland finalists from Cork and Meath - Geraghty, Trevor Giles, Ciaran O'Sullivan and Joe Kavanagh - who had missed a lot of the training over the summer and who hadn't, unlike John McDermott and Darren Fay, played in last year's series.

He was also happy that the countries were approaching synthesis in their approach to the playing rules.

"We're trying to make sure the interpretations of the rules are the same and I think we're getting closer and closer all the time. There are fewer and fewer grey areas cropping up all the time."

In this respect, he strongly supported the new protocol of Irish referee Michael Curley staying in a different hotel separate from the touring party. "If the referees weren't impartial, this series would collapse," said O'Rourke. "That's why we favour Mick Curley remaining totally apart from the team. The same should apply when the Australians visit us next year."

Before the match, AFL president Wayne Jackson welcomed the media and spoke about the value of the International Rules series to the Australian game.

"The State of Origin competition (run mid-season and in which players compete representatively on behalf of their home states) is not that well-received by players who play close on 30 (Australian Rules) matches a year. But they are very anxious to play in this game.

"We are an indigenous game and want to give young Australians the chance to represent their country. Like you, we are the strongest code by far in our own market but have no international dimension.

At the moment it's promising but we probably won't know for a decade how far it can go."

Injuries have certainly cut a swathe through the preparations.

Last year's captain and vice-captain Wayne Carey and Robert Harvey are both out, as is one of the team's best scorers last year, Matthew Lloyd. This year's captain and vice-captain will be Nathan Buckley and Shane Crawford respectively.

Given that the future of the series depends on a reasonably interested Australian reaction, publicity for the event has been quiet. Much of yesterday's coverage of Australian Rules was taken up with transfer news - most importantly the on-again-off-again saga of Geelong captain Leigh Colbert.

His move to the Kangaroos in Melbourne was dependent on a byzantine chain-deal involving five clubs altogether. Eventually the deal was done and Colbert made the move.

News on the ticket front is mixed but ultimately unimpressive.

From the dizzy heights of an estimate of 30,000 pre-sold tickets through the more restrained GAA belief that 20,000 had been sold, the actual figure fell to earth with a bump when AFL public relations manager Patrick Keane said that up to yesterday, about 6,000 tickets had been bought.

So the promotional onslaught of the coming days will have much ground to make up. Nine years ago, attendances at matches were 18,000 (Melbourne), 4,000 (Canberra) and 7,000 (Perth). This time around with the AFL fully involved, the hosts are hoping to match last year's Dublin attendance of 35,000 but will be happy with anything around 30,000.