Scotland highly motivated for Saturday's Shinty-Hurling International

By John Harrington

Ireland’s victory over Scotland in last year’s Shinty-Hurling International has breathed new life into the series.

It lay dormant due to Covid for three years and the previous clash between the two countries in 2019 wasn’t a great advertisement for the hybrid code as Scotland hammered Ireland by 5-11 to 0-4 to make it four wins in a row.

By then Ireland’s lack of competitiveness arguably threatened the entire concept so last year there was a degree of pressure to win back some lost pride.

Team manager Damien Coleman named a strong panel that included seven Liam MacCarthy Cup players after a number of years where only players who competed in the McDonagh, Ring, Rackard, and Meagher Cups were selected. That injection of quality made an impact as Ireland won out by 0-22 to 2-8 for their first victory over Scotland since 2015.

The work Ireland had done in training to better adapt to the hybrid rules whereby outfield players can’t handle the ball clearly paid off, but so too did the fact that the Irish players brought a level of physicality to the game that was marked absent when they were beaten in 2019.

The challenge now is to maintain that level, because Scotland are making no bones of the fact that when they visit Cusack Park in Ennis for this year’s Shinty-Hurling International on Saturdsay they very much feel like they have a point to prove after last year’s defeat.

“Yeah, we're definitely pumped,” says Scotland’s star forward, Craig Morrison. “I can't wait to get going and I'm sure I speak for most of the boys. On a personal note I was poor last year and I don't think I even got a point so hopefully this year I can make amends for that and get a couple of points.

“It was a whole different challenge last year compared to the previous time we played in 2019. The Irish team was fit and sharp and really, really good. I don't think they missed many over the bar.

“I think they missed just two or three the whole game and I'd imagine that's quite good from a hurling point of view. They were deadly over the bar from frees from the half-way line and even before the half-way line. They were popping them over the bar and that killed us in the end.”

This year Ireland have again named seven players from Liam MacCarthy Cup counties in their panel, and Morrison admits it makes the challenge a more difficult one from a Scotland point of view.

“Yeah, it does,” he says. "Even in the warm-up last year you could see that when they were moving the ball. I had a look at them for 20 seconds and they were moving it really good compared to the boys that were maybe there before, no disrespect to them. They're obviously bringing in a few bigger boys who are really sharp and good.”

Forewarned is forearmed, and Scotland manager Garry Reid believes the lessons learned from last year’s defeat to Ireland will have his team better prepared for the challenge this time around.

“I think Sir Alex Ferguson said you learn more from defeat than victories and I certainly learned, to my mind, a lot of lessons from last year,” he says.

“There were one or two things on the pitch. I think Damien and his management team led the Irish team very well last year off the pitch and I think Neil McManus led the team very well on the pitch. There was an enthusiasm from the Irish team we hadn't seen for a number of years that I've been involved.

“It's up to us to match that enthusiasm. There are one of two things we'll change on the pitch as well. Our game is very naturally about trying to get close to the goals to score goals, and maybe we should have just dropped back a wee bit last year and just kept that scoreboard ticking over by taking points.”

Tickets for the Ireland v Scotland Shinty-Hurling International are available HERE.

Saturday, October 26

Hurling-Shinty International

Ireland v Scotland, Cusack Park, Ennis, 3.30pm.

Hurling Shinty International - Ireland Senior Team:

Enda Rowland, Abbeyleix – Laois

Luca McCusker, Lisbellaw St. Patrick's - Fermanagh

Eoghan Cahill, Birr - Offaly

Caolan Taggart, Portaferry – Down

Eoin Cody, Ballyhale Shamrocks - Kilkenny

Ben Conneely, St Rynagh's - Offaly

Steven McBride, Setanta - Donegal

Cian Darcy, Kilruane MacDonagh's - Longford

Cianan Fahy, Ardrahan - Galway

Martin Keoghan, Tullaroan - Kilkenny

Tomás Keyes, Camross - Laois

Dan Morrissey, Ahane - Limerick

Tom Morrissey, Ahane - Limerick

Killian Sampson, Shinrone - Offaly

Jason Sampson, Shinrone - Offaly

Daithí Sands, Portaferry - Down

James Toher, Trim - Meath

Gerard Walsh, O'Donovan Rossa - Antrim

Aidan McCarthy, Inagh-Kilnamona - Clare

Shane Meehan, Banner - Clare