More to come from Irish, says McKeever

JUST a case of Ireland going through the motions this morning? Think again, says vice-captain Ciaran McKeever.

“We worked hard before we came out and when we got here to put ourselves in this position, so we’re not going to let it slip. We don’t feel we reached our potential last Friday night and that’s hurting a few boys.”

Sitting just a few feet away from the Armagh man when he made that delivery at yesterday’s pre-Test press conference, few would have blamed Rodney Eade and his captain Brad Green for raising an eyebrow at that last line.

A winning margin of 44 points — the best in the history of the hybrid game — speaks of fulfilling potential but seemingly not to McKeever and, according to him, the Ireland players as well.

Certainly there was no let-up in Ireland’s early training sessions this week and the fact this marks the last Tests for Tadhg Kennelly and Stevie McDonnell adds more incentive to the pot.

Where can they improve from last week? Not in many areas. Some of the kicking from the defence wasn’t great at times but hardly a worrying trait for Anthony Tohill.

The key for the visitors will be in absorbing the pressure Australia are certain to put on them from the get-go, whether it be within the rules or not.

They’ll also have to accept they’re not going to be as accurate as they were in Melbourne. They didn’t kick one behind in over two quarters at the Etihad Stadium. Lightning’s not going to strike twice.

Asking Australia to come up trumps after last week’s mauling is just too much. In the nine series since 2000, just two Tests have been tied, the biggest turnaround coming in the infamous 2006 campaign when Kevin Sheedy’s men won ugly.

But the Australian team of then couldn’t be more different to the one that’s expected to make like Melbourne never happened.

Their manager has already questioned the fitness of some of them and seven days isn’t a major turnaround while their ball skills are hardly like to improve dramatically in that same time period.

Eade was more focused on ensuring his team redeem themselves as opposed to saving the ailing series.

“It’s more our pride and the way we want to go about it. I think we’re unfortunate this year from an AFL point of view because it was an extra two-week season and we had six really good players who pulled out because of injury in the final series.

“Last year in Ireland we had [Dustin] Fletcher, [Adam] Goodes and [Dane] Swan and I’ve got no doubt that in the future players will put their hand up.”

Stung by the criticism from their management and the media, Australia should show plenty of pride here but it shouldn’t be enough to destabilise what is a solid and extremely well-drilled Ireland squad.

Take them to win by something around half their margin last Friday.

Verdict: Ireland

IRELAND: S Cluxton (Dublin — captain/goalkeeper), C McKeever (Armagh — vice captain), P Hanley (Brisbane Lions), E Cadogan (Cork), K Donaghy (Kerry), L Glynn (Wicklow), F Hanley (Galway), E Bolton (Kildare), D Hughes (Monaghan), T Kennelly (Sydney Swans), K Lacey (Donegal), S McDonnell (Armagh), K McKernan (Down), J McMahon (Tyrone), N McGee (Donegal), M Murphy (Donegal), K Reilly (Meath), A Walsh (Cork), Z Tuohy (Carlton), C Begley (Laois), B Murphy (Carlow), E Callaghan (Kildare), T Walsh (Sydney Swans), P Kelly (Cork). Stand-by: Karl Lacey (Donegal)

AUSTRALIA: B Green (Melbourne — captain), J Kelly (Geelong Cats) , A Swallow (North Melbourne), R Douglas (Adelaide Crows), J Frawley (Melbourne), R Gray (Port Adelaide), S Grigg (Richmond), B McGlynn (Sydney Swans), T McKenzie (Gold Coast Suns), S Milne (St Kilda), A Monfries (Essendon), R Nahas (Richmond), M Nicoski (West Coast), J Patfull (Brisbane Lions), M Robinson (Carlton), L Shiels (Hawthorn), Z Smith (Gold Coast Suns), M Suckling (Hawthorn), J Trengove (Melbourne), B Vince (Adelaide Crows), C Ward (GWS Giants), D Wojcinski (Geelong Cats), E Wood (Western Bulldogs).

Referees: David Coldrick (Meath), Ray Chamberlain (Australia).