International rules manager Brian McEniff will depart for Australia on Saturday morning with his Irish panel at full strength and free from injury. The final home training sessions will take place this evening and again tomorrow, and McEniff is already far more satisfied with the squad preparations compared to a year ago.
There will be some late apprehension over Tyrone's Cormac McAnallen, Armagh's Kieran McGeeney and Meath's Darren Fay who are involved in either county or club fixtures on Saturday and will follow the squad out on Sunday morning.
McAnallen plays with Tyrone in the All-Ireland under-21 final against Mayo, McGeeney plays with Na Fianna in the Dublin county football final, and Fay is involved with Trim in the quarter-final of the Meath county championship.
"Everyone is fine right now," says McEniff, "and it's full steam ahead. Hopefully these three players will come through Saturday without any problems. Thankfully we have avoided any injuries up to now, and so we've been able to stick to the original squad."
McAnallen is one of nine players included in the 27-man Irish panel for the first time, the others being Graham Canty, Coman Goggins, Eamonn O'Hara, Francie Grehan, Tadgh Kennelly, Brendan Ger O'Sullivan, Mike Frank Russell and Johnny Crowley.
Team captain Anthony Tohill has recovered from the hand injury that last month threatened his fitness and has taken part in the last couple of squad training sessions.
"Overall I would be much happier at how things have gone compared to last year," added McEniff. "We took a different approach this year and brought together a much bigger squad for the training sessions. That was very important because there were times last year when we only had 14 or 15 players at training. This time it was more like 35 or 36 for each session."
The first test with the Australians takes place on Friday week, October 12th, followed a week later by the second test.
Mayo GAA circles were yesterday mourning the passing of former county president Kevin McStay, who died aged 72 after a short illness. A native of Tuam, McStay spent most of his life in Ballina.
A leading figure for many years behind Ballina Stephenites, he was also the father of Kevin McStay (jnr), the former Mayo footballer and current manager of the under-21 side which plays in Saturday's All-Ireland final against Tyrone. He was also the father-in-law of former Mayo footballer and under-21 selector Liam McHale.
Tributes were led yesterday by PJ McGrath, chairman of the Mayo GAA county board. Burial will take place tomorrow in Leigue cemetery in Ballina.
The death also took place yesterday of Fermanagh county board secretary Paddy Donnelly. A former teacher at St Aidan's High School, he was one of the longest serving secretaries in the county having held the position for 26 years.
Derry hurling manager Kevin McNaughton has quit his position after leading the county to back-to-back Ulster titles.
McNaughton led Derry to their first title in almost a century last year and played a major part in the successful defence of the title.
The Cushedall man said: "I would like to thank Derry for giving me the opportunity to manage at inter-county level. I have had four great years with the county and it is with regret that I feel it is time to step down. I wish Derry every success in their quest for a hat-trick of titles."
