Hockey: Irish too strong in warm-up games

Scotland Under-18 boys welcomed Ireland to Glasgow at the weekend for three youth international matches, but it was the visitors who walked off with the spoils at Bellahouston.

Head coach Graham Dunlop’s side recorded a win, loss and draw against Ulster the previous weekend but they lost all three matches to the Irish side. The matches were part of the build-up to the EuroHockey Under-18 Championships in Vienna at the end of next month.

“The focus was on implementing the tactics the boys are working on with Graham and the coaches,” said Scotland Under-18 Boys team manager Elanor Cormack. “Barring injury, this is the finalised squad of players we will work with for the European competition at the end of July.”

The positive point for the Scots was that a 5-0 loss in the opening match was followed by a closer 2-0 defeat. The home side finally managed to score in the third match – going down 4-2.