Ref McInerney ready to make the testing calls

THE Australian referee who will be involved in both games in the Coca-Cola International Rules Series has expressed confidence in his ability to do justice to himself and the game.

Saying yesterday that his appointment represented his second biggest achievement since taking charge of the 2004 Grand Final, Shane McInerney nevertheless admitted that all the practice he had mightn’t necessarily prepare him for the real thing.

For last year’s series in Australia he was involved as “an observer” and worked with the (referees) group in getting an understanding and appreciation of the rules. “I have been involved with the practice matches for this series and I guess that’s as much preparation as you are going to have for actual game day.

“What the game throws up you have to react to, but you prepare yourself as best you can,’’ he stated.

He also feels that his experience will further help him to cope with the atmosphere generated by predominantly Irish crowds, explaining:

“In our game, a lot of inter-state games are played in ‘foreign’ stadiums, where it’s 95% support one way."

While tonight’s game will be handled by Pat McEnaney, Meath official Dave Coldrick is Irish referee for the Croke Park test. Coldrick has experience at Under-17 level and officiated the first (senior) test last year.

“Preparing is the same as with Shane — the weekly training sessions for a few hours, being on hand for questions the lads would have on rules.

“The referees won’t be biased, we’ll try to call it as we see it. We want to do well in terms of refereeing."

McInerney has the same ambition. “We want people saying what great games they were. We will make mistakes, in the same way that players do, but they’re certainly not intentional.

“We’re really comfortable we can go out there with the same idea of how the rules need to be implemented."