World Footy News

This year sees the first ever night test of International Rules to be played at Pearse Stadium, Galway to contest the Cormac McAnallen Cup. The game, scheduled for Saturday October 28, 2006 has been sold out since early in the week, with a capacity crowd of 30,000 expected.

As reported earlier, due to the scheduled night game in Galway, this has ensured an excellent timeslot and for the first time, an Australia vs Ireland match will be televised free to air at the same time in all of the the major cities, including Sydney and Brisbane, which to date have received red eye telecasts.

Here are some of the TV and Radio broadcast times:

Australia Sunday 29th October 12:00pm EST (midday)

• Melbourne (TEN)
• Perth (TEN)
• Adelaide (TEN)
• Sydney/Newcastle/Canberra (TEN)
• Brisbane/Gold Coast (TEN)
• Tasmania - Hobart/Launceston (Southern Cross)
• Darwin (Southern Cross)

Ireland
28 October @ 10:30 (live) (RTE One) (free-to-air)

Hong Kong
29 October @ 12:00 (ABC Asia-Pacific) (free-to-air)

USA
29 October @ 7:00 PM EDT (Setanta Sports)

All other nations

• web radio
• AFL Website www.afl.com.au (live)

Match Preview

The Australian Team
Once again, the coach is Essendon's Kevin Sheedy, who has handpicked another pacy Australian side. Brisbane's champion Michael Voss, will come out of retirement for a final appearance, while Essendon's Dustin Fletcher and Sydney's Barry Hall will share the captaincy, with Hall looking to redeem himself after his lacklustre 2006 grand final performance.
The Australians have vowed not to resort to the sort of reckless aggression displayed in last year's tests with the GAA and AFL agreeing to penalties for foul play.

The Australian side has been announced as follows:

Chance Bateman (Hawthorn); Joel Bowden (Richmond); Patrick Bowden (Richmond); Ryan Crowley (Fremantle) Aaron Davey (Melbourne); Brendan Fevola (Carlton); Samuel Fisher (St Kilda); Dustin Fletcher (Essendon); Lindsay Gilbee (Western Bulldogs); Brendon Goddard (St Kilda); Barry Hall (Sydney); Graham Johncock (Adelaide); Matthew Lappin (Carlton); James McDonald (Melbourne); David Mundy (Fremantle); Ryan O'Keefe (Sydney); Brett Peake (Fremantle); Danyle Pearce (Port Adelaide); Andrew Raines (Richmond); Adam Schneider (Sydney); Adam Selwood (West Coast); Justin Sherman (Brisbane); Kade Simpson (Carlton); Brent Stanton (Essendon) Michael Voss (Brisbane)

The Irish Team
The Irish side will once again feature Sydney Swans premiership player Tadhg Kennelly as well as the debut of the Brisbane Lions young recruit Colm Begley, who was an outstanding performer in the Under 19s series before making a name for himself in the AFL. The slightly new look side includes a new coach, the legendary Sean Boylan from Meath and a squad which includes some talented young players. For the first time in many years will not be captained by Padraig Joyce, but Armagh's Kieran McGeeney.

With a home ground advantage, the Irish are expected to perform better than last year's massive loss to Australia. Former Irish colleges rugby coach Shay McGuinness has been working on the team's tackling in the lead-up to the game.

The Irish side has been announced as follows:

Kieran McGeeney (Captain) Armagh; Tadhg Kennelly (Kerry); Aidan O'Mahony (Kerry); Marc O'Se (Kerry); Kieran Donaghy (Kerry); Paul Galvin (Kerry); Kevin Reilly (Meath); Anthony Moyles (Meath); Graham Geraghty (Meath); Alan Quirke (Cork); Nicholas Murphy (Cork); Rinon Clarke (Armagh); Stephen McDonnell (Armagh); Tom Kelly (Laois); Colm Begley (Laois); Sean Martin Lockhart (Derry); Shane Ryan (Dublin) ; Alan Brogan (Dublin); Kieran Fitzgerald (Galway); Joe Bergin (Galway); Sean Cavanagh (Tyrone); Brendan Coulter (Down); Dermot Early (Kildare); Paul Barden (Longford); Karl Lacey (Donegal)

If you have any local information for the benefit of international viewers, feel free to contact WFN staff.