GAELIC GAMES/Ireland - 77 Australia - 41: Apparently they can tinker with the International Rules after each Test series if some obvious pitfall comes to light. Yesterday Ireland won the first Test by a record 36 points, effectively making the second Test redundant. It's hard to know where they'll find the compromise on that one.

Cancelling the second Test if a team wins the first by more than, say, 35 points would be excessive. But there's really not a whole lot to play for in Croke Park next Sunday. The 46,370 who showed up yesterday was a little down on the expected figure, and they'll be lucky if even half of those find a reason to come back next week.

It was that one-sided. Ireland rolled over the Australia team as if they'd just stepped off the plane. And been wined and dined for the whole flight. Ireland gave their opponents a hard lesson in every area of the game. In terms of skill, speed and even physical strength, the hosts turned it into one long solo.

Long before the final hooter sounded it was clear to all those in attendance that Ireland had taken a different game to the Australians. The damage was more wide-ranging that just the scoreline.

Ireland kicked better, passed better and finished better. At times Ireland were impossibly good. The Australians were never up to it.

More importantly, they weren't given the time to make any of their trademark tackles. Instead, Ireland played with this remarkably composed and determined attitude, capped with the sort of professional demeanour that up to now the Australians had naturally thought was their one great advantage.

They were up 28-5 after the first quarter, and had the Australians so dazed and confused that they didn't hear the hooter. They were up 43-13 at half time - that 30 point difference already surpassing the record margin of victory set in the second Test in 1987, when Australia won 72-47.

At that stage Australia didn't need a break, they needed to call in the Kelly gang. As is typical of the series, they peaked in the third quarter, and out-scored Ireland by four points. But that did little to limit Ireland's dominance.

Towards the end the only statistic that mattered was whether Ireland could reach the record total of 80 points scored in 1984. Now there's a reason to come back next week.

Of course Ireland manager Pete McGrath threw his head back at the suggestion that all this made next Sunday rather pointless. "Anyone who thinks that this series is over is a fool," he told a large gathering of Irish media. We looked at each other like fools.

What McGrath did agree on was that Ireland had played superbly well. The three goals from Steven McDonnell, Padraic Joyce and Mattie Forde were just three small highlights in an outstanding team performance. You could start with names like Dessie Dolan and Tadhg Kennelly and Tom Kelly and keep going all the way to SeáÓg Ó hAilpín and Ciarán McManus and Brendan Coulter. No one let the side down.

"The team did go in there very focused, very single-minded," added McGrath. "A team on a mission. And I think the fact that we started so well and got those scores on the board helped with the confidence.

"But I'll say it again. The only statistic that matters is what's on the scoreboard next week."

McGrath's message beforehand had been simple - play the game as close to Gaelic football as they could. Gary Lyon's message to his players before next Sunday's game won't be as simple. The Australian manager knows he's got a mountain to climb, and a few more hills after that.

"Well, we're not giving up on it," said Lyon. "We've a fair bit of ground to make up, but there's also a reputation to be restored, and some respect to be won. We'll do that, but if that's enough to win it we'll just have to see."

That youth dominated Lyon's selection was well documented, but at times yesterday they resembled an under-17 side. Team captain James Hird, described as the "Bono of Australian Rules", partly rallied his team in the second half, and Nathan Brown was by far their most accurate scorer. After that they struggled to find any leaders on the field.

Back in Australia a result like this will be seen as nothing less than an embarrassment. Lyon preferred to see it as a disappointment: "I think you guys have got the capacity to maintain a great control of the ball. You saw the way we butchered the friggin' thing today.

"So in the space of the week we'll need to improve in every single area of the game. And if we can't we might as well pack up now and go home. Because our kicking, our decision making, and our tackling was deplorable. But as poor as we were, the Irish were just fantastic. And clearly the best group we've come up against, in my time anyway."

Lyon came here confident of giving the Australians a third successive Test series. Like the rest of us, he's now wondering if there really is any point in coming back next Sunday.