U-21 Hurling/Shinty International

Ireland 4-18 Scotland 2-11

By John Harrington at Bught Park

Ireland’s superior skill, strength, and finishing power helped them to a convincing win over Scotland in today’s U-21 Hurling/Shinty international in Inverness.

A tightly marshalled defence gave the Scottish forwards little room for manoeuvre, and at the other end of the field Wicklow’s Daniel Staunton and Kerry’s Philip Lucid kept the score-board moving merrily.

Despite the best efforts of Scotland’s tenacious captain Mikey MacKenzie, he just couldn’t control the speedy and skilful Staunton who struck a high quality 1-4 from play.

Lucid’s free-taking was clinical, 11 of his 13 points came from placed balls, and he was a key possession-winner for Ireland too.

It was all too much for Scotland who fought tigerishly throughout, but couldn’t quite lift themselves to Ireland’s level.

Traditionally Irish teams are slow starters in these internationals because it takes them longer to adapt to the compromise rules, but these U-21s looked well drilled by joint-managers Willie Maher and Conor Phelan from the very start.

Two points are awarded when you score a free from the ground, and Kerry-man Lucid showed ambition to go for that trickier option with his first attempt. It sailed accurately between the posts, and Ireland were off to the perfect start.

Scotland struck back with a three-pointer of their own shortly afterwards through Danny Kelly, but as the game progressed Ireland’s dominance grew.

They were being given a great platform in the half-back line by Tipperary duo Barry Heffernan and Tom Fox who won everything that came down their throats.

On the few occasions the ball went beyond them, team captain Keith Carmody and his colleagues in the Irish full-back line were just as resilient.

Ireland’s first goal of the match came courtesy of Kildare’s Jack Sheridan who rifled the ball to the back of the net after being put through by good work form Kerry’s Jack Goulding.

Two minutes later Tom Fox showed he is more than just a defensive stopper by taking off on a turbo-charged solo-run that ended with another emphatically finished goal.

Two really classy points on the run from Staunton had Ireland ahead by 2-7 to 0-6 by the 25th minute, but then Scotland gave their home support something to cheer about when Will Cowie bustled the ball to the net after a goal-mouth scramble.

That did little to knock Ireland out of their stride, and they had the last say of the half when Tipperary’s Andrew Coffey scorched through the Scotch defence to score Ireland’s third goal.

Leading by 10 points at half-time, Ireland looked on course for a routine win, but Scotland came on strong in the third quarter as a Charlie MacDonald goal and a couple of two-pointer frees from Craig Morrison helped them close the gap to just two at one stage.

That was Daniel Staunton’s cue to really cut loose as he followed up another sweet point with a flicked goal that took the steam out of Scotland.

From there, Ireland free-wheeled to the final whistle as Staunton and Lucid struck another seven points between one another to finish the game with a flourish.

Scorers for Ireland: Philip Lucid 0-13 (0-5f, 0-4 sidelines, 0-2 ’65), Daniel Staunton 1-4, Jack Sheridan 1-1, Tom Fox 1-0, Andrew Coffey 1-0.

Scorers for Scotland: Craig Morrison 0-8 (8f), Will Cowie 1-0, Charlie MacDonald 1-0, Danny Kelly 0-2 (f), Nick Dalgetty 0-1

Ireland: Enda Rowland, Keith Carmody, Andrew Coffey, Simon Donohoe, Tom Fox, Jack Goulding, Barry Heffernan, Oisin Kelly, Philip Lucid, Ryan McCambridge, David Reilly, Corey Scahill, Daniel Staunton, Conor Shaw, Jack Sheridan, Dion Wall, Gerard Walsh, Sean Whelan.

Scotland: Scott MacLachlan, Mikey MacKenzie, Euan Lloyd, Rory MacKeachan, Blair Morrison, Ewen Campbell, Calum Grant, Barry MacDonald, Innes Blackhall, Danny Kelly, Will Cowie, Oliver Macrae, Craig Morrison, John McNulty, Savio Genini, Daniel MacVicar, Arran MacPhee, Charlie MacDonald, Nick Dalgetty, John Gillies. 

Ref: Sean Cleere (Ireland)