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Galway All Star nominee Darragh Neary among early call-ups for October 24th double-header at Páirc Uí Chaoimh
Waterford goalkeeper Billy Nolan and Galway forward Darragh Neary are among the initial players selected for Ireland’s hurling-shinty international against Scotland at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork, on Saturday, October 24th.
Tipperary ’s Andrew Ormond and Dublin ’s Cian O’Sullivan will also be part of the Ireland squad, with others to be confirmed over the coming days after this weekend’s club championship matches around the country. Ireland manager Eamon O’Shea has indicated there will also be at least one player from Cork called up. O’Shea is permitted to select seven players from Liam MacCarthy Cup counties with the remaining 12 members of the squad to be picked from lower-tier teams.
“It’s a question of availability and then what players fit the game,” says former Tipperary manager O’Shea. “It’s a representative game but it’s also a competitive game. So, you want to bring players that you think have the skill-sets that give you a chance of competing.
“The game itself is exciting, it’s a kind of a throwback in terms of the ball moving so quickly and having no time on the ball. ” And O’Shea feels by fixing the match for Páirc Uí Chaoimh as part of a double-header alongside the camogie-shinty international, it should attract a decent crowd to the Leeside venue.
“It’s a magnificent stadium. It’s a beautifully manufactured pitch so when you play, the ball runs truly. It’ll be interesting in terms of where the ball moves, because they’re beautiful stickmen, the Scots. ” Neary, who has been nominated for an All Star after his impressive season for Galway, immediately jumped at the invite to line out for Ireland.
“It’s a big honour. As a young lad growing up playing hurling, you don’t think you’re going to get the opportunity to do it but everyone loves to represent their country,” he says.
“It’s a dream, really. We’re looking forward to it and it will be a new experience. You’re playing with lads you haven’t played with before. It will be nice to meet them, to see what they’re like and to play with them on the pitch too.
” The camogie-shinty match will start at 4pm, followed by the hurling-shinty fixture at 6pm. Ger Manley, who guided Cork to the All-Ireland senior camogie title this year, will take charge of the Ireland women’s side once again having led them to victory in Inverness last year. Both managers will finalise their squads of 19 players over the coming weeks. But one player already pencilled in on Manley’s Ireland squad is Cork’s Laura Hayes.
“There are very few times in your career you get to represent your country,” says Hayes. “So, it’s an absolute privilege and obviously when we heard it was on in Cork, it’s kind of an opportunity you can’t really turn down. It’s the Jazz weekend in Cork as well, so it’s probably the same as Christmas Day down here in Cork, the place will be hopping. ”
Galway-Gaa Cork-Gaa Tipperary-Gaa
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