Conor McManus believes the decision to play this year's International Rules series in November will lessen the chances of GAA players being faced with a club versus country dilemma.

Last year Michael Murphy captained Ireland to victory in the first Test at Kingspan Breffni Park before lining out for his club Glenswilly in the Donegal SFC final the following day.

"Hopefully it will help avoid that clash alright," Monaghan and Ireland star McManus told the Irish News after it was announced that this year's series is to be pushed back by four weeks and will be reduced to one Test.

"Last year you obviously had it well documented that players were caught in a club versus country scenario. It's not something you want to be caught up in.

"Any player that's picked to play for their country, they all know how important the club is as well. You don't want there to be a conflict between the two, and it's worse if the club is involved in the latter stages of the championship. It's good that they've taken that step."

McManus also welcomes the news that Australia will be fielding a much stronger side that than which was thrashed by Ireland last October.

"The fact that the AFL have guaranteed that it will only be top players, that they'll only be picking from previous All-Stars, means that they will be a hell of a lot stronger," he added. Tweet

Most Read Stories