Scotland came out of the Shinty / Hurling / Camogie series with victories for their Ladies and U21s but the Scots senior side was edged out by a determined Irish outfit at Pairc Esler, Newry on Saturday 25 October 2014.
Co. Down Ladies (1-6) 9- 14 (4-2) Scotland Ladies
This encounter was a step-up in opposition for the Scots following last year’s win over Dublin and the eventual victory was a second triumph in his second year in charge for Scotland boss Stuart Reid.
The Scots got off to a blistering start and Katie Drain struck twice in the opening 6 minutes to put the visitors 6-0 ahead.
Ireland pulled a point back on 9 minutes through Catherine McGourty.
Scotland went for goals and Lisa Norman MacColl found the back of the net to make it 9-1 and the visitors took this lead into the half-time break.
Lorna MacRae put the ball over the bar for the first point of the second half to extend Scotland’s lead to 10-1.
The Scots were dominant and Kirsty MacDonald got a debut goal to make it 13-1.
Ireland were not going to roll over though and Colleen Clark scored the home side’s first goal which made it 13-4.
Play swung to the other end and an Irish point from Catherine McGourty point and one in return from Katy Smith made it 14-5.
Ireland again battled back and they added four more points with Catherine McGourty taking her tally to (0-5) and Niamh Mallon getting the other but Scotland stayed in front to win.
Ireland U21 (0-7) 7-21 (4-9) Scotland U21
Scotland U21 recorded their first victory on Irish soil with a 21-7 win which was a debut success for new Scots U21 boss Garry Reid.
An opening point from Seanda Morey and a Greg Matheson goal gave Scotland an early 3-1 lead.
A Lewis Tawse goal and four more points from Greg Matheson left the Scots 10-1 to the good.
An Arran MacPhee goal and two more points from Greg Matheson increased Scotland’s tally and with Aidan Morrissey notching a point for Ireland; the score stood at 15-2.
Aidan Morrissey pulled another goal back for Ireland to make it 15-3 only for Arran MacPhee to put the ball over the bar to make it 16-3.
Greg Matheson added another two-pointer which made it 18-3.
A late Ireland rally saw Gerry Keegan pull two single points back and Thomas Casey add another to make it 18-6.
However a Greg Matheson goal, which took his tally to an impressive 14 points, made it 21-6.
Although Ireland’s Gerry Keegan got another point, Scotland were convincing winners.
There was a clean sheet in goal for Scotland goalie Innes MacDonald, just as he did for the Scotland U17s against Dublin U17 a couple of years earlier.
Scotland’s Zac Coley was named man of the match.
Ireland (2-18) 24-8 (0-8) Scotland
Ireland came from 3-1 down after the first test and beat Scotland 4-3 to retain the Marine Harvest Quaich.
The Irish included Cork’s Lorcan McLoughlin in place of County team-mate Patrick Horgan who was unavailable.
Ireland's Eoin Price was named man of the match.
The victory was a successful sign-off for Ireland manager Michael Walshe who is stepping down after the series.
Click on the links to read match reports on the game.
GAA
BBC
A full match report on all three games will follow.
(Picture courtesy of Neil G Paterson)