World Footy News

The Irish Warriors have named the first 14 squad members for the 2014 AFL International Cup to be staged in Melbourne, Australia from August 9th to 23rd this year. The Warriors are the current holders of the International Cup, having won the most recent tournament in 2011 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after a dramatic comeback victory over Papua New Guinea.

They are also the only nation to have won the tournament twice - having also won the inaugural tournament in 2002.

The 14 selected are European-based players, and the majority of them played in the 2013 European Cup winning side. This is a completely new selection of Irish-based players from the victorious 2011 team with most of that squad now retired from International duty.

The club with the largest number of players selected is the Belfast Redbacks, with five players on the plane to Melbourne. The Leeside Lions have three selected. The reigning ARFLI premiership champions, the South Dublin Swans have two players in the squad and there is one player each from the Dublin Demons, Galway Magpies and the North Leinster Giants. The remaining player, Tom Browne, has recently moved to Paris having previously played his footy in Finland.

The two players selected that did not collect 2013 European champions medals are David Lally and Peter Ross who both missed that tournament due to injury. David Lally is the only player to have previously played in an International Cup having played in the 2008 edition. The players selected so far come from all over Ireland with two each originally from Antrim, Cork, Dublin and Tyrone. There is also one from Carlow, Derry, Galway, Longford, Sligo and Westmeath.

The players selected so far:

Ryan McCloskey (Belfast Redbacks)
Kevin McSorley (Belfast Redbacks)
Sean Paul Henry (Belfast Redbacks)
Benny McDevitt (Belfast Redbacks)
Brendan Kelly (Belfast Redbacks)
David Lally (Dublin Demons)
John O'Regan (Galway Magpies)
Conor O'Halloran (Leeside Lions)
Muiris Bartley (Leeside Lions)
Dominic Joyce (Leeside Lions and Collingullie, NSW)
Mark Leavy (North Leinster Giants)
Tom Browne (Paris Cockerels)
Paul O'Halloran (South Dublin Swans)
Peter Ross (South Dublin Swans)