THE IMPORTANCE of experience in the international game was underlined in Friday’s first Test by the fact that in their match panel Australia had only four players who had previously played the game; Ireland had only eight who hadn’t.

Amongst the less experienced Irish was Donegal’s Michael Murphy, who has been selected for his second series. A year ago in Limerick he made his debut and found adjusting to the hybrid game difficult – at one stage sending a kick well wide of the outside posts, usually an achievement confined to the slower-learning amongst the AFL teams.

But within a week Murphy, able to win hard ball in the air and possessing an exceptional kick, had found his rhythm and kicked two wonderful overs in the final quarter of the second Test to help Ireland to within touching distance of a morale-building Test victory and at one stage, even an improbable series win.

Last Friday was his third outing and already he was in man-of-the-match territory with 12 points including the first goal, which tolled the bell on the home challenge within quarter of an hour. He also provided assists for two more goals and kicked two overs.

“It was surprising in a way,” he reflected. “We expected it to be a wee bit tighter than it was. We were well prepared for it and we were looking forward to the game. The preparations had gone well for the last couple of months so we were happy enough with the outcome.

“The next day we would expect an Aussie backlash because that’s what we’re going to get – those players won’t want to let that happen again.”

He can’t quite pinpoint all of the reasons for Ireland’s impressive overturning of last year’s outcome when Australia were in control for much of the two Tests.

“Yeah, last year they gave us a lesson on how to play the game, in both Tests. I don’t know this year was it that it just didn’t happen for them or we were very good. Maybe it was a mixture of both. We performed fairly well and they didn’t perform up to scratch. As I said, we expect a bit of a backlash up on the Gold Coast.

“The players have been very, very professional. The backroom team all want one thing and that’s an Ireland win. The series was maybe getting a bit of stick back home, but we still take it very seriously. These are good players and it’s a chance for us to represent our country. We take that honour with great pride.”

In reply to a question about what had most pleased him about Ireland’s display, he identified the operation of the inter-change, a part of the international game that had traditionally caused problems for Ireland – to the extent that the number of inter-changes has been capped at 10 per quarter.

“Anytime you were on you weren’t pacing yourself. We just went hell-for-leather at it. That’s something that as Gaelic players we aren’t really used to and it’s a funny enough situation. Any time you’re on the pitch you just have to throw yourself into it.”

Even the tackle, again not one of Ireland’s most conspicuous skills, went well in the Etihad Stadium and Murphy was one of the best and most forceful in its execution, at one stage being penalised for being too vigorous much to the unhappiness of manager Anthony Tohill.

“It’s nice for the forwards because we’re always on the receiving end of it and we get a bit of flak for not tackling. It’s a way to let off a bit of steam and it’s nice to do that. We try to work hard for the team and that’s something we have worked hard on in training.

“Something that was a bit alien to us was the tackle and it’s something we worked hard on. It’s nice to throw yourself about and give a wee bit back to the defenders. The team performance was fairly good and we’ll try to keep that up.”

He refers to his goal in the first quarter last Friday in the context of the need for Ireland to get six pointers, an urgency obvious in the first Test when the team came within one disallowed Kieran Donaghy goal of setting a record for the series of five goals in a single game.

“It was a good ball in by Eamonn that unlocked the defence. Stevie was alongside me with an Aussie defender and I was thinking that I’d more or less draw him in. But he didn’t seem to come towards me so I said ‘damn it, I’ll give it a lash’.

“It went into the back of the net. Goals are very important in this game and one of the best ways you get them is from play-on situations. We did that a wee bit more on Friday night than we did last year.”