Ireland make it a double in international matches

IRELAND made it a double celebration as their hurlers and camogs took on their shinty counterparts in a return of the Ireland-Scotland international fixture.

The small ball exhibition has become a much-loved fixture over the years, giving players on both sides of the Irish Sea the chance to represent their country, and with the ladies being given equal billing in the 2025 edition the two Irish squads traveled to Inverness confident of making it a double.

Ireland took command of the Camogie-Shinty match from the off, but Scotland drew them back with two goals before the break, going in just 2-00 to 2-01 down to the visitors.

Ireland had arrived with a strong squad and would rightly have been looking forward to showing the best of Camogie to the Inverness crowd, and in the second half they did just that.

Three more goals were padded out with a further two between the uprights, while their hosts were limited to no score in the second period.

Particularly to the fore for Ireland was Saoirse McCarthy, who was awarded player of the match, and it was fitting that she was the one to receive the Mowi Quaich from Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney and Mowi COO Ben Hadfield at the end of the game (above).

With a 5-03 to 2-00 victory and some silverware already secured, the men took to the field next with an exciting line-up of hurlers to challenge Scotland.

Captained by Dan Morrissey, a five-time All-Ireland winner with Limerick, the side was packed with talent, but Ireland faced a Scotland side who had learned from the last two encounters and were targeting a victory of their own.

Though a much tighter affair than the earlier fixture, there were still moments of real

quality from the visitors, who eventually edged Scotland out by a scoreline of 2-04 to 3-03.

Speaking after the match, Cha Dwyer, who bagged a brace for Irleand, spoke about how close the fixture has become.

“I was lucky enough to play Hurling-Shinty in 2016,” he said. “So, I knew what to expect, but I think the levels have risen since then. It’s more physical and more competitive from start to finish. You could tell the Scots had done their homework on us. Shinty is a more positional sport than hurling but they stuck to us from the start, and we didn’t get much space to solo or anything else.”

His words were echoed by Scotland skipper Blair Morrison, who said: “We ran a very good Irish side close, and you could tell we were well-prepared. We definitely had chances to win it, but I suppose Ireland passed up some opportunities too, it’s just that ours have come back to haunt us more.

“The boys put in a power of work to keep up with the Irish throughout the game and we were very unfortunate on a couple of occasions and on another day, it could’ve been different for us. As captain, it’s obviously gutting not to get the result, but I can’t fault the boys for their efforts both today and at our training sessions.”

Scotland, however, will have to wait for the chance for revenge, because the 2025 internationals belonged to the Irish.