Ireland rally to down Scotland as Scott Bemand hails calm comeback after World Cup warm-up
Scotland led 14-0 in Cork but Sadhbh McGrath and Meabh Deely hit back to
2
Ireland came from behind to see off Scotland in their World Cup warm up clash in Cork
2
Head coach Scott Bemand hailed his side's resolve after the victory
The hosts — who start the World Cup against Japan on August 24 — completed the turnaround within six minutes of the restart when Nancy McGillivray dived over.
Centre Emma Orr briefly put Scotland back in front before replacement prop Niamh O'Dowd gave Ireland a 22-21 lead by barging over at the other end.
Ireland sealed the victory three minutes from time when Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird crossed.
And
read more on rugby
IRELAND 27-21 SCOTLAND
SCORERS — Ireland: Tries, McGrath, Deely, McGillivray, O'Dowd, Nic A Bhaird; cons, O'Brien. Scotland: Tries, Thomson, Scott, Orr; cons, Thomson 3.
Australia and Lions rugby stars are forced off the pitch mid-game due to threat of lightning
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
Dave Porecki makes surprise call to retire after breaking back into Australian team
The New South Wales Waratah battled injuries in recent seasons but made his first Australia appearance under coach Joe Schmidt against Fiji last month after nearly two years out of the Wallabies. After suffering a concussion against Fiji and missing the first British & Irish Lions test in Brisbane, Porecki was recalled for the second clash in Melbourne before being sidelined for the third and final test in Sydney due to a cut heel at training. Capped 21 times for the Wallabies, Porecki said it was the right time to start a new chapter in his life. 'Rugby has given me so much to be thankful for and has been such a massive part of my life for so long but it feels like the right time for me to turn the page,' he said in a statement on Tuesday. 'There's a lot of people who have supported me in my journey, and to them I'll be forever grateful. 'I'm especially looking forward to spending more time with my wife Shani and kids Luca, Charlie and Billie. 'I look forward to continuing to support the game away from the field in this next stage of my life.' Porecki was part of Australia's 2023 World Cup squad and became the 88th Wallabies captain after injury to Will Skelton, leading the side in three of their four pool matches at the tournament. Schmidt praised Porecki as the 'the ultimate professional and quiet achiever.' 'He doesn't say a lot, preferring to get on with the job and to lead by example, and he's done that really well for the time that I've known him,' he said.
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
'The buzz of it is just brilliant': Katrina Mackey on her drive to continue camogie career
Of the thirtysomething questions Katrina Mackey fields during a 12-minute chat in advance of the All-Ireland final, one gets a longer answer than the rest. It explains how the Douglas star is in her 17th year of top-level camogie and preparing for her 12th All-Ireland final. Win, and she will pocket her eighth Celtic Cross. She already has that many All-Star statuettes. In all 11 finals she has played, Mackey has worked the scoreboard. After the semi-final win over Waterford, in which Mackey contributed four points from play, manager Ger Manley revealed their nickname for the iconic full-forward: the GOAT. Off the field, she has earned a PhD in organic chemistry and works as a development chemist for Thermo Fisher Scientific. So what is it that drives her to keep going year after year? 'It's a number of things, really. I'm so used to it, it's my routine. 'You love going out every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday training. The buzz of it is just brilliant. 'Like the winter is nice to have the break, but then you're itching to get back again. 'It's a really competitive set-up, so every year I go into it, I feel I need to be better, because there's always going to be two or three new girls coming into the panel. 'This is the best time of the year, the best two weeks. What you're aspiring to do from the start of the year is to get to the final, and these are the best two weeks of training.' Liberty Insurance player of the match Cork's Katrina Mackey. Pic: ©INPHO/Bryan Keane. Manley reckons that Mackey would excel at any sport she turns her hand to. It's just fortunate for Cork that camogie is the game she took to her heart. And vice versa. Every night when Mackey heads out for training, she's ready to be tested. Most of the time, that examination is at least as rigorous as any championship match. Watching a few minutes of a training game on the Castle Road, Mackey ends up on the ground battling for possession with a defender on her back. No whistle is sounded. It's just the preparation they need. 'It's very physical in training,' she laughs. 'I'd say some of the backs play on the edge, and they could be fouling at some stages! 'But that does us good going into games then, because you mightn't necessarily be getting the frees, and the backs could be really touch-tight on you and pulling the jersey.' Is it tougher than some championship games? 'Oh yeah, definitely some of the training sessions. The forwards are always at a disadvantage as well. We're always playing against more backs. There's always an extra player, so that can be tough as well. But it prepares us well for big games. 'It is very physical and very intense, but you have to stand up to it, and if you don't do that, you're not going to perform on match day.' Given how teams set up against Cork's treble-chasers, there's no chance of them getting caught out by a sweeper system. In fact, it's become the norm. 'We practice that in training every night,' says Mackey. 'Waterford had a plus-three at some stages, so it was difficult to adapt to that, but I think we got right there in the second half.' How do they adjust in those scenarios? 'You can't launch the ball in from too deep. You have to run it through the lines and draw the defenders out to create the space inside. 'It's not always easy to see that, like in the first half against Waterford. It's nice to reset at half-time. You can go out in the second half and change it up. But you have to be able to adapt on the field to what's going on as well.' The concise precision of her answers mirrors Mackey's economy of movement and accuracy on the field. She has had to overcome hamstring, shin, and hip injuries earlier this year, missing the League final victory over Galway. 'I can manage them. I know my body better than anybody else, so that just comes with experience. 'It's definitely tougher in terms of recovery. If I did a tough session, it would take that extra few days to recover, or from a game as well. 'But I've gotten better at that, just being really conscious of my recovery. That's important to me.' Mackey scored the crucial goal in last year's final, although it's the 2017 decider, when she assisted the winning point for clubmate Julia White, that stands out as her favourite Croke Park memory. It's extra special, too, getting to travel every step of the journey with her twin sister, Pamela, by her side. 'When she took the year out in 2022, I did miss her that year, so it was nice to have her back the last couple of years. She's doing better than ever. 'She wanted the break, but then she just missed us training and the competitive nature of it.' As a corner-back and an inside-forward, they may have chosen different ends of the pitch, but they're cut from the same cloth.
Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Mark O'Shea the oldest first-time All-Ireland SFC winner as a starter since Tadhg Kennelly
Up to March this year, the only time Mark O'Shea had worn the Kerry jersey on the field of play was to virtually make up the numbers. In 2020, and with Kerry away on a team holiday following their All-Ireland final replay loss to Dublin the previous September, then U20 manager John Sugrue was charged with putting together a team for the McGrath Cup. After a hosing against Cork, Sugrue wanted to beef up the team largely comprising U20s so made contact with 'over-age' players like O'Shea who, despite having no minor or U20 experience with Kerry, had impressed breaking into the Dr Crokes midfield the previous season. I lár na pairce wouldn't have been considered an option for him until his late teens. 'I got a massive growth spurt there when I was about, I'd say, 17, 18. I went from about five nothing to about 6ft 2in or 3'. So, yeah, Crokes, my parents, they always kind of taught me, 'Look, just keep at it'. 'I tried to master the skills when I was smaller. When obviously the height came, things kind of started to progress a bit fast and you're kind of thrown into playing with Crokes. Obviously, playing with Kerry was something I thought probably would never come around and just very glad that it did.' It was a couple of days after Crokes went goal crazy against Dingle in last October's county final that Jack O'Connor sent O'Shea a message. ''Look, when you get the chance later in the week, will you be able to give me a call?'' The 27-year-old O'Shea was unsure what it entailed. 'I was like, 'The boat is probably gone here as well.' But, look, Kerry is such a good championship. You're playing against the Barry Dans [O'Sullivan], Diarmaid [O'Connor], David Moran and these fellas down through the years. So, it's a good kind of place to be putting yourself up and you can get a bit of confidence from it too.' A nephew of Pat O'Shea, Mark has his own blood to thank for his progression as well as Edmund O'Sullivan and Brian McMahon in the Lewis Road institute. O'Connor was vital in making him feel as comfortable as possible in the Kerry set-up, even when things went awry mid-championship. 'Jack was saying, 'You've nothing to lose,' and after the Meath game I may as well have never put on boots again, and that was the first time I'd seen at inter-county, if you're not at it… look, you can probably get the criticism, and rightly so, we weren't at it and I wasn't at it. Jack was just kind of saying to me, 'Look, there's no pressure.'' O'Shea is amusingly philosophical about his elevation this year to become the oldest first-time All-Ireland SFC winner as a starter since Tadhg Kennelly who was 28 in 2009 (Donnchadh Walsh was 30 in 2014 but had been part of '09 panel). 'I suppose there wasn't many midfielders left,' he smiles. When it was announced Kerry were to wear blue for the All-Ireland final, superstition got the better of him. 'I was like, 'Feck's sake' because I wore it when I made my debut against Mayo up in Castlebar and we were beaten. And I made my starting debut against Meath in the championship with the blue jersey. So I was like, 'Jeez, I don't know about these blue jerseys.'' Coming into a dressing room with five other Crokes men as well as Kerry masseuse and former club manager Harry O'Neill and videographer John C O'Shea made the transition easier for O'Shea. To see his clubman Gavin White excel last Sunday week before lifting the Sam Maguire Cup after his difficulties in the 2023 All-Ireland final and this year's All-Ireland club semi-final was thrilling for O'Shea. 'Anyone that knows him knows just how meticulous he is with everything. And obviously, look, no-one in Kerry or Crokes ever even put any bit of blame on Gavin for either. 'But the reaction this year, and I'd say the captaincy there, there's a lot of weight on the shoulders and when you've your captain kicking three points, I'd say won about 10 breaking balls, it's easy to row in behind someone like that. And yeah, just absolutely phenomenal. Couldn't happen to a nicer fella.' There was redemption for Micheál Burns too after he was dropped off the panel last season before he was recalled following a stunning run with Crokes. 'The Armagh game there, you saw the ability. And look, he came back with a bit of freshness too. 'The summer away in Chicago served him unbelievable, because when he came back with Crokes, he was just a refreshed player and obviously, carried through to this year. He's another fella I'm delighted for. Serious mentor to me coming up the last two years.'
