Scots ready themselves for Irish test
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CLUB shinty is on hold for the next two Saturday’s as the focus falls on the annual shinty/hurling international series.
This morning, the Scotland party, led by team boss Drew MacNeil, will jet across the Irish Sea to the Co. Kildare village of Athy where the first of the back-to-back matches takes place.
Seven days later, the hurlers will head to Inverness for the return leg and aggregate scores from the two matches will count.
The home and away series was first introduced last year and although the Scots came back from Ireland with a precious lead, it proved inadequate as the Irish pulled back the deficit to win by the narrowest of margins at Bught Park.
The 2011 Scottish squad is one in transition and gone are the shinty/hurling legends such as Kingussie’s Ronald Ross and the Fort William trio of Jim Clark, Scott MacNeil and Victor Smith.
In their place comes a group of emerging stars such as Fort William’s John MacDonald, Kinlochshiel’s Finlay MacRae and the Glenurquhart duo of John Barr and Stuart MacKintosh.
The huge dedication expected of Scotland’s players is thought to be one of the reasons why only one of Newtonmore’s Camanachd Cup-winning squad is in MacNeil’s final 19. Five Sunday sessions were used during the season to whittle the numbers down but for some players, particularly with families, the international sessions tacked on to club commitments proved difficult to sustain.
Newtonmore’s Norman Campbell captains the side tomorrow as MacNeil ditches last year’s experiment of differing captains where Fort William’s Gary Innes led the side at Croke Park and a week later Ross took over the captain’s armband in Inverness.
Campbell and Innes become the senior members of the side with nearly 20 caps between them. Kyles’s outstanding attacking midfielder Roddy MacDonald has withdrawn from the squad for work related reasons and his place is taken by Skye’s Sorley MacDonald, a teacher at Culloden Academy. However, the Kyles player is expected to return for the Inverness leg.
For the match, the Irish have selected a team along usual lines chosen from the sport’s three tiers, but including some of top hurlers in the game. On the field, their side will be led by Kilkenny’s Michael Rice and will be managed by Joe Dooley, from Offaly.
Although shinty/hurling has so far failed to catch the imagination of hurling enthusiasts, there are signs it is slowly gaining traction and the match will be televised live on Saturday afternoon in Ireland.
