Paul Earley lifts the lid on build up to International Rules tests

Paul Earley has lifted the lid on Ireland’s International Rules preparations over the last two years, revealing intriguing team talks from Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley and an Australian hockey legend.

Earley guided Ireland to a 101-point series win in 2013 though a stronger Australian team prevailed by 10 points in last November’s test in Perth.

On the morning of that game at Patersons Stadium, Ireland’s panel received a talk from successful hockey coach Ric Charlesworth.

A doctor and former politician, Charlesworth coached the Australian women’s hockey team to back to back Olympic gold medals and World Cup titles in the 1990s and works now as a performance consultant.

Earley was partly inspired by Charlesworth’s speech to change things up at half-time in Perth, prompting a recovery which saw Ireland cut a 28-point deficit to 10.

“In those few moments, what went through my mind was our conversation with Ric Charlesworth that morning, where we were talking about the game,” revealed Earley.

“(He said) even after all the work you’ve put in for the last few months, if it’s not working then a failing strategy needs revision. We changed things around a bit, changed the structure of the team, changed the patterns of how we played, played a more running game, got more players committed going forward, made some personnel changes. While we didn’t win the game, we clawed back the deficit to a 10-point game and gave the Australians a bit of a fright.”

Earley said that golfer McGinley, in advance of his own 2014 triumph as Ryder Cup captain, and Tyrone’s Peter Canavan both gave speeches to the Ireland panel ahead of the 2013 tests. “He (McGinley) spoke to us and he was terrific,” said Earley. “He gave us some great advice, particularly about team building. And also about when you’re in camp, the importance of mixing hard work with down time which was useful for us when we hadn’t experienced it before.”

Earley was speaking to delegates at the O’Neill’s Ulster GAA Coaching and Games Development Conference in Cookstown.

The former Roscommon All Star and AFL player with Melbourne said that he favours the Aussie Rules hand pass over the one used in Gaelic football and believes the GAA should consider amending their technique.

“I’ve always had the view that the Australian Rules technique is the better one for our game,” said Earley of the pass which is made with the thumb side of a closed fist.

“If you watch the International Rules games over the last number of years, not just last year, you’ll notice that the Australians’ hand passing is much slicker than ours is.

“They hit the target more often, they generally hit the target where you should hit the target, which is out in front, the accuracy is better, the trajectory of the hand pass is straighter and it gets to the target quicker.

“My experience as a player when I played out there was that it’s a better technique. It’s a more natural technique than ours and it’s an area we could make some improvements on.”