O'Keeffe banks on goals to beat the Australians

JOHN O’KEEFFE is banking on goals for Ireland if they are to be successful against Australia in the opening test in the Coca-Cola International Rules Series in Croke Park on Sunday.

Manager for the first time after serving as a selector under Colm O’Rourke and Brian McEniff for the previous two series, O’Keeffe announced a panel yesterday which was notable for the absence of key players.

Injuries and other factors rule out Darren Fay, Michael Donnellan, Dermot Earley, Declan O’Keeffe, Anthony Tohill, Sean Marty Lockhart and Peter Canavan. However, Armagh captain Kieran McGeeney is available and despite an earlier announcement that he was retiring from inter-county activity, Graham Geraghty, is also included.

Eleven of the 26-man panel chosen by O’Keeffe and selectors Matt Connor, Peter McGinnity and Martin Carney, toured Australia last season. The 2000 captain Trevor Giles, who was ruled out by injury last year, will also play. The team doctor is Con Murphy from Cork.

GAA President Sean McCague expressed confidence yesterday that the entertainment level would be higher than what was on offer at the two tests in Ireland two years ago. And, commercial manager Dermot Power pointed out that advance ticket sales on the internet had reached 27,000, which represented a 25% increase on the same period in 2000. Predicting that the attendance would more than double this figure, he stressed the importance of people purchasing tickets in advance to avoid a repetition of what had happened the last time - when anything up to 30,000 people arrived at the stiles about 15 minutes before the start.

Outlining the preparations over the past nine week-ends, O’Keeffe said that the involvement of Kerry and Armagh in the All-Ireland final had created obvious difficulties for the players chosen in the advance panel. On the other hand, four of those named, team captain Seamus Moynihan, Darragh O Se, Paul McGrane and Kieran McGeeney, had previous experience. He described the fifth, Tomas O Sé, as ‘a rookie,’ commenting that having attended his first session last week-end meant that he would need ‘a crash-course’ in preparation.

“I always felt this game would suit his talents, through his controlled aggression and strong runs from defence,’’ said O’Keeffe.

Expressing serious regret that Darren Fay had to opt out after damaging ankle ligaments in the early stages of preparations, O’Keeffe indicated that either Graham Canty or Darragh O Sé would fill the full-back role. Interestingly, he made it clear that he does not intend playing Seamus Moynihan there: “he will be relieved of his full-back duties in this code. We will play him either at half-back or midfield and I’m quite sure that we will see more of his creative ability.’’

Newcomers to the international game include Meath star Evan Kelly and Galway’s successful Under-21 captain, Joe Bergin, who was outstanding in Sunday’s All-Ireland final victory over Dublin.

“Evan has upper body strength which the Australians have and some of our players don’t,’’ he added. “He will be able to 'mix it’ with the Australians.’’

He had this to say about Bergin: “you could describe him as one of the outstanding young players of recent years and a tremendous athlete, the type of player I’m sure the Australians would love to have.’’

Pointing out that he was satisfied that Tadhg Kennelly would be able to play after getting a favourable report about his injury at the week-end, O’Keeffe said that the player’s experience of the Rules game in Australia and specifically about the membership of the visiting squad, was proving invaluable to him.

“The Australians are bringing smaller and quicker players.

“They realise that the 6-8 player who is fairly static is not a success at this game.

“The players coming are on average about six foot. We have a lot of strong players in our squad, but what we are lacking is a big, strong target man. I spoke with Colin Corkery earlier on but he was not able to give a commitment. It was the same with a number of other players who had been involved in recent years.’’

O’Keeffe says he will be looking to the like of Derek Savage and Ray Cosgrove to score goals, predicting that they will need to score four or five in each test if they are to be successful.

“In the opening quarter of the first test two years ago we missed that number of wide open chances.

“What I have said to the players repeatedly is that if we perform our Gaelic skills well, we will do well at this game. Our greatest ability over the Australians is our ability to kick ball accurately.

The Australians depend a lot on the fisted pass. What I will be looking for is accurate 25/30 yard kick-passes, to make a mark.’’

The Australian players are due into Dublin Airport this evening and they will play a warm-up game tomorrow. They will again be managed by Gary Lyon, assisted by Jim Stynes.

The Irish panel:

*P. Burke (Mayo), G. Canty (Cork), *A. Lynch (Cork), *P. Christie (Dublin), *C. Holmes (Tyrone), *T. O Se (Kerry), K. McGeeney (Armagh), T. Giles (Meath), *D. Meehan (Galway), A. Rainbow (Kildare), *E. Kelly (Meath), E. O´Hara (Sligo), S. Moynihan (Kerry, capt.), D. O Se (Kerry), P. McGrane (Armagh), C. McAnallen (Tyrone), *J. Bergin (Galway), T. Kennelly (Kerry/Sydney Swans), B.J. O´Sullivan, *P. Barden (Longford), D. Dolan (Westmeath), *D. Savage (Galway), P. Joyce (Galway), C. McManus (Offaly), G. Geraghty (Meath), *R. Cosgrove (Dublin).

Stand-by players: *S. Cluxton (Dublin), *J. Gill (Mayo), *N. Walsh (Cavan), *D. McGee (Dublin), *R. Clarke (Armagh).

(*denotes new).