If any ‘mimbirs’ of An Garda Síochána were cruising the Salthill area of Galway on Friday night in pursuit of Halloween fireworks they must have been sorely disappointed, writes An Fear Rua…

Certainly, if some of the boys and girls in blue had checked into the International Rules test match between Ireland and Australia, in Pearse Stadium, they’d have encountered more damp squibs than fireworks.

Maybe all the talk beforehand from various quarters about overly rough play got to the players and management – especially the Australians – because for most of the seventy-two minutes what we witnessed was very milk-and-watery fare indeed. Maybe the managements had to decided to play it tactical rather than rough? Maybe the Aussies had decided to ‘be nice to the Oirish’ in the first test to lull us into a false sense of security for the return game in Croke Park.

Who knows what the reasons were? But we know the outcome. The first two quarters of this game were among the worst minutes of any kind of football played anywhere on this island at any time over, say, the last twenty years. They were devoid of passion, devoid of excitement and devoid of entertainment.

The third quarter – when the Aussies lifted their game and tried to close out the match – was a bit better. But it was really only the last five minutes of the final quarter that provided any value for money for the 34,000 spectators when the Irish opportunistically caught the Aussies napping at the old AFL trick of keeping possession while trying to wind down the clock. Steven McDonnell, on seventy-one minutes, popped an ‘over’ – three points – to put the Irish ahead 42-40. Then Galway’s Joe Bergin put some more icing on the cake when he drove a six point ‘goal’ – to leave the final score 48-40 in favour of Ireland.
A good winning margin to take into the final test at Croker and probably a fair reflection of the relative balance of skill and effort between the two sides over the full seventy two minutes of the game.

The little dog who lined up with the Ireland team for Amhrán na bhFiann might have been a good augury if the Irish had decided to play like terriers rather than pups. Stung perhaps by their daahlings’ defeat, the Australian media have made great fun of the canine presence as well as of the assorted bat men and streakers who invaded the pitch from time to time. Some wilting violets among the Australian team have expressed concerns at the lack of ‘security’ evinced by the pitch invasion at the end of the game. However, they miss the point. They should be acknowledging a country where the fun and enjoyment element of sport is still so strong that a pitch invasion is a celebratory, good humoured event and is not a danger to players. At the same time, while we owe no apologies to any Antipodean journalist for how we organise our sporting events, the image of Ireland portrayed by the silly streakers was less than impressive.

Charitably, the first quarter could be described as a ‘cat-and-mouse’ game as both teams stood off each other. However, a ‘mouse-and-mouse’ game might be more accurate. The quarter dribbled out to a 16-4 lead for the home team. Were it not for some weak lobbing of the ball into the Aussie goal mouth, plus some fine goalkeeping by Dustin Fletcher, the Irish might have been even further ahead. In time, they may yet rue those foregone scores.

The second quarter saw a further deterioration in the Irish scoring effort. On thirty minutes, there was a bad miss by Tyrone's Seán Kavanagh. We saw five wides by the Irish and a further five ‘lobs’ into Fletcher’s safe and welcoming hands. The quarter ended 21 –14 for Ireland.

The third quarter showed that the Aussies were finally growing into the game and the Irish seemed to be wilting. Barry Hall was becoming extremely effective in ‘marking’ the ball in scoreable positions for the visitors. The Aussie pressure forced two great saves from Alan Quirke in the Ireland goal. But he couldn’t continue to hold out and, finally, the Aussies tied the game 26-26 on the 48-minute mark and – a minute later – took the lead for the first time. Four minutes later, the Aussies ripped the Irish defence open and Ryan O’Keeffe calmly struck a well-taken goal. The Aussies dominated that quarter by 19 – 8, and the overall score at the end of the quarter was 33 –29 in their favour.

At this stage, the prediction would have been that the superior Aussie fitness would tell more in the final quarter and the Irish would drift further. Some poor kicking by the Irish in the first few minutes seemed to presage such an outcome and they played like guys who had checked in their basic Gaelic football skills before they left the dressing room. With four minutes left, however, Joe Bergin recovered from an earlier bad miss and closed the gap to 40 –39. This was when the Aussies lost it. They began to play safe, possession football instead of trying to re-establish momentum and drive the Irish to the final hooter. On seventy one minutes, Steven McDonnell burst through the defence for an ‘over’. 42-40 to Ireland. Then, with only seconds remaining, Bergin fired in a great goal for Ireland, making the final score 48 – 40 to the homesters.

Ironically, in the final minutes of the game, it was the amateur ‘less fit’ Irish who outscored their professional opposite numbers by an amazing eighteen points to one. In the end, the Australians were pipped at the post by a combination of their own complacency and an Ireland side who patiently stuck to their task right up to the final hooter. In fact, a bit like some of those Meath teams of old under Seán Boylan.

Kieran McGeeney impressed throughout. His positioning was intelligent, good strength in the tackle and effective distribution of the ball. Graham Geraghty is obviously someone who enjoys and is ‘up for’ these international tussles. He was busy and took his scores well. Tadhg Kennelly also contributed leadership and skill to the Irish effort.

We know Croke Park is a sell out for next Sunday. But the question is: if fans thought they faced similar dull fare in the second test would they even bother buying tickets or showing up? Once again, the International Rules series faces into a situation where its future seems to depend on a single game. Not the best scenario really for a sustained development of the experiment.

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