Shinty: Ireland ‘awesome’ as Scots lose heavily

By KENNETH STEPHEN
Published on 29/10/2012 01:42

At Cusack Park in Ennis on Saturday, the hurling sticks and shinty camans were barely packed away before Scotland’s heavy 51-23 defeat in the second leg of the shinty/hurling international series was being raked over.

Ireland were awarded their fourth trophy in a row and, of all their recent triumphs, this one was the most comprehensive.

Ireland were awesome and it was tough on a group of Scottish players and a coaching staff that gave everything they had.

Caberfeidh’s Kevin Bartlett, undoubtedly the star for Scotland over the two games – Ireland having taken a six-point and 3-1 lead from the first leg in Inverness – summed up the gulf in the second leg.

“They took every single chance they had; they were brilliant,” he said. “It wasn’t down to a lack of effort on our part. Once they get the ball up on their stick, there is little you can do to stop them.”

After four straight defeats, there will almost certainly be a review of Scottish selection policy. At present, clubs nominate players to attend training and Drew McNeil and his backroom staff then perm from those put forward, but critics believe the boss should simply pick the best players around in shinty, though not all great shinty players make good shinty/hurling players.

Scotland U-21 boss Ronald Ross selected as close to his best team as possible and Scotland were within ten minutes of beating Ireland on Friday, eventually losing 23-19.