Dublin players were involved in the International Rules WhatsApp group

A disappointment.

Hopefully the Irish rugby team can do something against Fiji to soften the blow that was this week. For the love of all things good, this just wasn't a good week to be an Irish sports fan. The 5-1 against Denmark, the Rugby World Cup and now a 53-50 defeat at the hands of Australia. While it was an enjoyable series, Ireland never looked like beating the Australians. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/931849217630461952 The squad was filled with star power, All-Stars such as Aidan O'Shea and Paul Geaney were in attendance while Chris Barrett scored a goal in the second test to cap off his year. But the absence of Dublin players was definitely something that entered a lot of people's minds. Nobody is blaming the players, for most of them, their club campaign ran very late into the Autumn and for the likes of Diarmuid Connolly, it ran right through to November. There's also the team holiday, the All-Star trip and these lads have to find time to get off of work and put aside their other commitments for these trips. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/931819846299541505 Yet, the question will always be asked if the Mayo lads can do it, why can't the Dublin players do it too? Ciaran Whelan was speaking on RTÉ in the post-game analysis and couldn't help but admit he was upset to see none of the All-Ireland winning team in attendance:

“I was a little disappointed that there was no Dublin representative. I can see the logic. It doesn’t suit some players and the large majority that play this game would be fans of it. "We're at a stage where there are huge demands on our current inter-county players in terms of commitment throughout the year that when teams progress and are involved for the full length of the championship sometimes there are other commitments that come in the way. "There would have been fellas on the Dublin team that have not played this game and I think it is a huge opportunity to represent and I actually think it is a huge honour. "I have to say I was surprised there wasn’t a little more appetite from the Dublin players to travel out there."

Whelan's fellow pundit on the day was Sean Cavanagh. He was on the squad to travel to Australia but had to opt out after his club's success in the Tyrone and Ulster Intermediate Championship. The recently retired Tyrone stalwart revealed that the Dublin players were all part of the WhatsApp group to go to Australia:

"I was part of the initial panel that was to go to Australia and to play and I was part of the WhatsApp group obviously and the Dublin players were there and they were posting into the WhatsApp that they couldn’t make the training on Friday night or they couldn’t make the training on Saturday morning."