Jermyn brace sees shaky Ireland home

Report by Stephen Findlater Recently-appointed Irish coach Paul Revington saw his new charges rack up victory against an ill-disciplined Scotland last night at Banbridge, but what he can draw from the game is hard to judge. Ireland eased home in the second half as the Scots imploded, going down to nine men. Two goals during that time and three in total from set-pieces put a gloss on a win, after a sketchy first half performance. The watching Revington, who officially takes over in January, saw an over-eager Ireland before the break, creating half-chances but often over-elaborating when the simpler options would have yielded greater dividends.

Scotland, meanwhile, had the best of the chances, and Kenny Bain got the breakthrough in the 30th minute, latching on to Iain Scholefield’s hopeful 60-metre ball down the left channel, before taking advantage of a shocking defensive mix-up to fire a reverse past David Harte completely unopposed. By contrast, the second half produced a much more cohesive performance. John Jermyn made it level three minutes after the turnaround with a drag-flick, as all the flicks and turns that came to nought before the break were now finding green sticks. The game’s major talking point came in the 57th minute when last defender William Marshall cleaned out Phelie Maguire. Marshall was sent to the bin, followed 20 seconds later by Scottish captain Niall Stott whose protests also led to a ten-minute rest. Jermyn netted the resultant stroke, and within three minutes Timmy Cockram stretched the lead out to 3-1 from another penalty corner. On the women’s side, an inexperienced Irish eleven started well in their Scottish test but eventually fell 3-1. Jenny McDonough opened the scoring just three minutes in, fed beautifully by Ulster Elks’ Emma Clarke. The young Irish, though, found it tough to get their full press working as the new look side struggled to keep possession. Scotland controlled the general play from then on with Linda Clement leveling matters in the tenth minute. Late call-up Julie Bryce made it 2-1 before half-time, before Louise Munn struck the clincher with 15 minutes to go.