Scotland Ladies Head Coach Stuart Reid was pleased to see planning and players’ preparations pay-off as they beat Kildare Ladies 19-1 in their Shinty / Camogie encounter at the Bught Park Outside Pitch on Saturday 24 October 2015.
This was Reid’s third successive win in charge of the Scots and he is pleased with his team’s progress.
On the game itself, Stuart Reid said, “I thought the game was a lot closer than the final scoreline suggested. The ladies worked hard on a formation that would allow us to bypass their half backs and get the ball up to our wing forwards more quickly and it worked very well in the first 10 minutes. Kildare started with their regular keeper playing outfield and once they moved her back in goal, it seemed to shore things up for them and it was an extremely close and physical game after that.”
Reid added, “This has been a recurring theme over the last three years – against Dublin and Down, we also started off very well and built up commanding leads in the first 10 minutes before the games generally evened out. This was mostly because we prepare very well and we purposely target a fast start so it’s nice to see the ladies hard work and preparation pay-off.”
Reid reserved special praise for his players saying, “I thought our defence was outstanding in what were very wet and slippy conditions. The midfield worked tirelessly to provide balls to the forwards whilst also helping protect the defence. Our forwards played some lovely shinty on a very difficult surface so we were extremely happy with how the whole squad performed.”
The Glenurquhart defender is clear about what he wants to happen next. “The challenge now is for the players to take the training and the lessons learned into their own games so that they become better shinty players,” he said. “Kildare commented after the match about how physical and aggressive our players were which was great to hear as we have worked extremely hard on that aspect of our game. It also proves that the players do occasionally listen to us! Women’s shinty is improving massively every single year and we need to keep pushing it on.”
Saturday 21 November 2015 – Croke Park, Dublin
Hurling / Shinty International
Ireland Senior Men v Scotland Senior Men – Throw in 4.35pm
(Followed by 2015 Gaelic Football v Aussie Rules International)
(Picture courtesy of Neil G Paterson)