Injury blow rules out captain Joyce for Aussie encounter

THE Irish management for the International Rules Series with Australia in October will this weekend consider a replacement for team captain Padraic Joyce who has been ruled out by a recurring groin injury.

Manager Pete McGrath agreed that the loss of the Galway star was a double blow in terms of his ability and his leadership qualities. He agreed that it also was a major blow to the player himself.

“He was thrilled when he was appointed captain,” said McGrath yesterday, who revealed that Joyce had aggravated the injury in training in Dublin last weekend. “This had been bothering him on an on-going basis and he exacerbated it very badly last Friday night.”

Joyce was advised to undergo immediate surgery and while the medical prognosis indicates that he will make a full recovery, he won’t be able to play football for about three months.

While McGrath said it was most unfortunate that this had happened, he agreed that they would have been placed in a much worse situation if it happened a week or two before the first test on October 17.

“He is a big loss, firstly on the basis that he has experience of the international game and secondly because he is a model player, with a great attitude to the game. We have a number of young and inexperienced players in the squad and they would have looked to him for guidance. As captain he would have had a great influence on them.

“In terms of his ability, he will be missed because in this game it’s particularly important that you have players who can take scores in tight situations,” he said.

The squad will train in Dublin tonight and again tomorrow and the selectors will review the situation over the weekend.

In deciding on a replacement captain, McGrath said they would first have to give consideration to the players who would ‘definitely’ be in the official panel and then decide on the player ‘best suited’ to lead the team.

One of the leading contenders will be Cork star Graham Canty who was captain for the last home-and-away series and was voted the Irish player of the series in Australia last October. Others would include team-mate Anthony Lynch, Offaly star Ciaran McManus and Derry captain Sean Marty Lockhart. A panel of 42 was named two weeks ago and this will be reduced to around 28.

Meanwhile, Laois’ All-Star centre-back Tom Kelly has finally ended months of speculation by transferring from his St Joseph’s club to Dublin’s Round Towers.

Kelly was on the verge of completing the transfer last spring but the move was postponed while the county team was preparing to defend its Leinster football title.

Kelly isn’t the first high profile player to transfer to the Clondalkin outfit recently. Dublin player Darren Homan made the switch from city rivals Ballyboden-St Enda’s at the start of the season along with clubmate Derek Byrne.