Australians romp to easy win 05 November 2006 Australia completely hammered Ireland by 69 points to 31 in a one-sided International Rules Series second test played before 82,000 shocked spectators at Croke Park. The win gave the Aussies a whopping 107-79 aggregate victory as they retained the Cormac McAnallen Cup with something to spare. Ireland never got going at all and the one-sided nature of the contest is a grave disappointment. The rampant violence that erupted all over the pitch at the start of the opening quarter is also certain to spark plenty of protest. Thus, the series now faces a double threat: firstly, the Australians have become vastly superior to us; secondly, can any sport justify such blatant thuggery? A series of brawls broke out all over the pitch before the ball was thrown in and it looked obvious already as if the Aussies were intent on mixing things up. Nicholas Murphy got the first point for a 'behind' in the second minute and another outburst of violence followed immediately. Australia netted while open warfare was erupting and, controversially, the referee allowed the score to stand. The antipodeans added a point to lead by seven points to one after five minutes. Ryan O'Keefe clipped an 'over' and the visitors were in complete control in the early stages. This would remain the case throughout the afternoon. Captain Fantastic Barry Hall took a great mark from a long ball in the ninth minute and calmly added a right-footed 'over' from a tight angle to make it 13-1. Another lovely Daniel Pearce 'over' from play made it 16 points to one as Australia threatened to run riot - literally and metaphorically. Marked man Graham Geraghty sustained a nasty-looking injury when an unnecessarily rough tackle saw his head slam against the Croke Park turf. Australia seemed to be deploying a cynical tactic early on of singling out Ireland's best players for niggles in an attempt to get them yellow-carded and it was hardly a major surprise when Kieran McGeeney - who was defending himself from an assault - became the next Irishman to join an opponent in the sin-bin. In the last minute of first-quarter normal time - following a long delay to allow Geraghty to be stretchered from the game - Benny Coulter made a brave catch from Steven McDonnell's delivery and duly converted the resultant mark to reduce the aggregate differential to four points. Shockingly, Australia continued to tackle late and dirty, leaving Coulter with a bloodied nose and Alan Brogan with an over' from the free: 16-7. When Dermot Earley neatly dissected the middle posts in the fifth minute of added time, Australia led by 16-10, with Ireland ahead by 58 to 56 on aggregate as the hooted sounded. From here on, the winners would assume complete dominance, overwhelming Sean Boylan's team with their touch, pace, fitness and guile. Hall completely missed the target with Australia's first attack of the second quarter and was promptly sin-binned for a late tackle on Anthony Moyles, who had picked his pocket. A promising Ireland attack was spoiled when .Joe Bergin took his eye off the ball. Chance Bakeman and Brendan Goddard registered two rapid 'overs' inside a minute and when Aaron Daly tagged on another three-pointer, the visitors led emphatically by 25 points to 10. Two more 'behinds' edged the Aussies 17 points ahead and Coulter almost got a sight of goal. However, Ireland generally looked ragged and disjointed. In contrast, the solid, assured Australians had improved dramatically since the game in Salthill eight days ago. When Sean Cavanagh sent Bergin through it looked as if Ireland might get a goal but O'Keefe got back to divert the Galway man's shot out for a 'behind'. Seconds later, McDonnell too came close to a six-pointer but the Orchard man's sweet soccer-style left-footer bounced on top of the crossbar and went over. Still, Ireland had belatedly got their first scores of the second quarter and had closed the gap to 27-14. One point was all the hosts got from presentable opportunities for Coulter (scorer) and McDonnell, as McGeeney followed up with another 'behind'. At half-time, Australia led by 27-16 on the day and by 67-64 overall. It was all still to play for, though Ireland had lost Tadgh Kennelly to injury and were under pressure with 40 minutes remaining in the series. Australia dominated the third quarter to completely finish the series as a contest. They won that period by 30 points to 4 and there was no way back for the ragged, clearly beaten Irish. The winners scored the first 'over' after the half-time break and some sloppy Irish defending almost gifted them a goal before Hall added a 'behind'. Sean Cavanagh dropped a shot short into Justin Fletcher's grateful arms and O'Keefe contributed the Aussies' next three-pointer as they led by more than double scores: 34 to 16. The next two scores yielded four points for the visitors and Ireland appeared in all sorts of trouble as they trailed by 22 points in this match - and 14 overall. An incisive Australia move culminated in a Goddard goal - their second into the Canal End - after Daly's shot bounced back off a post, and an immediate 'behind' made it 45-16. The aggregate score became 91-67 when the Aussies walked the ball into the net - with Mike Crowley applying the finish. An 'over' later, the score looked decidedly embarrassing: Australia 54, Ireland 19. The only answer Ireland could muster was a 'behind' and Justin Sherman fired an 'over' just before the hooter to make it: 57-20 There was just pride to play for in the last quarter and Ireland's first attack yielded just a 'behind' when Earley got a touch to McDonnell's searching ball. Brogan also got one point but Pearce showed us how when he sent over a three-pointer. Ireland tagged on four consolation points before Hall fired 'over' into the Hill. Incredibly, Andrew Raines and McDonnell had a personal duel all the way through the final quarter. Ireland grew increasingly frustrated as a few late decisions seemed to go against them and barely a roar was raised as McDonnell's 'over' from a free made it 29-63. A lot of the Ireland fans had left already. The outstanding Hall notched two more 'overs' - one of which could have been a goal - to put 40 points between the teams (32 on aggregate) with five minutes remaining. Paul Galvin hit a 'behind' for the disappointing losers. Alan Quirke, who was Ireland's best player, made a lot of brave catches, and Ireland managed a last-minute 'behind' before the buzzer hooted at 69-31. Much ado about very little, in the end. Late flurry slays Australia 28 October 2006 Nine points in the final 30 seconds saw Ireland steal a famous win against Australia and leave themselves in a great position to reclaim the Cormac McAnallen trophy. Ireland 48 (1-12-6) Australia 40 (1-9-7) It was a strange game in which Ireland started and finished brilliantly, but in between Australia showed enough class to indicate that the tie is far from over. Sean Boylan's new look Ireland side took to Salthill looking to avenge the heavy beating which had been the visitor's fate in Australia twelve months ago. Despite a nervy start by both sides, Ireland proceeded to dominate the first quarter by which stage they held a commanding 16-4 advantage. With all the quarter's reduced to 18 minutes each, it appeared as though we were in for a low scoring affair as it took all of for and a half minutes for the first score to arrive. Fittingly for Boylan, it was a Meath man who delivered as Graham Geraghty took a mark from a fine Sean Cavanagh ball before sending over a three pointer. Alan Brogan was the first interchange player and he had a huge impact as he dropped deep to excellent effect and got on the end of a clever move to put Ireland 6-0 ahead. Matthew Lappin grabbed a behind for the visitor's first score before Stephen McDonnell pointed for Ireland. Ireland were dropping deep to good effect and breaking with pace in support rather than kicking long. Australia seemed to be caught cold be the tactic and found their handling skills letting them down at times. A quick kick was marked by Australian talisman Barry Hall and he hit their first over to narrow the deficit, 7-4. However, that was the visitor's last score before the end of the quarter while Ireland hit three overs in succession. Tadhg Kennelly on the run and McDonnell again made it 13-4 before Longford's Paul Barden ended the scoring to leave Ireland in complete control, 16-4. If Ireland thought they were going to continue in the same vein they were in for a shock as Australia decided to kick long at every opportunity in the second quarter and they outscored the home side by 10-5. The visitors' pride was clearly dented and they started to go into tackles with more vigour and Ireland struggled as a result. Only second were gone when Lappin grabbed another over and four minutes later Aaron Daly fired over on the run to reduce the deficit to 10-16. A notable aspect of the Irish play was the number of times they dropped kicks short into the hands of the Australian goalkeeper. McDonnell hit a behind on 25 minutes before the impressive Colm Begley fired a brilliant over on the run to put Ireland 20-11 ahead, with the Aussie behind coming from Ryan O'Keefe. There had been no real goal chances before Benny Coulter won a break and played Sean Cavanagh in. The Tyrone man was clean through but shot from distance when it would have been wiser to carry the ball further in, resulting in a comfortable save for the Aussie 'keeper. The ball was switched quickly down field and Hall looked to be in for a goal before a brilliant tackle from Anthony Moyles, but O'Keefe won the break and fired another Aussie over. Worryingly, Ireland looked as though they were tiring as Brogan hit a behind to leave his country 21-14 ahead at the end of the second quarter. Just like in the second quarter the Aussie fired a quick over, this time through Nick Davis. Graham Geraghty has a great chance for an over but screwed his shot for a behind before Dermot Early fired over a brilliant effort from near the sideline to put the home side 25-17 ahead. However, from there on in it was near complete Australian dominance in the third quarter with their big name players like Hall and Lappin outstanding. A run of three overs from Hall, O'Keefe and Davis levelled the game at 26-26 before Pearse put the Aussies ahead for the first time with a behind. Ireland should at that stage have goaled as Geraghty fed McDonnell, but the Armagh ace's shot was brilliantly saved by Dan Fletcher. Then, out of the blue, Australia struck for a killer goal. Some brilliant quick hands saw O'Keefe put through on an empty goal and he fired to the net on 52 minutes to leave Australia 33-26 ahead. Ireland seemed bereft of ideas at that stage but a brilliant over from McDonnell raised a huge cheer from the Galway crowd as Ireland trailed 29-33, but more worryingly they had lost the third quarter by 19-8. Steven McDonnell narrowed the gap with a behind but two Aussie behinds and another O'Keefe over has the visitors 38-30 ahead and seemingly cruising but Ireland found huge gaps in the Australian defence in the final ten minutes to outscore their opponents from 18-1. Sean Kavanagh and McDonnell hit two quick overs which gave the home side some belief and then Joe Bergin won a mark which he stuck over to leave just a point between the sides with a minute left to play. Australia tried to retain possession but overplayed the ball which let Ireland break and McDonnell fired the home side ahead, 42-40. The clock was running out and all wondered would Ireland hold on but instead Australia lost possession and a long ball found Bergin clean through and he fired low to the net for a crucial goal to wrap up the win. Ireland - A Quirke, SM Lockhart, A Moyles, K Fitzgerald, A O'Mahony, T Kelly, K McGeeney, C Begley 3, S Cavanagh 3, P Galvin, T Kennelly 4, G Geraghty 4, S McDonnell 15, R, Clarke, K Donaghy. Interchange - A Brogan 4, P Barden 3, B Coulter, K Reilly, M O Se, D Earley 3, J Bergin 9 Australia (scorers) - M Lappin 4, B Hall 6, R O'Keefe 18, A Daly 3, N Davis 6, Pearse 1, B Stanton 1, M Voss 1 Umpires - Shane McInerney (Australia), Pat McEnaney (Ireland) Tweet

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