McKeever reluctantly in spotlight

CIARÁN McKEEVER found himself in the slightly awkward position of talking up Ireland’s prospects against Australia in the International Rules Series when he’d quite clearly rather not.

That’s what happens when the Irish captain has taken a vow a silence, and McKeever, the Irish vice captain, is just naturally quiet.

“Well, you boys only think Stephen Cluxton’s quiet,” says McKeever. “I’ve no doubt Stephen will do a fair bit of talking. If that arises I’ll say my wee bit, but sure I’m as quiet as Stephen is.”

No doubt both players will do plenty of talking on the pitch when the two-game series gets under way later this month, but in the meantime McKeever is one of two Armagh players named amongst the 18-man panel (with five further players to be added) – as former Irish captain Steven McDonnell will again help the charge up front.

There are some big bodies too in Kerry’s Kieran Donaghy, Kildare’s Emmet Bolton, and Cork’s Aidan Walsh, with McKeever set to play a more defensive role. The only pity, he says, is some players were ruled out with club commitments, and that’s something the GAA might want to address.

“We’re more or less finished with the club at the moment,” he says, “but these things don’t come round too often. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go represent your country out in Australia, and it’s sad to miss it. I know the club means everything, but maybe there should be someone setting an agenda for down the line, that the club matches can be postponed for two to three weeks, and let the boys go and represent the country.”

This will be McKeever’s third series with Ireland, after 2008 and last year, and he’s thus well positioned to surmise the lessons learnt from the defeat to Australia last time round: “They’re probably bigger, stronger, fitter, faster, but at the end of the day we train hard each year with our county, and are capable of going out to match them. It’s a great occasion, to play against professional athletes and see where you stand.

“They interchange very well, and the tackle is in their game as well, whereas we’re inclined to stand off, they’re coming in and wrapping you straightaway. That takes a wee bit of getting used to.

“So it took us a long time to get going last year, and get to grips with the game. But hopefully that experience from last year will stand to us this year. We know what to expect, what to do, to move the ball as fast as possible.”