Darling delight as Scots brushed aside

Ireland’s men ratcheted their performance up a notch from last night’s nervy win over Scotland at Banbridge today, as Mitch Darling grabbed a hat-trick in a 5-1 defeat of the same opposition. The Scots took a surprise lead when Chris Nelson deflected the ball home in the third minute, but Jermyn’s drag hauled Ireland level three minutes later – his third in two games for his country. Iain Walker pulled off a couple of fine saves throughout as the Scots went in search of a lead goal, but Ireland always looked more dangerous and pulled away after the break. Darling nudged Ireland in front on 50 minutes when he finished adroitly after good work from Timmy Cockram and Alan Sothern. Banbridge boy Eugene Magee gave the home crowd special reason to cheer five minutes later when he slammed home Ireland’s fourth, before Darling completed his hat-trick with four to go. Meanwhile, Ireland’s women lost again to Scotland, going down 1-0 with a contentious penalty stroke from Emma Rochlin proving the difference between the teams. However, Gene Muller put a positive spin on things afterwards, insisting he was pleased with the performances of the young guns he is looking at for this series of games.

“It was a better performance today,” he said. “Although we are still lacking in set plays, some of our younger players are really starting to look comfortable at international level.” Ireland (men): I Walker (GK), R Gormley, J Jermyn, E Magee, G Shaw, M Black, M Darling, T Cockram, C Harte, T Lewis, D Hobbs. Rolling subs: K Black, A Sothern, P Maguire, P Caruth, J Jackson. Ireland (women): E Gray (GK), E Clarke, E Stewart, B McKeever, S McCay, J McDonough, N Small, A Speers, H Moffett, L Barr, L Jacob. Rolling subs: L Colvin, M Harvey, C McKean (capt), L Healy (GK)