Scotland manager Fraser MacKenzie has laughed off suggestions his squad is weak because he has no Kingussie players.

Speaking in todays Press & Journal MacKenzie said “I’ve heard we’ve a weak side because we’ve only one Newtonmore player, Scott Campbell, and none from champions Kingussie,” said Mackenzie. “But I think that’s actually quite comical. We’ve excellent individual quality. Players such as Finlay MacRae and Andy Corrigan would walk into the Badenoch teams.

“They don’t have Premier medals because they play for their local club – it doesn’t mean they’re not excellent players.”

Lochcarron’s Kenny Ross, who has never missed a Scotland training session in nine years, makes his debut as captain with Fort William’s Gary Innes as vice-captain in a squad with nine new caps for their match at Nowlan park, Kilkenny.

MacKenzie said: “Only Eddie Tembo and Innes Simpson have never played international shinty-hurling before. The rest have all been capped at under-21 level and are now stepping up.”

MacKenzie and his assistants Drew MacNeil (Fort William) and Charles Young (Ballachulish) have difficult decisions to make about the starting line-up, which they will discuss after a training session in Dublin this afternoon.

Goalkeeper is a particularly tough call. Scott MacNeil has played the last three times, but Stuart MacKintosh has joined the squad after a record six under-21 caps.

Finlay MacRae and John Barr, exceptional in last year’s victory at Fort William, will be key figures as the Scots go for four in a row.

Ireland have named a significantly stronger side and include three of the Kilkenny team who won the all-Ireland trophy, who will pull out a good crowd in their 30,000 capacity home stadium.