Scotland manager Drew MacNeil has high hopes his team can turn the tables on Ireland in the second match of the international shinty-hurling series at Inverness on Saturday.
But he must wait to see if experienced Kingussie campaigner James Hutchinson, who will undergo physio treatment, can recover in time from a thigh injury which curtailed his contribution on the soggy surface of Dublin’s Croke Park at the weekend.
A thrilling duel ended with the home side racking up 24 points, four goals and 12 points over the bar, to Scotland’s 18 with two goals and 12 points. That means Ireland head for the Highlands leading 3-1, with two points for the win and each team collecting a point for netting two or more goals.
As the Scots flew home yesterday MacNeil said: “Ireland were very fit and fast but our team recovered from a slow start to play extremely well.
“We certainly feel we can get a result at Bught Park. We’ll need to score two more goals than Ireland but we’re capable of doing that based on this highly encouraging display.
“We were flatfooted at the start and Ireland’s first two goals were very soft and should’ve been avoided, while we missed some good chances or it could have been a very different scoreline.
“They had the best of the first half but we dominated the second period, which boosts our confidence.”
Beauly’s Conor Cormack and Kilmallie’s Liam MacDonald, both new caps, were outstanding for Scotland, while Lochaber’s Shaun Nicholson was not far behind.
MacNeil said: “Conor and Liam were superb. You’d never know it was their first senior international, but most of our guys performed very well and we can take heart from our performance.”
A scrappy opening goal by Cahir Healy, of Laois, rocked the Scots and a couple of minutes later the ball was in their net again from Limerick’s Graeme Mulcahy.
But in 11 minutes Liam MacDonald caught the goalkeeper off his line to net and bolster the visitors’ morale. When Shaun Nicholson added another goal, the Scots led briefly before strapping Irish captain Neil McManus, of Antrim, a handful with his physical presence, and Carlow’s Jack Kavanagh scored further goals to put Ireland 17-9 ahead at the interval.
Irish goalkeeper Bernard Rochford, of Kerry, pulled off several fine stops in the second half as Scotland pressed but without finding the net.
Kinlochshiel’s Finlay MacRae was the leading Scots marksman with a goal and two points, with Liam MacDonald hitting the other goal and a point.
Lovat’s Kevin Bartlett contributed four points, Shaun Nicholson hit two and there was one apiece for new boy John MacRae, of Kinlochshiel, and Newtonmore duo Glen Mackintosh and Steven Macdonald.
Irish manager John Meyler, of Cork, said: “We’d an impressive first half on the attack then had to defend well as Scotland came back at us in a way that suggests the destination of the trophy will be a wide open affair in Inverness.”
The 10-minute demonstration game of iomain, with both sides playing with the same newly-developed stick, was played at half-time of the Ireland-Australia Gaelic football match, with Scotland winning 5-0, with Glen Mackintosh, Kenny Ross, Kevin Bartlett, Lee Bain and John MacRae netting against a local select.