16 August 2006

New Irish International Rules Series manager Sean Boylan has named a preliminary 44 man training panel in preparation for this year’s series with Australia.

The panel does not include players from counties still involved in the concluding stages of the All-Ireland championship, and as such no Kerry, Cork, Dublin, Laois or Mayo players have been included. Players from these counties will be considered for inclusion at a later date.

The 44 man panel announced includes six players from Tyrone and five from Ulster champions Armagh, while Derry, Meath and Galway each have four representatives on the squad. Strangely, Tyrone’s Conor Gormley is included in the squad despite the fact that he broke his ankle a little over a week ago.

Kieran McGeeney, who was left off the squad for the last two years under Pete McGrath, makes a return as does Meath’s Graham Geraghty, who last played in the IRS in 2002.

The first test takes place in Salthill on 15 October and the second game is in Croke Park seven days later.

The provisional training squad is: John Galvin, Johnny McCarthy (Limerick), Gary Hurney, Karl O Keefe (Waterford), Mark Brennan (Louth), Kevin Reilly, Anthony Moyles, Joe Sheridan, Graham Geraghty (Meath), Dermot Earley (Kildare), Tomas Walsh (Carlow), Brendan Egan, Eamonn O’Hara, Sean Davey (Sligo), Carl Mannion, Seamus O’Neill (Roscommon), Michael Walsh, Brendan Coulter (Down), Paddy Bradley, Kevin Mc Cloy, Fergal Doherty, Sean Martin Lockhart (Derry), Anthony Gaynor (Cavan), Sean Cavanagh, Stephen O’Neill, Conor Gormley, Enda McGinley, Ryan McMenamin, Philip Jordan (Tyrone), Conor Whelan (Clare), Kieran Fitzgerald, Damien Burke, Joe Bergin, Dermot Blake (Galway), Niall McNamee (Offaly), Karl Slattery (Offaly), Paul Barden, Brian Kavanagh (Longford), Karl Lacey (Donegal), Kieran McGeeney, Paul McGrane, Ronan Clarke, Steven McDonnell, Ciaran McKeever (Armagh).