Shinty: Scotland 14 - 15 Ireland - Stirring effort by Scotland undone as Irish stage late rally

Ireland won 34-28 on aggregate

Glorious failure has for many years been the preserve of Scotland’s football team – with recent years yielding a number of inglorious failures, too – but it seems the theme is spreading to the nation’s shinty side these days.

Saturday’s second international test against Ireland’s hurlers at Bught Park in Inverness always looked a tall order for the Scots but there was still a bullishness that they could turn round the 19-14 deficit from Kildare.

At half-time, that confidence did not look misplaced as Drew McNeil’s men led 11-5 and, had things stayed that way, the Scots would have mustered a comeback of epic proportion.

Nevertheless, the hurley of Ireland’s Willie Hyland can land many a cruel blow and, abetted by a strong wind breezing towards the town end of Bught Park, Scotland had no answer to his hitting; the Irish running out 15-14 victors.

The greens turned the ship around, even if their winning goal from Brendan Maher had the luck of the Irish wrapped up in it. They left with the silverware they probably deserved and the Scots were left shattered. Afterwards, however, coach McNeil remained in good spirits, boosted by a performance which nearly, so nearly, rattled Ireland.

He also reiterated his desire to continue the work he has done; his two-year contract having expired at Saturday tea-time.

“I could not have asked for any more of the players,” he said.

“They gave absolutely everything and they have been a great bunch of guys to work with. My contract was for two years but I will be re-applying. I don’t know when that process will begin but I want to stay on. I have really enjoyed it. It is a challenge certainly, but it is an enjoyable one.”

With three straight defeats in this annual international exchange, it may now be time for the sport’s administrators to take a fresh view when it comes to time-tabling this fixture.

The support of television has helped to keep it in the spotlight but, from a purely performance perspective, matches so late in the year do little for Scotland’s players. Ireland’s lower tier internationalists are just coming into the peak part of their season while several of the Scots have not swung a caman for six weeks. In the build-up to this latest encounter, wing centre Gary Innes even commented that the posts had been taken down at his local sports field. For the past two years, Ireland have secured the series late on in the final game – Maher’s winner coming three minutes from the end on Saturday.

Coincidence? It’s hard to say. How-ever, performance coaches would do their best to eliminate any limiting factors if any doubt should exist.

Despite the defeat, there were many plus points for Scotland to take from the match; Kevin Bartlett hitting ten points and Finlay MacRae grabbing a long-range first-half goal.

Innes was Scotland’s other marksman but Ireland’s hitters were immense. Hyland scored seven points, Michael Rice took two and Joe Bergen and Maher scored three point strikes for the visitors.