Scotland’s preparation has gone well ahead of the forthcoming Marine Harvest Shinty / Hurling International Series against Ireland.
Scotland Head Coach Ronald Ross has a management team including Jimmy Gow, Ally Ferguson and Neil Bowman and he said, “It has all been about finding a balance between having the players properly prepared and not being overly demanding on their time. We have tried to make the prospect of being involved with the Scotland set-up as attractive to the players as possible. We started off with a group of 40 players who were asked to take park in a North v South senior match at An Aird. The majority of players made it and, to be fair, the players who were asked but couldn’t come such as Norman Campbell, Danny MacRae and Glen MacKintosh from Newtonmore, Daniel Cameron from Oban Camanachd, Kingussie’s Lee Bain and Donald Irvine from Kyles were either on pre-arranged holidays, working or involved with exams. These guys got back in touch and they were genuinely disappointed to miss out. What this does though is create opportunities for others such as Calum Miller who has been full back for Kyles Athletic for years, Steven Morrison who has had a great season with Skye and Lorne MacKay who has done so well at Lovat. Make no mistake; the new caps are very much there on merit and the more experienced players are guys who would still walk into the top teams in the country, no matter what division they may be playing in at the moment.”
Players have been under scrutiny for some time now as Ross explained. “The whole process really started back in March as we’ve had players watched throughout the season. Then, from the North v South game at An Aird, we have tried to replicate the Shinty / Hurling match situation as much as possible with some fitness training thrown in. The players are spread-out all over the country and they have been doing their own thing too. For example the boys in the Inverness-shire area have midweek sessions with Neil Bowman. The initial group of 40 players has been whittled down to a 19 man squad and last weekend’s match against a hurling team from Glasgow Gaels GAA was a key part of our preparation and the whole team played well and recorded a good win. Everyone is now ready and really looking forward to the match.”
Event Details
The 2014 Marine Harvest Shinty / Hurling International First Test will take place at the Bught Park, Inverness on Saturday 18 October 2014. The throw-in is at 2pm and tickets are available at the ground on the day or in advance at Eden Court Theatre - £10 adults, £5 concessions and U12s go free if accompanied by a paying adult. Discounts are available to Camanachd Association members. Anyone who is unable attend the game can watch the action live by tuning into BBC2 Scotland and TG4 in Ireland.
The Second Test takes place a week later at Pairc Esler, Newry, Northern Ireland, on Saturday 25 October 2014. Throw-in is at 5pm and the Second Test will be broadcast by TG4 in Ireland and BBC Alba in Scotland.
Scotland U21 and Ireland U21 also meet in their Shinty / Hurling international at Newry on Saturday 25 October 2014. Throw-in is at 3pm.
Scotland’s Senior Women face a Shinty / Camogie clash with a County Down select at Newry on Saturday 25 October 2014. Throw-in is at 1pm.
(Picture courtesy of Neil G Paterson)