By Shaun Casey

LAST week marked four years since Ireland and Australia last competed in the International Rules series. The merging of two similar sports, Gaelic Football and Australian Rules, pins professional athletes against the amateurs of the GAA.

2017 was the last time the two countries clashed as part of a two-game series, with the Aussie’s claiming victory on home turf on an aggregate score line of 116 to 103.

The competition has been sporadically played in recent years and several high profile GAA names, including former Tyrone boss Mickey Harte, have called for a halt to the combining of the two sports. Covid 19 denied the opportunity for the hybrid game to take place in 2020, but will it return in the future?

With all the recent debate around fixtures, structures and split seasons, will the International Rules, where the teams compete for the Cormac McAnallen trophy, still be implemented into the GAA calendar?

We spoke to three members of the Ireland squad from that 2017 meeting and got their views. Tyrone’s All-Ireland winning goalkeeper Niall Morgan, Cavan defender Killian Clarke and former Crossmaglen and Armagh player and manager Joe Kernan are all heavily in favour of keeping the competition alive.

“It’s the only opportunity we have to represent our country” said Morgan, who helped Tyrone claim Ulster and All-Ireland glory this season. “Every other sport you have a chance to represent your country and even in the golf now with the Olympics as well, they’re getting their opportunity to play for their country.

Even though I’ve won an All-Ireland, it’s one of the proudest moments for me, was being able to wear an Ireland jersey especially wearing it over in Australia. We have so many people over there now that have left Ireland and it gives them the opportunity to see the players too”.

Killian Clarke helped Cavan blaze to an unexpected Ulster title in 2020 and representing Ireland is high on his list of achievements. “Last year (winning Ulster) was definitely top of the table with lists of achievements. It was definitely up there in the top two or three (representing Ireland)” confirmed the Shercock defender.

“A few Ulster under-21s and club titles, an Intermediate championship with the club probably would sit just a wee bit higher. I’ve a Junior championship with the club as well but I’d definitely rank it fairly high. I think it would be a shame for it not to come back”.

Two-time manger Joe Kernan, who led Ireland to International Rules success in 2015, also backed the return of the series. The Crossmaglen native compared the cross-skilled game to Ireland’s recent rugby win over the All Blacks.

“Without a doubt (it has a place). I know one thing; the players want it on both sides. There’s not many chances you get to represent your country and when you see the Irish Rugby players (last Saturday) performing against the best players in the world and the way they played, it was fantastic to watch.

In the GAA we’re known as amateurs playing professionals, but we always can put it up to them and we can win on certain occasions. To me, it’s a duel in the crown and a great honour for any player”.

Not every player has the opportunity to pull on the Green jersey of course, so to do so is always a special moment. Niall Morgan felt real honour in wearing the number one shirt and getting picked ahead of the many other goalkeepers in the country.

“You can make your county team and you obviously want success with your county team but to get to play for Ireland, it’s a manager saying that he thinks you’re the best in the country which for me was huge.

“There’s so many goalkeepers in Ireland and obviously it doesn’t suit everybody to play.

Maybe a couple of times I’ve been lucky enough that Rory (Beggan) wasn’t fit to fully commit which helped my case. To me it’s the pinnacle of the sport, getting to represent your country, the pinnacle of any sport. It’s absolutely a huge achievement and something I’ll always take with me”.

Getting the chance to team up with Irelands best was another highlight for the Edendock clubman, who was able to put county rivalries aside to make lifelong friendships. “I’ve made friendships for life. Myself and Eoin Cadogan and Gary Brennan, Sean Powter from Cork, they’re boys that you never would have met”.

“Even Aidan O’Shea and you get to see what your real rivals are like. Michael Murphy and Neil McGee and them boys that you probably would have hated because they played for Donegal, you get to realise how civil of men they are and it’s an opportunity that people are going to miss out on if it’s not played again”.

Clarke echoed Morgan’s thoughts, “It was great to get to know the lads a wee bit better. You probably have a bit of doubt in your head that you’re doing things wrong or that you’re doing not enough.

But I think after the Aussie Rules I came back a bit more confident and a bit more comfortable with what work I was putting into Gaelic and just recognised that everybody’s in the same boat and everyone has similar issues. Obviously getting to know the lads a wee bit better was great as well” he said.

Joe Kernan, an All-Ireland winning manager with Crossmaglen and Armagh has also led Ulster to provincial glory before helping Ireland claim the Cormac McAnallen Cup in 2015. Kernan pointed to the memories that the players make as another positive of the series returning in the coming years.

“It only takes a short part of our calendar and a short part of our time, but the rewards and the memories are for life. It meant an awful lot to me (to manage Ireland) because I won with my club, I won with my county, I won with my province, and to win with Ireland was something special. But to do all those things together was immense.

For their (the players) families, it’s an unbelievable thing to say, ‘I’ve an Irish jersey, I represented my country’.

It’s immense. I’ll go back to the rugby, I love all sports and what it meant to me as an Irish supporter watching them playing against the best in the world and beating them, fantastic. I hope it doesn’t end”.

The challenge of learning new skillsets, adapting to new rules and coming up against professional athletes are other high points for Niall Morgan and Killian Clarke. “The tackle and even the ball going slightly wide, you were getting a score for it.

There’s so many of the skills like (picking the ball) off the ground sped up the game so much because you could pick it up on the run, you didn’t have to slow down.

I think it’s something that the GAA could definitely look at because it speeds everything up”, noted the Red Hand netminder.

Clarke backed up that point, “I think the skillset needed to play Aussie Rules, ideally you have to be first to the ball, you need to be half decent in the air as well, you need to be a good kick passer of the ball.

I was learning the rules as I went along. We got a good briefing before we went to Australia about the rules and we were training with them, I think we did twelve weeks trials before we were actually setting off” explained the Breffni defender. “We were obviously exposed to it two days a week for twelve weeks, but it probably couldn’t prepare you for the game itself.

I think there’s not that much adjustment all the same, there’s a lot of skills there that certain positions in Gaelic, maybe if you were a playmaker spraying ball into the full forward line, it’s quite transferable. And even if you’re an eleven (centre half forward) that can field the ball fairly well, I think that’s your ideal type of player. If you could have them all around the field, you’d be in a fairly good position”.

The future of the series is still up in the air and whether it returns or not remains to be seen, but no doubt there’s still plenty of appetite for the hybrid game.