International rules

[Black Spot]

Did any body else think that last nights game was a complete let down?
was watching it on TG 4 the players showed to much respect for each other , I know with what happend in recent years im sure the players were told to be on best behaviour but thers a diffrence between being disciplined and getting stuck in only a handfull of players got stuck in.

I taught tadgh Kennelly was brilliant ,Stephen Cluxton played like a sweeper behind the full back line and was very good Ghram Canty was solid enough.Kevin reilly was good in spells and i think wicklows Leigton Glynn is probably our best player.

The fowards never really got going mainly due to the supply of ball going into them even when they got the ball they kicked an awfull lot of wides the shooting was awful the score was Ireland 40 (1-8-10) – Australia 47 (0-14-5) when you think about it we only scored 1 goal and 8 points to australias 0-14 .

For me Ireland were to defensive and static evrytime we made the mark we felt the neeed to slow the game down wheras australia moved the ball quick evry time we got it.I know you could get caught in the tackle very easily but some of the irish lads didnt seem to want the ball instead the decided to tap it on to the next man like a socccer match and let him deal with it.

only for Australias poor kicking the should have beeing out of sight and have had the series won before we even went to Crock park.Ireland decided to play the football we knew they could in the last 10 minutes it started with an absaloute cracker of a goal from bernard brogan and a couple of late points.
Ireland are now still in there with a chance when you think about it theres only 2 points between the teams.

From an Offaly point of veiw well done to Niall Mac .I wish he was on the feild longer .He played well when he come on but was out of poisition was playing kind of like a half back.would love to see him but in around the square for the next game.

[faithfullad]

Most of the Irish players were absolutely terrified of being tackled, thats why we saw lots of flicks with the hand and balls kicked along the ground(3 in a row at one point) instead of going down on the ball. When Brogan actually ran at the Aussies, they weren't too great.

[first_touch]

Good analysis black spot. Niall McNamee was played totally out of position which raises questions about the Irish management's ability to get the best out of the squad.

Last night confirmed my own view that that International Rules has little to offer in terms of entertainment value or quality. The spectacle of someone being allowed a 'free kick' for catching a ball kicked to him from ten metres away shows the mickey mouse nature of this game.

Does anyone agree?

I realise its a great honour for a player to be selected to represent his country. But that in itself does not increase the game's intrinsic skill level.

[Fido]

Yeah, I would have been in favour of the game, till I went to the game in Galway a couple of years back. Unfortunately, while in principle it's a good idea to have an international dimension to Gaelic football, in practise it doesn't work. There's a couple of reasons for why it doesn't work for me.
The amount of time between one series and the next, even without the hiatus period after the trouble a few years ago, means that continuity is difficult to achieve. Squads will have a high turnover and even players with experience of the game find it hard to put lessons of past games into practice.
Secondly, many aspects of the game run counter to what's instinctive for a gaelic player, and when you're being chased around the park by 15 aussie rules players I'm thinking you fall back on instinct. You often see an Irish player offload to a man with an Aussie on top of him or take the ball into contact, forgetting that the cardinal rule is to move the ball quickly and not get caught in possession. The flip side of this was the soccer style tipping the ball around we saw on friday which looked, at times, cowardly, and was never even effective because the passes weren't going to hand.
Thirdly, no matter how good the game is, there can't really be much of a crowd atmosphere because the opposition supporters can't be expected to be present in big numbers. Also, it's hard for the crowd to get into a game where the players, let alone the crowd, are only figuring out what they're supposed to be doing. The match in Galway was packed out but there was an unreal atmosphere, and not unreal in a good way. I'd say the same was true of Limerick last friday - was anybody at it to confirm?
Finally, the Aussies are professionals. There's no getting away from it. If the game was equally well mastered by both sides, the Aussies would blow us away. And anyway, they've shown themselves to be if anything better than us at scoring "overs", which should be our strength. The only advantage and hope we have is scoring goals, and Brogan's goal is all that saved Ireland from a hiding the other night.
I still like the idea of the series, and I wish it worked, but it just doesn't, and I don't know how it can be made to.

[Long John]

I thought it was a terrible game. The Irish as somebody said were terrified of the tackle. In fairness its very hard to adjust to a game where you can just be hacked down when your coming from gaelic football using skill to beat a man. I think that is just as hard to cope with if not more so than kicking a round ball. Believe me if you can kick an oval ball its no big achievement to kick a round ball.

I thought Tommy Walsh was a let down and that Murphy chap from Carlow was useless. Reilly from Meath seems to be the best option for full back although Goodes is a great fielder and I dont think the Irish have a quality full back in this squad to compete if he gets the right hanging ball. Shields from Cork might of made a difference. Bring back Sean Marty Lockhart and Darren Fay, too men that would certainly not be beaten a second time to a ball. Unfortunately I dont think theres enough backs in that mould at present.

As for Niall Mac, totally agree, He was totally out of position. He has to be close to goal. Niall would not be noted as a worker around the field but with the right quality ball he will get you the scores. So why to hell he was not put in beside Brogan I dont know.

All in all a very disappointing game, too many quality footballers not involved also which takes away from it aswell.

[the bare biffo]

Is Niall still in the squad this week or does he drop out because Benny Coulter is back ??

[Offaly2010]

Irish team manager Anthony Tohill has added Benny Coulter and Michael Shields to his squad for the second Test of the 2010 Irish Daily Mail International Rules Series at Croke Park on Saturday night.

The pair, both of whom missed the 47-40 first Test defeat to Australia, replace Emmet Bolton and Niall McNamee, who were promoted to the match day 23 from the standby list last week.

Shields missed the first Test as he was in action with Saint Finbarr’s in the Cork Senior Football Championship final on Sunday, while Down star Coulter was sidelined through injury.

Coulter, who has represented his country 10 times in the code, has been declared fit after sitting out the Gaelic Grounds clash with a hamstring injury he picked up in a Club game.

Tohill said he was happy that the GAA All Star corner forward had recovered sufficiently from the injury.

“We’re happy with where he is at, he’s very keen to play and disappointed that he wasn’t able to play in the first game,” Tohill said.

“We are happy with where it is at we’re looking forward to Benny being a part of the game on Saturday night.”

Coulter is the second most experienced player in the Irish squad and is considered one of the finest exponents of the hybrid game.

Tohill conceded that it was a boost to have the Mayobridge man back, but he said there was pressure on him to deliver on Saturday night.

“It is a positive for us but he still has to perform when he goes out there,” Tohill added.

“We know all about him, you know all about him, Mike and the Australians know all about him so it is not going to come as a surprise to any of us.

“I suppose there is a bit of pressure on Benny to deliver when he comes on the pitch so we cannot expect too much of him either.

“There are 22 other players there who will have to make a contribution. Benny will play his part, I have no doubt but there are a lot of other players who need to do that as well.”

Mick Malthouse, the Australian manager, said he would not finalise his list until later today (Friday).

Ireland: Steven McDonnell, captain (Armagh), Finian Hanley, vice-captain (Galway), Colm Begley (Laois), Bernard Brogan (Dublin), Graham Canty (Cork), Seán Cavanagh (Tyrone), Martin Clarke (Down), Stephen Cluxton (Dublin), Brendan Donaghy (Armagh), Leighton Glynn (Wicklow), Daniel Goulding (Cork), James Kavanagh (Kildare), Paddy Keenan (Louth), Tadhg Kennelly (Kerry), Seán McDermott (Roscommon), Ciarán McKeever (Armagh), Kevin McKernan (Down), Brendan Murphy (Carlow), Michael Murphy (Donegal), Kevin Reilly (Meath), Michael Shields (Cork), Tommy Walsh (Kerry), Benny Coulter (Down).

(Taken from GAA.ie)

[Offaly2010]

So we're not going to be granted our wish lads and see Niall Mac in close to goal alongside Bernard Brogan as Benny Coulter has recovered from injury to line out in the Second Test tomorrow night. Disappointing, not just from an Offaly point of view but overall because Niall would have posed a great threat to the Aussies inside close to goals.

From a Rhode point of view, I don't suppose Tom Coffey will mind Niall being left out with Rhode's game in the Leinster Club Championship next weekend, if Niall had being playing tomorrow night Tom Coffey and everybody else in Rhode would have had their fingers crossed that he wouldn't pick up any sort of an injury at all as he is absolutely crucial in Rhode's bid to win the Leinster Championship.

[The Biff]

I'm a little disappointed that I wont be seeing Niall play when I go along to Croker tomorrow night. He didn't really get much of a chance last weekend to show what he is capable of. But I think Emmet Bolton got a more raw deal; I dont remember him coming on at all last week.

The Irish lads must be feeling fairly big pressure to put up a decent performance this time. Last week was very disappointing. I'd love to see some little bit of "fireworks" in the first quarter this time, just to get the crowd going. Nothing dangerous or cynical now mind you, just a bit of a face-off between Marty Clarke and one of his former team-mates. Sure they could even "fake" it by arranging it beforehand. Then with a noisy crowd "baying for blood", it would time to see who can really play ball.