AUSSIES RULE, OK?
Ireland leave Perth with their pride intact but very little else
BEATEN but unbowed. When Jarrad McVeigh sidestepped two Irish tackles and casually popped the ball over the bar to put Australia into a 33-point lead early in the third quarter of this winner-takes-all International Rules test at Patersons Stadium in Perth, it looked like the concept was dead and buried once and for all.
With a team of All-Australians that featured seven club captains, the cream of the AFL put the professional versus amateur argument to bed. For all the talk of how Ireland have closed the gap in terms of size, shape, strength, and power, this was a lesson. A rout was the obvious conclusion.
And then came the Ireland comeback to throw logic on its head and instead ensure the post-match talk centred on a possible return tour involving the best of the best in Aussie Rules Football rather than the gap year that the GAA had originally planned.
A storming third quarter effectively revived the series with Ulster’s finest leading the charge. Darren Hughes’ goal sparked Ireland into life and with Mattie Donnelly and Conor McManus outstanding, the game ended in a flurry of excitement in front of a near capacity crowd of 38,262.
With the AFL talking up a possible link to New York, Ireland manager Paul Earley laid out his own vision for the hybrid game.
‘I think it’s got to establish a foothold in Australia and Ireland first. We’ve had some difficult years over the last four or five. They’ve been pretty one-sided,’ he said.
‘I’ve always felt there is a future for the series if both sides play their best teams. That was an attractive game for the spectator to watch and enjoy. If it is to be played next year which I hope it will, I’d certainly like it to be played in Ireland.
‘And certainly more than one Test because I think you do need two tests — and Alastair Clarkson said the same thing to me when I met him. Two Tests is ideal. You learn so much from the first one. You can compete harder and maybe change a few things for the second one.
‘I don’t see the logic in playing it in the States to be perfectly honest. It’s got to establish a foothold in Australia and Ireland first of all before you take it internationally.’
Earley’s opposite number Clarkson agreed that two Tests would be ideal but talked up the idea of an American leg.
‘We might be able to get the best of both worlds – have one in New York or in Boston and the other one in Croke Park. For the Irish to play a game in Boston or New York would be superb and for our boys that would be a great concept as well.’
The GAA and AFL meet today to talk through those issues and more. If the scenes at the end are anything to go by, then this is hardly a long goodbye. As Men at Work’s famous tune Land Down Under blared out over the PA, the Aussies rounded off their celebrations with a lap of honour of the oval ground, high-fiving the fans who streamed pitch side before they disappeared down the tunnel to the dressing room. There was a real sense that this meant something to the AFL’s best players.
And Ireland can be proud of that come-
Ireland can be proud of this comeback, against the best Aussie side ever
back against the best Australian team ever fielded, especially after being over-run in the first half when they looked nervous and completely unsure of themselves as Steve Johnson and Nick Riewoldt gave an exhibition in kicking and scoring with the round ball.
‘They are the elite of the elite of the AFL so you’d expect them to adapt to the round ball quicker than some others,’ said Ireland captain Michael Murphy afterwards. ‘They’re elite footballers, they know how to kick. They were very, very good. And they were very smart in terms of sweeping up breaks. Even in terms of the way they defended. ‘I knew they’d bring the battle to us. It was just disappointing the way we started the game – that will be the niggling regret we’ll have for the rest of the year.’ It was hard not to feel for Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan and Kildare’s Pádraig O’Neill, who travelled half way around the world and didn’t make the match-day squad with Paul Earley only able to name 23 of the 25-man touring party.
Ireland were slow and second to nearly everything in that first half and a tally of just seven points must be a record low as Australia powered into a 35-7 lead.
And it could have been worse as Paddy O’Rourke made a great save early on from Brent Harvey, deflecting his goal-bound effort over the bar. Minutes later Luke Breust cut in and drove for goal. This time O’Rourke was beaten only for the ball to bounce back off the post and into his hands.
The quality of Australia’s kicking was quite remarkable and caused a level of panic to spread through the Ireland team, who were resorting to booting long balls into the forward line.
Yet Murphy said he never lost faith in his team. ‘Going in at halftime, we were still fairly confident. We had played absolutely nothing in that half whatsoever. We were battling well but not executing our basic skills the way we wanted. Once we started doing that, we started to get a bit of joy.’
After Darren Hughes showed plenty of composure to fire low past Dustin Fletcher for the game’s first goal, Ireland hit 12 points without reply. Conor McManus and Mattie Donnelly hit a pair apiece, Donnelly’s effort on the run with the outside of the boot arguably the score of the game.
By the end of the third quarter Ireland had pulled the gap back to 16, trailing 46-30, and went for broke. Concerted pressure prompted Nick Smith to slice the ball disastrously into his own net when attempting a clearance but a final quality score from Ireland’s Player of the Series Conor McManus was never going to be enough.