Australia 0-17-5 (56 pts) Ireland 2-9-7 (46 pts)
Ireland came back off the canvas in the second half of the international rules test in Paterson Stadium in Perth, but it wasn’t enough to win the match.
Australia deservedly won by 10 points and with it the Cormac McAnallen trophy, but the visitors’ gritty third and fourth quarters, which saw them win the second half by 39-21, might well have done enough to secure the future of the series, which looked bleak as Australia looked like destroying Ireland with a succession of crisply taken scores.
The comeback never looked like threatening the outcome but the battling recovery made for an absorbing second half in which the tempo remained high.
The test opened ominously for Ireland. Australia were quicker to everything and showed better movement, galloping into space and leaving their markers trailing in their wake all around the field.
Ireland’s lack of field craft was compounded by a failure to demonstrate any superiority in what’s supposed to be the banker skill, kicking the round ball. Instead, the AFL players showed greater accuracy and composure in possession with Steve Johnson popping up all over the place and kicking three overs.
Australia thrived on a high-pressure game up front, hounding Ireland into errors and feasting on them.
Ironically the rule changes Ireland had feared weren’t the main contributory factors in the early pressure. In fact from the first kick-out that Paddy O’Rourke – chosen ahead of Niall Morgan in goal with Pádraig O’Neill the other Irish player omitted from the match-day panel – had to hit long was well marked by David Moran.
The additional hand-passing allowed before a team was required to kick obviously helped Australia but they occasionally fell foul of even the more permissive rules.
Even the tackle didn’t cause Ireland the usual difficulties and they actually broke even at least in the statistics count.
It will have disappointed Paul Earley, who said afterwards that he was proud of his team’s resilience, that his team didn’t seem to function as well as hoped and in the area where they’re supposed to be strong, taking scores more economically, they were lacklustre whether through being off-key or because of the relentless pressure of the Australians.
A sobering statistic was that Ireland had nearly treble the wides total of their hosts – even allowing for the enhanced difficulty of hitting a wide in the international game.
Despite the poor finishing, Ireland did get the two six-pointer goals, which bulked up the scoring total but overall they lacked precision in front of goal.
Conor McManus, who won the GAA medal for Irish player of the match, top-scored with four overs but he had glimpse of goal at the start of the second quarter only to be hauled down by Nick Smith.
Smith had the frustration of scoring Ireland’s second goal in the dying minutes of the test when he miscued an attempt to clear and cracked the ball into his own net.
The AFL side had set the patterns early, however. As well as Johnson, captain Joel Selwood, Chad Wingard and Nick Riewoldt kicked stylish overs, setting to rest any notion that they would be at odds with the round ball.
Riewoldt went on to have a terrific second quarter, his ability to mark dropping ball on view as well as his scoring prowess. Wingard was equally a constant thorn in the side of Ireland and finished with nine points.
Their player of the series, winner of the Jim Stynes medal, was half back Luke Hodge, who together with Sam Mitchell processed a pile of ball for the Australians and played a big role in clamping down on Ireland’s first-half attacks, leading to a record poor yield for the first half – just 7.
The only bright spot was Seán Cavanagh’s display in leading the number of disposals for the match even if his shooting wasn’t as precise as usual.
The third quarter, moving quarter in the Australian game, saw Ireland at last respond. The goal from Darren Hughes in the 42nd minute came after a move had put him clear and he finished well. Ireland strung together some nice overs, most spectacularly Kevin McKernan’s at the end of the quarter, popped over from the stripe of the left sideline.
Australia maintained their composure, however, clipping the scores that kept their lead substantial. Smith’s misfortune came with just minutes to go but there just wasn’t time to press for scores that could have sensationally robbed the verdict.
AUSTRALIA: 31. D Fletcher (Essendon); 40. N Smith (Sydney Swans), 7. H Taylor (Geelong), 5. S Mitchell (Hawthorn); 3. J McVeigh (Sydney Swans), 15. L Hodge (Hawthorn), 16. K Jack (Sydney Swans); 4. J Watson (Essendon), 14. A Selwood (Geelong; capt.); 10. R Gray (Port Adelaide), 20. S Johnson (Geelong), 29. B Harvey (North Melbourne); 22. L Breust (Hawthorn), 8. N Naitanui (West Coast Eagles), 21. C Wingard (Port Adelaide). Inter-change: 1. T Boak (Port Adelaide), 2. G Birchall (Hawthorn), 9. B Goddard (Essendon), 11. L Montagna (St Kilda), 12. N Riewoldt (St Kilda), 32. P Dangerfield (Adelaide), 33. B Smith (Adelaide), 38 T Rockliff (Brisbane).
Scorers: Johnson 12 (0-4-0), Riewoldt 10 (0-3-1), Wingard 9 (0-3-0), McVeigh 6 (0-2-0), Gray 5 (0-1-2), Breust 4 (0-1-1), Selwood, Harvey, Hodge 3 (0-1-0) each, B Smith 1 (0-0-1) each.
IRELAND: 23. P O'Rourke (Meath); 12. N McGee (Donegal), 6. F Hanley ( Galway ), 11. C McDonald (Tipperary); 13. C McKaigue ( Derry), 10. J McCarthy (Dublin), 9. L Keegan (Mayo); 17. D Moran (Kerry), 7. P Hanley (Brisbane and Mayo); 3. S Cavanagh (Tyrone), 20. M Murphy (Donegal, capt.), 1. C Begley (Laois); 21. C O'Neill (Cork), 24. A O'Shea (Mayo), C McManus (Monaghan). Inter-change: 2. C Boyle (Mayo), 4. C Cregg (Roscommon), 5. M Donnelly (Tyrone), 8. D Hughes (Monaghan), 14. K McKernan (Down), 15. K McLoughlin (Mayo), 19. R Munnelly (Laois), 25. A Walsh (Cork).
Scorers: McManus 12 (0-4-0), Hughes 7 (1-0-1), Nick Smith 6 (own goal), Donnelly 6 (0-2-0), Murphy, Begley, McKernan 3 (0-1-0) each, Cavanagh 2 (0-0-2), O'Neill, F Hanley, Moran, Munnelly 1 (0-0-1 each).
Referees: Simon Meredith (AFL) and Marty Duffy (GAA).
