McGrath holds cards close to chest

International Rules Countdown to second Test: With pressure rising ahead of tomorrow's second Test here in Melbourne, Ireland…

International Rules Countdown to second Test: With pressure rising ahead of tomorrow's second Test here in Melbourne, Ireland trained behind closed doors yesterday morning at the Telstra Dome match venue before returning for a second session in the evening.

Manager Peter McGrath has been deliberately holding his cards close to his chest as he and his management team search for some answers after last week's trouncing in Perth.

"We felt we had things to work on," said McGrath. "The intention wasn't to hide anything from the Irish media but there were things that would be best worked on this morning rather than tonight when there would have been Australians watching. That was the reasoning."

The team has no injury concerns and McGrath confirmed all four of the players omitted last week, Ross Munnelly, Ryan McMenamin, Philip Jordan and Dessie Dolan, would play although he refused to be drawn by the local media on any further details of the selection.

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Asked about the performance of Colm Cooper, whose profile in Australia has been very high for someone who hasn't previously played the international game, McGrath said the Kerry forward had been unfortunate in the circumstances. "The supply wasn't of a terribly high quality and that's particularly difficult in the full-forward line. Colm had a match before he came here and he and Eoin Brosnan were effectively 48 hours late arriving."

"Will he get a longer run this time?" asked one reporter.

"I haven't picked the team yet."

"You mean he's not certain of his place?"

"No one's certain."

"But if I write an article about him tomorrow, am I wasting my time?"

"It's up to you to use your professional judgment there."

Meanwhile, Laois's Tom Kelly, who was the victim of a frontal charge in the first Test, has accepted the apology offered in yesterday's Australian media by Russell Robertson, who was yellow-carded for the offence.

"I'm sorry for the bloke I did it to," said the Melbourne Demons player. "I didn't mean to hurt him at all. But that's the way it goes. Sport sometimes happens like that. If I get another chance this week, I probably won't be doing that again."

Asked about the home team in general, Kelly wasn't making a big deal out of the incident. "The Aussies aren't that dirty. They're more interested in playing football. It might have been different in the past but not this time. I took a hard knock but that's part of it. He apologised and that's grand. What happens on the field, leave it on the field."

Pressed further about the apparent merriment the foul caused Robertson and the Australians, Kelly ran out of diplomatic road. "Sure there's nothing I can say about that."

Tyrone's Seán Cavanagh was in demand with the media and outlined his reasons for staying at home and turning down the offer from the Brisbane Lions of a rookie contract, worth $80,000 (€50,000) a year.

"I'm told the money was good for a rookie but I'm an accountant at home so financial considerations never came into it. The money on offer wasn't good enough to take me away so it was down to whether I wanted to stay at home with friends and family and where I'm a big name or come out to Australia and play a game that I mightn't even be any good at."

Looking forward to the second Test, Cavanagh pinpointed the tackle and indirectly the interchange as the main areas for necessary improvement and expressed conditional optimism about his team's chances.

"Everyone knows we more or less didn't tackle the Australians. We let them run at us and we were in the field that long that we weren't fit to chase back when they were coming at us in threes and fours. If we can match their workrate and speed and get in the tackles we can win this."

Finally the mysterious matter of who will be the Irish referee for tomorrow's match was settled when it was confirmed Cork's Michael Collins, who officiated in last year's Tests in Dublin, would take over from Meath's David Coldrick.

In a departure from previous policy, the GAA brought two officials with them despite Collins being due to referee this series. According to a GAA spokesperson the plan had always been to give the referees a match each but the official programme listed Coldrick as the Irish official.

After the controversies surrounding some of the decisions last Friday of local umpire Mathew James, there had been speculation in the Australian papers that the two emergency umpires/referees, Collins and the AFL's Shane McInerney, would be appointed. Collins has got the nod but by last night there was no word from the AFL about their choice of official.