Ross return provides a massive boost for Scotland

By Paul Third

Published: 29/09/2009

Scotland shinty manager Fraser Mackenzie has announced Ronald Ross will return to face Ireland next month.

Ross hung up his stick for the second time as a Scotland player after his man-of-the-match performance against Ireland in 2007.

However, the Kingussie stalwart was named in yesterday's final 19-man squad for the shinty-hurling international in Inverness on October 31.

Ross, 34, has netted 75 goals this season for Kingussie and was awarded a special hand-crafted statuette on Saturday in honour of his feat.

The veteran’s incredible career was recognised on Saturday when he was presented with a specially commissioned trophy which was made by Boyndlie sculptors Harry Harrison and his wife, Jill, but Mackenzie hopes there will be further honours to come for Ross.

Mackenzie said: “I spoke to Ronald some time ago because we had some key players injured and I was worried about our options up front.

“He said he would help out and it is fantastic because he is a phenomenal player.

“When you are playing international shinty, you have to try to put your best players out and Ronald is the best. The confidence he will give others, knowing he is there, is also invaluable from a psychological point of view.”

Jamie Gannon, Paul MacArthur and David Chayne will get their first experience of international shinty.

Gannon, who plays for Skye, and Newtonmore duo MacArthur and Chayne will join an experienced Scottish team for the game.

The match will be the main event of an international day of games with the under-21 side and the women’s national team also taking on their Irish counterparts.

Mackenzie insists naming the squad was not an easy task.

He said: “We have had to make some very tough decisions in selecting this year’s squad. We have spent a great deal of time looking into and selecting the type of players that are suited to the shinty-hurling game.

“We had a fantastic result in Ireland last year and we expect a tough game this time round.”

Scotland have a four-game unbeaten run against Ireland.

Reader's Comments

The Press and Journal is happy to encourage discussion and debate on the topics featured within our newspaper and on our website.

However, we would urge people to respect the opinions of others even if they do not agree with them. We will not tolerate abusive comments of any type and such posts will be removed with the people responsible facing a ban from this website.

Only registered users can supply comments, and your registered name and location will automatically be appended to any comment that you upload.

We reserve the right to remove comments from anyone using a false name or pseudonym.

To post a comment, please login using the form at the top of the page, or click to register.