Scotland bogged down as Ireland show how to weather a storm

Superior sporting skills normally count for a lot but Scotland’s shinty players will have woken up this morning wondering whether it was storms rather than skill that sunk them against their Irish counterparts on Saturday.

The home side’s 19-14 victory bucks a recent trend, with the Scots normally enjoying good fortune in Ireland due to the superiority of the playing surfaces at this time of year.

However, as soon as Kildare’s squalls started to batter everything in sight on Saturday morning – they never let up all day – Drew McNeil’s men were up against it.

Ireland were sharp and their hitting was immense whether into the wind or with it; Eoin Kelly in particular looking almost machine-like with his accuracy. Nevertheless, the fact that Scotland managed to keep the score to within four points augurs well for the return leg at Inverness this Saturday, particularly as their ground-game was rendered impossible by the quagmires.

Irish manager Joe Dooley has been around the international scene a while now and is certainly a dab hand when it comes to tactics.

Perhaps he had taken a long-range weather forecast because the park was set up to disadvantage the Scots in the greatest possible way.

Kildare’s groundsmen had left the grass long so that when the heavens opened the Scots were left to try to beat the Irish at hitting over the bar.

It is something they look unlikely ever to be able to do, as was demonstrated by the fact the Irish amassed 16 points over the uprights to Scotland’s eight.

“The conditions were impossible,” said Scotland wing-centre, Gary Innes.

“Ireland were good. They looked very sharp and, tactically, they got it right.

“The grass was really long so the ball was sticking up in the mud and, as the day went on, the bigger size 4 ball got heavier and heavier.

“In saying that, there were lots of positives and, 100 per cent, I think we can turn it round this week.

“We’ll have the grass cut short this week at the Bught Park and I’d imagine it’s unlikely we will have conditions like this again. We’re definitely still in the tie.”

Innes, who has played senior internationals every year since 2001, was a key man for the Scots and will be so again this weekend in front of the live BBC2 cameras.

He put the visitors in front with a point over the uprights and also possessed the game intelligence that only comes with experience of shinty/hurling.

His second-half three-point goal came at a crucial time for Scotland and, without it, the coming task may have been too much.

Scotland’s points came through goals from Innes and Keith McRae.

There were further points from Innes (3), Kevin Bartlett (4) and one from Robbie MacLeod.

Ireland’s scorers were Kelly (5), Owen Nolan (5), Michael Price (1), Owen Price (3), Willie Hyland (1) Brendan Murtagh (1) Joe Bergen (2) and Tom Murane (1).

“We missed point opportunities in the first half,” said Scotland boss McNeil. “However, the task is not insurmountable.”