Scotland U21 Head Coach Pleased With Teams Display. | |
17 November 2009 The Scotland U21 side put in one of their best displays in recent years and were really unlucky to go down to a last gasp defeat to Ireland U21 at Bught Park, Inverness on Saturday 31 October 2009. Head Coach Donnie Martin was not despondent though. “I thought we played very well,” he said, “We built up a good first half lead and if we had been able to make the most of out 2 point attempts on goal, we could have put the Irish out of sight.” Duncan Rodger gave the Scots a 0/1 (1) – (0) 0/0 lead. Many in the crowd thought he’d scored 2 points but Laois keeper Eoin Reilly got his stick to the ball meaning only a single point was scored. Caberfeidh’s Kevin Bartlett made a lively start to the game and he added a 2 single points to make it 0/3 (3) – (0) 0/0. The Irish pulled a point back but they generally found their attacks thwarted by fine defensive play from Scotland U21 captain Steven Morrison and vice captain Daniel Cameron from Oban Camanachd. The Scots extended their lead as 2 dead ball efforts from Fort William’s Duncan Rodger made the score 0/7 (7) – (1) 0/1. Glenorchy’s Alex MacPherson made it 0/8 (8) – (1) 0/1 but The Irish gradually fought their way back into the game in the second half and pulled 3 points back before a Duncan Rodger penalty for a kick inside the area made it 0/10 (10) – (7) 1/4 and took Rodger’s personal tally to 7 points. However the Irish weren’t to be denied and they gradually brought the score back to 0/10 (10) – (9) 1/6. The Scots were also dangerous in front of goal and Irish keeper Eoin Reilly made a fantastic save from a rocket shot and then denied Oban Camanachd’s Scott MacMillan’s effort from the rebound with an equally brilliant stop. The Scots were denied victory when a dead ball fired over for 2 points late in the game, gave them a 0/10 (10) – (11) 1/8 win. The defeat was hard to take for a Scots side but was a much improved showing on last year’s performance. |