Rules not okay after shambles

International Rules: What began as a marketing triumph and the stage for an exciting denouement to this year's Coca-Cola International Rules series became a state funeral before 82,127 at Croke Park yesterday, and Australia retained the Cormac McAnallen trophy by a distant 30 points.

The consensus has long been that the international project couldn't withstand either routine violence or the loss of competitiveness by one of the countries.

Yesterday, both of these malignancies anointed the international game with what are expected to be its last rites.

As the eerie hooter that signifies the start and finish of play sounded almost menacingly, like an air-raid siren, before the throw-in, it was on the minds of those who follow the series closely that some sort of disaster might be on the way.

For the preceding week there had been small frictions rubbing against the second Test, not least the uninhibited threatening of Ireland's Graham Geraghty by Australia's Lindsay Gilbee. This had been disowned by his manager Kevin Sheedy and the AFL - and the player himself even fell prey to a diplomatic, or at least fortuitous, failed fitness test before the match started.

But Geraghty was again subjected to menacing behaviour as the teams lined up and suffered a serious injury in the 12th minute in a legitimate tackle by Danyle Pearce. In different circumstances its accidental nature might have been universally accepted, but given the threats issued to the Ireland player, the sight of him being wheeled off in a neck brace seemed to sum up the indefensible pass to which the game had come and Ireland manager Seán Boylan's angry confrontation on the line with the opposing management demonstrated as much.

Previously, at the very start of the Test, there had been shapes thrown, and out-and-out physical intimidation. It's hardly relevant who started it or if the retaliation was as bad - former Ireland manager Colm O'Rourke stated on television that two of the worst fouls of the quarter had been committed by home players and in so doing corroborated, without naming the players, Sheedy's claim that Australia's Player of the Series, Ryan O'Keefe, had been head-butted - the central reality is that it happened and in happening it has damaged the eight-year-old international concept possibly beyond repair.

But it also has to be said there is no advantage for Irish players in engaging with full-time professionals in a battle of physical intimidation. Gaelic footballers will stand their ground and foul according to national custom, but flailing assaults on opponents at the start of a match are neither in their nature or interest.

Secondly, it should be noted that we've been here before. Two years ago, before the second Test started, Ireland's best players from the previous week were targeted before the ball was even thrown in. And in the poisonous environment yesterday it was too much of coincidence that Tadhg Kennelly and Colm Begley, Ireland's AFL duo, should both ship knocks in the first quarter.

Officiating always comes under strain in the series - though who could keep control of yesterday's first quarter without a gun? But the chaos was exemplified when, against a backdrop of brawling and frantic attempts to break it up, referee David Coldrick stopped play while his AFL counterpart waved it on and Brent Stanton scored a goal to set the Australians on their way as early as the third minute.

Here a line can be drawn under the whole issue of discipline. It never again deteriorated into the abyss - but from an Australian point of view it never needed to. Ireland were rattled beyond repair. What occurred for the remainder of the second Test is a matter of interpretation.

Did the roughhouse stuff derail the home challenge? Certainly the loss of key players to injury didn't help, but it has to be conceded that the second ingredient in the cocktail that has poisoned the series was also present: Ireland were poor beyond belief.

Seán Boylan left out Kieran Donaghy, Ronan Clarke and Kieran Fitzgerald to give a run to the three omitted for the first Test: Karl Lacey, Nicholas Murphy and Shane Ryan.

A week previously Australia had inexplicably lost their grip in the final quarter. This time there were no mistakes. The space of Croke Park suited their fitness - and they ran Ireland ragged.

Their big guns - Barry Hall, whose aerial domination and accuracy yielded 16 points, and O'Keefe, whose intelligent use of the ball again punished Ireland - created a raft of scoring chances.

The home side's inability to kick the round ball as accurately as the visitors was painful in a sequence of botched chances late in the first half, marked by two behinds and an actual wide - 6.4 metres wider than we're used to.

The series was still notionally there for the taking at half-time, Australia's lead of 27-16 meaning a series advantage of only three.

But the third quarter is Australia's and yesterday was no different. By the end of it they had tacked on 30 points to the home side's four - goals coming from Brendon Goddard, who finished off the rebound from Aaron Davey's shot after it had hit the post, and Ryan Crowley, who walked the ball into the net after combining with O'Keefe.

Dublin's Alan Brogan - the home team's Player of the Series - displayed urgency and Ireland overall plugged away, but they had been outclassed.

IRELAND: A Quirke (Cork); M Ó Sé (Kerry), A Moyles (Meath), SM Lockhardt (Derry); T Kelly (Laois), K McGeeney (capt; Armagh), A O'Mahony (Kerry); T Kennelly (Kerry and Sydney Swans), C Begley (Laois and Brisbane Lions); P Galvin (Kerry), N Murphy (Cork), S Cavanagh (Tyrone); J Bergin (Galway); S McDonnell (Armagh), G Geraghty (Meath), B Coulter (Down). Inter-change: P Barden (Longford), J Bergin (Galway), A Brogan (Dublin), D Earley (Kildare), K Lacey (Donegal), K Reilly (Meath), S Ryan (Dublin).

AUSTRALIA: D Fletcher (Essendon); C Brown (Hawthorn); R Crowley (Fremantle), A Raines (Richmond); J McDonald (Melbourne), B Peake (Fremantle), C Bateman (Hawthorn); A Davey (Melbourne), B Hall (Sydney Swans); D Pearce (Port Adelaide), M Lappin (Carlton), B Goddard (St Kilda); M Voss (Brisbane Lions), A Schneider (Sydney Swans), R O'Keefe (Sydney Swans). Inter-change: N Davis (Sydney Swans), K Simpson (Carlton), J Sherman (Brisbane Lions), G Johncock (Adelaide), B Stanton (Essendon), S Fisher (St Kilda), A Selwood (West Coast Eagles).

Referees: David Coldrick (GAA) and Shane McInerney (AFL).

SCORERS - Ireland: Brogan (0-2-1) 7, Earley (0-2-1) 7, McDonnell (0-2-0) 6, Coulter (0-1-1) 4, Bergin, Galvin, McGeeney, Moyles, Murphy, O'Mahoney, Ó Sé (0-0-1) 1 each. Australia: Hall (0-5-1) 16, Goddard (1-1-0) 9, Sherman (0-3-0) 9, Pearce (0-2-1) 7, Crowley (1-0-0), Stanton (1-0-0) 6 each, O'Keefe (0-1-2) 5, Davey (0-1-1) 4, Davis (0-1-0) 3, Bateman (0-1-0) 3, Voss (0-0-1) 1.

CARDS - Red: None. Yellow: Ireland - Galvin (2 mins), McGeeney (14), O'Mahoney (16). Australia - Bateman (2 mins), Peake (14), Selwood (22), Davis (18), Hall (20).

ATTENDANCE - 82,127.