Ireland skipper McManus ready to let it fly against the Scots
Neil McManus stands for a portrait during an Ireland Hurling Shinty squad portrait session at DCU Sports Grounds in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
Ireland captain, Neil McManus, says he and his team-mates will have to play a different brand of hurling than they’re used to in order to get the better of Scotland in the upcoming Hurling-Shinty international on October 21 in Pairc Esler.
Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, this is the first international since 2019, and prior to that hiatus it was Scotland who dominated the series winning it five years in a row.
McManus says Ireland are planning to play a more direct brand of hurling than is now commonplace in the modern game in order to better compete with the Scots.
"It's a little bit different from hurling,” he says.
"I was describing it earlier as hurling a la 1970, so it's a little bit like that where you can let the stick go a little bit!
"Because they can’t take the ball in their hand (in shinty), outside of the goalkeepers in this game, it is a little bit different.
"But, if you notice, the Scots are incredibly adept at switching the play from flank to flank. Almost in a soccer style.
"The person who is playing on the opposite wing has read that already and they are in behind you almost like in soccer, as a forward trying to get in behind the back four."
"The transition of the ball is really quick because we can't take the ball in our hand."
Hurling has become a more possession based sport in recent years than it traditionally was, with the short puck-out key to that trend.
The hurling puck-out rule that will be trialled in the HE Freshers 1 Hurling League.
A statistical analysis of the 2023 Allianz Hurling League revealed that 31% of puck-outs were hit to a team-mate inside the defensive ’45, which was more than double the 14% of puck-outs that were struck short in the 2016 League and Championship season.
The number of uncontested puck-outs has also sharply increased. Back in 2018, 36% of puck-outs were uncontested, whereas 49% of puck-outs were uncontested in the 2023 Allianz Hurling League.
In order to increase contests for possession, the GAA will next week commence trialling a new rule will require all puck-outs to travel past a team’s own ’45 metre line, that is the ’45 nearest the goalkeeper taking the puck-out.
McManus believes the trial rule will have a positive impact on the game.
"It will make the game a little bit more attacking, a little bit more positive," he says.
"Which I think is a really good thing. I think teams were very happy to play a sweeper playing as a fourth full back, coming into the 20 yard line to take puck-outs, so you could essentially have possession from every puck-out. That will be harder to do now, and I think that's positive for hurling.
"I want to see man v man battles. I want to see Peter Duggan going against Huw Lawlor and see who wins that battle. That's what I'm interested in.
"I want to see that kind of stuff as well as the system-based style of play.
"I think we have lost that a little bit, it’s never a man V man battle because the other team always has somebody lying back to support their full-back. Hopefully we can see a little more toe to toe action."
