By John Harrington

The fact that Ireland and Scotland can play a compromise rules hurling-shinty international in Páirc Esler on Saturday is proof positive of the similarities between the two stick and ball sports.

Hurling and shinty share more than just comparable sporting mechanics, though, they’re also both very community-based sports.

Just like in Gaelic games where identity and rivalries are local because you’re born into a club that’s often the beating heart of the community, the same is true for shinty.

Ruairidh Anderson will play for Scotland in Saturday’s match, and when he talks about his lived experience of shinty the parallels with Gaelic games are obvious.

“Yeah, it's definitely very, very community based,” says Anderson. “There's another village three miles away and that's a different club, Newtonmore, so they'd be our enemies!

“Even though we're only three miles apart you either play for Kingussie or Newtonmore and there's no mixing.

“You play for your club and that's generally who you play for the entirety of your career. Obviously the likes of boys my age come through primary school, U-14s, U-17s, all the way through playing on the same team with each other so you get to know each other really well. Your team-mates are your best mates.

“At the moment myself and all my team-mates we're all similar ages so it's brilliant on and off the pitch. Even training and after matches, it's just really good to spend that quality time with your best mates, basically.

“My dad, his dad, his dad and so on, they all played, so it's just sort of engrained in you. As soon as you can walk you're given a stick and then that's you for life.”

Scotland have always found it easy to set aside their local shinty rivalries when it comes to international matches against Ireland.

Their challenge has always been a full-blooded one, and Anderson says that’s reflective of the pride they take in having the opportunity to wear the Scottish colours.

“Obviously you've got your club and that means loads,” he says. “You put that strip on and you're very honoured and privileged.

“But a national jersey is something that doesn't come around very often. Only 20 people get selected and it's just a massive honour to be selected to represent your country. It's a really nice way to end the season, a really nice pinnacle to culminate the season with.

“You're playing with players you've normally only played against and you might not get on with them on the pitch, but when you're put in this context you've got to get on and you're all there for the same reason. You've got the same goals. It's really special.”

Saturday’s match against Scotland is the first post-covid Hurling-Shinty international. Prior to that, Scotland were very much the dominant force, winning the previous five encounters, including a 22-point victory most recently in 2019.

This year’s test is likely to be a more competitive one for a couple of different reasons. Ireland have named seven Liam MacCarthy Cup players in their team whereas there was none in 2019, and a couple of rule changes should also level the playing field.

Goalkeepers can now catch the ball, and no longer will a free converted off the ground be worth two points rather than one, a skill that’s much easier to do with a shinty stick than a hurley.

The main difficulty for the Irish team will still be to adapt to a game that doesn’t allow them to catch the ball, particularly as getting the ball into your hand as quickly as possible is arguably rule number one in the modern game of hurling.

According to Anderson, Scotland’s plan will be to play to their strengths by keeping the ball on the ground as much as possible, thereby keeping Irish players now largely unfamiliar with ground hurling out of their comfort zone.

“Obviously the hurls are pretty small so it's hard for them to get down onto the ground,” he says.

“Whereas shinty players can keep the ball on the ground and it's probably easier for us to keep control of the ball.

“But when it's in the air the hurling players are just picking it out like it's nothing whereas it's obviously a bit more hard for us to get that ball under control. The main thing is just good shinty, keep the ball on the ground, and hopefully that will give us a wee advantage.

“One of the main things for defenders normally is that when you're clearing the ball you're trying to get it as far away as possible so you're hitting under the ball and getting a wee bit of height on it.

“But then obviously against the hurlers if our defenders are clearing the ball up in the air then the Irish midfielders will just be picking it out. So you have to adapt in terms of how you clear it, that's probably the main thing.

“There's obviously a few boys on our team who've won it in the past and we won it last time out so we've got experience. We've got boys who know how to win. Obviously it's been done before nine times so there's no reason why it can't be done again.”

Saturday, October 21

Hurling-Shinty International

Ireland v Scotland, Páirc Esler, Newry, 2.45pm. (TG4 YouTube channel)