Scotland record historic Croke Park victory
Sunday, November 5
Scotland 2-13 Ireland 2-5
There was a Leitrim connection as Clement Cuniffe and James Clancy participated in the Shinty comptition as Scotland collected their first Croke Park win over Ireland on a 2-13 to 2-5 scoreline after a high-skilled and entertaining international clash at Headquarters on Sunday.
The visitors ground-hurling skills were perhaps the difference in the end as the Irish side struggled to come to terms with the illegality of handling the sliotar.
Gary Innes, of the Fort William club, fired the Scots into an early four-point lead with two well taken scores off the ground from dead-ball situations.
Sean Silkes Ireland did fight back with a point from sharpshooter Kevin McGarry and a goal from Kerrys JohnÓgriffin to leave the sides level at 1-1 to 0-4 after 18 minutes.
The second quarter, however, saw Scotland impose their dominance. A wonderful interchange of ground hurling ended with Victor Smith striking a clean shot to the roof of Graham Clarkes net in the 27th minute.
Kevin Thain and Ronald Ross, both of the Kingussie club, added a further three points to the Scottish tally to leave Ireland facing a six-point deficit at the interval.
It was a clean but physical first half with a lot of timber being broken and the Scots sticks standing up better in the challenge.
After the break, Fermanaghs McGarry kept Ireland in touch and when Kildares Paudie Reidy scored a goal in the 66th minute, after great work by Leitrims James Glancy, it seemed as though a comeback was on the cards.
Any resurgence, though, was quickly quashed when, a minute later, some excellent dribbling from Ross ended with a goal for the Scots.
Substitute Gordon MacKinnon then added another two-pointer for the visitors as the Irish challenge faded.
TEAMS and ScórERS:
Ireland – G Clarke (Down), J Bermingham (Wicklow), D Coulter (Down), C Cunniffe (Leitrim), K Divilly (Kildare), A Gaul (Carlow), J Griffin (Kerry) (1-0), P McCormack (Armagh), P Reidy (Kildare) (1-0), K McGarry (Fermanagh) (0-5), R Mulry (Roscommon), M O Neill (Wicklow), G Savage (Down), D Shaw (Carlow).
Substitutes – P Gannon (Meath) for D Coulter (59th min), J Glancy (Leitrim) for J Griffin (59th min), M Kettle (Antrim) for R Mulry (50th min) and T Lennon (Roscommon) for K Divilly (26th min).
Scotland – S MacNeil (Fort William), A Robertson (Fort William), A MacLeod (Kingussie), A MacKay (Lochcarron) (0-2), D Dando (Inveraray), N Campbell (Newtonmore), D MacRae (Newtonmore), K Ross (Lochcarron), G Innes (Fort William) (0-4), J Stewart (Kilmallie), J Clark (Fort William), V Smith (Fort William) (1-0), K Thain (Kingussie) (0-3), R Ross (Kingussie) (1-2).
Subs – P MacKenzie (Lochcarron) for J Clark (70th min), R Graham (Inveraray) for K Ross (53rd min) and G MacKinnon (Fort William) (0-2) for J Stewart (49th min).
Referee – E Morris (Dublin).
Article – Courtesy of Gaa.ie
06-Nov-06 by Gaa.ie
