Both managers agree it ain’t over ’till it’s over

IRISH manager John O’Keeffe and Gary Lyon were in agreement on one point after the Australians won last evening’s first Test the series is not over.

However, it's not one shared by former Irish coach Colm O'Rourke.

In nine test series played to date, O'Rourke is the only one to manage winning teams at home and away, in 1998 and 1999. Now, Gary Lyon is in line to emulate that achievement.

O'Rourke insisted last night that Ireland needed to win the game by between five and ten points to keep it alive. "As it is now, it may not be dead but it's hard to see Australia losing from a position of strength," he commented. "It is going to be difficult for Ireland to win the series. I was hoping we would get a goal near the end, but it looked more like the Australians were going to get one."

John O'Keeffe was quick to accept his team made errors fisted passes into the full-forward line, losing vital possession and that their kicking was sub-standard at times. "We kicked nine one-pointers, which is very unusual for Gaelic footballers," he said.

But, he praised his players supreme effort, pointing out that 17 were new to the series and this type of intensity.

"I felt quite confident in the third quarter, but then all of a sudden things turned around. As far as I am concerned, it's only half-time in this game. It is by no means over," he said.

Later, when the same question was asked of Gary Lyon, he gave a similar reply. "Absolutely not. You blokes [the Irish media] might have thought that at the quarter stage when you were 14 points ahead. I am not about to think it at half-time in the series. That lead could vanish.

When it was put to him that he was in a strong position to win the first home series, he was even more forthright in his views. "I am not being cute or smart about it. I know how unpredictable the game is. If it was a 20 points lead you might start to think that way. I think ten points is retrievable," he added.

O'Rourke rates the Aussie full-forward Barry Hall as the "best player they have had," commenting: I think he is just too physically strong for our best players. He won a lot of the contests fair and square through sheer physique."

Added O'Keeffe: "He gave us a lot of trouble in the aerial duels and we'll have to get our heads around that for the next day. It's not an easy task. We just do not have at our disposal someone of that size. I thought Cormac McAnallen tried to curtail him as much as possible."

In general, he believed his players had coped well with the physical nature of the game but had been unable to sustain the effort over the 80 minutes plus.

Ciaran McManus, who put in a typically storming display in his ninth test appearance, expressed bitter disappointment with the outcome attributing it more to Irish mistakes than the strength of the home challenge.

"We are after having a few words privately. If we can lift it for the next day we could pull off a famous victory. That is the only way to look at it now if you look at the way we threw it away instead of them winning it," he commented.

Acknowledging Barry Hall was "a problem", McManus wasn't prepared to accept that his display represented the difference between the teams. "It was the two soft goals we gave away in the third quarter. Some of our lads got rattled, but we did compose ourselves.

"We were all over them in the first ten minutes of the last quarter, but we just could not finish off the damn thing. We have only ourselves to blame, but then again we gave it everything. I'm very proud of every one of the lads."

Declan Browne is giving himself a chance of being fit for the second test, but at the same time is not overly-optimistic. "Yesterday was the first day I was off the crutches and I have seen a great improvement. But, I'm not getting my hopes up yet."