Scotland Head Coach Drew McNeil Reflects On Shinty / Hurling Series. | |
16 November 2010 Scotland Head Coach Drew McNeil reflected on some of the factors which influenced the outcome of the Marine Harvest Shinty / Hurling series between Scotland and Ireland. McNeil felt that the playing surfaces at both pitches were contributory factors in how the games turned out. “I had felt that our best chance to win was at Croker and that was because of the surface. And much like Inverness in 2009, the pitch beat us this year also.” “That’s not a slight on the Bught as it is as good as any surface in the Highlands in November. However it is November and the players couldn’t get the ball from under their feet”. “We were reliant on the surface and the Irish just draw the ball into the air so the surface has little effect on them. In 2008 in Kilkenny we played on a great surface and won also. In an ideal world we would play the game / games earlier in the year. The Irish boys feel it could be done in August.” Turning to the game itself, McNeil said, “We combated the Irish aerial attacks well but struggled at Inverness when they “soloed” with the ball on their hurley. We controlled that in Ireland but when it came to Inverness, they played with four forwards who broke quickly and concentrated on scoring 3 points.” “If we had got ahead I would’ve dropped in a fifth defender to counter their four but in terms of the score, we seemed to be getting on their shirt tails without getting on level terms.” “To counter this soloing we have to review our tackling when they have the ball on their club. When we have the ball on the ground they play with one hand on the club and the other on their opponent. In shinty that’s a foul but in the compromise rules game it isn’t so we have to stop tackling like shinty players and take a “hands-on” approach with them also. That’s not a complaint as in hurling, one handed play is prevalent but in shinty it’s a foul.” Scotland were 22-21 victors at Croke Park, Dublin on 30 October 2010 which gave them a 3-1 lead in the series. The Scot’s earned 2 points for the win with both sides gaining an extra point for scoring 2 goals or more. Ireland were 21-16 winners at the Bught Park, Inverness on Saturday 13 November 2010. This gave the Irish a 3-1 triumph as they earned 2 points for the win with both sides again gaining an extra point for scoring 2 goals or more. This squared the match at 4-4 but Ireland won the 2010 Marine Harvest Quaich thanks to their 42-38 aggregate score. |