Ireland play the waiting game on International Rules squad

THE Irish International Rules management team will not “put a gun to any player’s head” if they face the dilemma of whether to stay at home to fulfil club commitments or fly out to Australia next weekend ahead of the upcoming test matches in Melbourne and the Gold Coast.

Ireland are already resigned to being without Kerry attacker Darran O’Sullivan due to his involvement with Mid Kerry in Sunday week’s county senior decider and could also be without captain Stephen Cluxton and Laois player Colm Begley who face a Dublin SFC quarter-final tie with their club Parnells next Saturday afternoon.

Selector Sean Óg de Paor last night revealed that no decision has been made as to who will replace Cluxton as captain if the Dublin goalkeeper is unable to travel and the management are adopting a wait-and-see approach ahead of this weekend’s fixtures.

The majority of the Irish squad are flying out this Friday and Saturday, with next Monday set as the deadline for any remaining squad members to travel.

“This situation was always likely to arise with club fixtures,” he said.

“We’ve decided to adopt a wait-and-see approach as we don’t really know what will happen. For instance if Parnells lose then Stephen and Colm could fly out after that game but if they win, then they have a decision to make. It’s a difficult dilemma but we won’t be putting a gun to any player’s head.

“We’ll try to reach a compromise as regards fixtures if we can but that may not be possible. Some members of our squad are flying out Friday and then anyone who’s an All Star nominee is allowed to fly out on Saturday. We’ll see if decisions have to be made about bringing in new players. We’ve told fellas who haven’t made the original 23-man panel to be on standby this weekend.”

Following the arrest of AFL star Pearse Hanley after an incident in Brisbane last Friday night, de Paor has reiterated that the Irish management will be expecting the players to conduct themselves properly during the trip.

“I don’t know much about the incident involving Pearse. But it’s about common sense behaviour when the squad heads to Australia. Any team that is serious about what it does will be training and preparing properly but of course their will be windows of opportunity for guys to let their hair down.”

De Paor also expressed his gratitude to the Ulster Council for their decision to defer the provincial club SFC quarter-final involving Glenswilly and Burren until November 13 to facilitate Donegal attacker Michael Murphy and Down defender Kevin McKernan who are part of the squad.