Both teams played out a thrilling contest on Subiaco Oval in a hard but fair manner, with only Australia's Campbell Brown being sent off after receiving a yellow card for his bump on Ireland's Finian Hanley in the last quarter, but the hardest impact from that came through a clash of heads.
The spirit shown by Ireland and Australia left Boylan a most happy man post-match after his team withstood an Aussie fight back to hold on.
"The common thing about this game is that at a certain point it becomes frantic, and we certainly saw that out there. Twice we had a big lead and the Aussies pegged it back and the result could have quite easily been the other way around," Boylan said.
"I was absolutely thrilled with how my team played; I thought the Australians were fantastic and football was a huge winner. The good sportsmanship was just fantastic and it was an honour for me to be out there, but more importantly it was an honour for Sean (Cavanagh) and Graham (Canty) to lead them on the field."
While Cavanagh (one goal, two overs), Leighton Glynn (20 possessions, one goal, one over), Joe McMahon (25 possessions), Ciaran McKeever (22) and Canty (21) were terrific, goalkeeper David Gallagher was brilliant, and even better considering he has barely played since June 2006 due to a horror injury run.
"The other selectors said that we need him and it was a very brave call. I knew David wouldn’t let us down because he's that sort of player. It's just a huge honour for that chap to go out and play for his country," Boylan said.
"Fifteen months ago, he was threatened with a spinal problem that turned out to be coming from his groin and he had 15 months of sorrow. Suddenly to find himself wearing an Irish jumper is great for him and he's overjoyed even more to perform well."
The preparation Ireland did for almost two months before the series was clearly evident with them better able to deal with Australia's tough tackling, and Boylan was quick to credit Mike McGurn for his work with the squad back home.
"If anybody knows Mikey McGurn you will know that he's a passionate man and has a great Gaelic background. The work he did was fantastic at getting us prepared mentally and physically," he said.
"[Rugby international] Trevor (Brennan) also did a session with us but you have to give credit to Mikey because he did the main work with us. He could only do it if the lads wanted to buy into it, though, and we had someone like Sean who played in an All-Ireland final on Sunday and they all wanted to play for Ireland, and to play well for Ireland."
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The 2008 Toyota International Rules Series: Australia v Ireland
Second Test – MCG, Melbourne, Friday October 31
Tickets on sale now at ticketmaster.com.au, by calling 1300 136 122 or at a Ticketmaster outlet.
For full coverage of the 2008 series, click here.
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