O'Shea proud of Ireland's effort
Ireland manager Eamon O'Shea during the 2026 Hurling/Shinty International match between Ireland and Scotland at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile.
By Stephen Barry
With his duties as Ireland manager complete following a classic shinty-hurling international, Eamon O'Shea was glued to his phone in the tunnel of SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
His son, Dónal, was lining out for Cuala in the Dublin SHC final and O'Shea was tuning in to catch the last 25 minutes.
The results didn't go their way at either venue, but the Tipperary-native was proud of the spirit shown by his Irish squad in a 4-12 to 2-17 defeat.
“While I'm disappointed, the effort was heroic from the players,” he said. “We trained twice. That's about the time we had players together. We tried really quickly to make a team.
“What I'm happy with is that we had a spirit in us. Because I don't think we would have got that close if we didn't have a spirit in us. We just lost out in the end by a point.
“I'm disappointed with the result, but the game was tremendous. The engagement with the game was tremendous from our players. And their players. You have to give credit to the opposition when they win a game by a point.”
Ireland players stand for Amhrán na bhFiann before the 2026 Hurling/Shinty International match between Ireland and Scotland at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile.
Scotland got an early run on Ireland to take a seven-point lead, although the hosts clawed it back to a one-score game by the change of ends.
They had the wind for the second half, but couldn't put distance between themselves and the Scots, who took the spoils with a stoppage-time Innes Blackhall goal followed by Zander Michie pointing an 85th-minute penalty to secure the win.
“It was full of drama,” said O'Shea. “We had a slow start. It took us a while to adapt. That's been a feature of the Ireland shinty matches.
“We had a slow start and we didn’t really get into the game. We were a bit sluggish in the first half, to be honest.
“But we came back in and we gave it everything. In the second half, we got into the spirit of the game. They're very good ballplayers on the ground. That was probably the difference in the end. But it was very close.”
Waterford goalkeeper Billy Nolan was Ireland's star performer, converting an 83rd-minute levelling free and making six saves across the 80-minute contest.
“Billy Nolan is a top goalie in Ireland,” said O'Shea. "We can select eight (Liam) MacCarthy players, so he was the first player I went to. You can see today why.”
