Tourists show flair for hybrid game

GAELIC GAMES:THE MADLY fluctuating existence of International Rules continued on Saturday night in the Gaelic Grounds. From scandalising children and their infirm relatives with its violence when the physicality of the game gets out of hand to lowering the heart rate dangerously when it's well-behaved, the hybrid game finds it hard to get the balance right.

The weekend was definitely at the latter end of the scale, as Ireland delivered one of their least distinguished performances and an accomplished Australian team threatened to kill off the series until a late, desperate run of scores cut the deficit to seven, 40-47, going into the second Test in Croke Park in five days.

A slightly disappointing crowd of 30,117 – a little short of the first Test attendance in Galway four years ago but some way short of the Limerick venue’s capacity – had little to intrigue them beyond the appearance in the final interval of four people in big, papier-mache heads who the stadium announcer repeatedly insisted were U2.

This inclination to stretch credulity had already been well practised by having to talk up frantically the torpid exchanges on the pitch.

The centrepiece of Ireland’s comeback was an electrifying gallop by Bernard Brogan, climaxed by a well-struck goal – for the nostalgic, slightly reminiscent of his father’s fabled strike in the 1977 semi-final – which made a significant impact on what had stood as a daunting, 18-point deficit. Five more points reduced the margin further.

Not alone were the Australians apparently more comfortable with the round ball, but they even looked less troubled by the slippery surface. The ability to set up attacks and take scores put Ireland under constant pressure. Their captain, Adam Goodes, twice the AFL player of the year, gave the stand-out display.

Four “overs” for 12 points left Goodes as the Test’s top scorer, with the pick of them coming in the 29th minute from a spectacular, hanging mark in front of goal, which he dispatched over the bar.

It was a job well done by AFL coach Mick Malthouse, who up until a few weeks ago was busy guiding Collingwood to their first premiership in 20 years. His teams over the past two series have been disciplined, and on Saturday they showed excellent technique, leaving Ireland trailing in their wake for most of the night.

“I thought the practice match on Wednesday was a great help to us,” said Malthouse. “The university of Cork and the colleges (Cork IT) there were very good and enabled us to have a game, and I think that game got us our momentum, gave us an illustration of things we did right and also things we did wrong, and three days later we’re able to put a lot of those things into being. So it was a terrific victory in the end.”

Although the coach was careful not to betray much frustration at losing a guaranteed series win in the concession of late scores, there’s no doubt the visitors believe that they will improve.

“Yeah, absolutely,” said Dane Swan, one of Malthouse’s Collingwood players and a prominent performer on Saturday night. “This is our second game together and we’ve bonded pretty well over the last week. It’s only going to get better.

“We’ve got another week together, we’ll probably have three sessions together as well so it’s going to help us improve, kicking the round ball, and we can plan tactics against their soccer style. This will be our third game coming up and there is definitely room for improvement and I think we will.

“I think our ball-use can get better. It was good, but there was a couple of times it went out of bounds, we sort of miss-hit balls and under-kicked them, and if we can improve on that . . . Our goal kicking, we kicked pretty well. Personally I sprayed a couple and I’d like to work on that, but all in all I think it was a pretty good performance considering we’ve been together 10 days or whatever it is.”

If Australia can step it up, Ireland’s required improvement is going to be exponential.

Home manager Anthony Tohill discerned in his team’s late revival some hints of a strategy that can be worked on for the decisive second Test.

“Maybe it was when we reverted to Gaelic football at the end of the game that we actually played our best football and we ran at them, moved the ball at pace and supported the play well.

“Lads don’t try to make mistakes, they don’t try to kick the ball so that it bounces in front of people. There was a fair bit of pressure out there, but maybe we should have been a little bit more composed and no doubt the experience of playing here tonight will stand to us.”