Cornwall Shinty Club

2013

Cornwall 4 - Internationals 2

The prize pasty, baked by the Cornish Pantry, was escorted by the Cornish Squad in full ceremony led by the City of Truro Pipes and Drums, giving a great sense of occasion to the historic fixture.

With no keeper and key players Andow, McCann and Pullen injured in the league clash earlier in the day, the backs were always going to be the Achilles heal for the Pasties in the international.

As the drum rolled stopped Barra De Burca (Ireland) robbed the ball from the Cornish Skipper at the first throw, dominating the centre of the park for the first 10 minutes and providing plenty of ball for the speedy international front line (Steneth of Norway, Ethan Fitzharris (Ireland) and Graham Love (England Captain)). The weakened Cornish backs looked panicked, clustering and failing to clear the lines, allowing Steneth to saunter through the centre to put the visitors ahead.

Mossop’s emphatic response from 50m into the top left corner finally steadied the Cornish ship as De Burca ran out of steam. The Cornish midships floated numerous balls around the international ‘D’, though many a Cornishman fell foul of the off-side trap before debutant Cornish Striker Smith outstripped his markers to net simply into the bottom left and put the Pasties ahead. A second strike from Smith put the Pasties firmly in control until school-boy errors gifted the visitors a penalty in the 44 minute. With the break looming the pressure of the Cornish crowd proved too much for the International Skipper as he skied over the bar, with the Pasties maintaining the 3-1 lead.

After a spot of refreshment Smith returned to complete his debut hatrick to set up what looked to be a rout. It was not to be.

A reshuffle from the Internationals, had Scottish International Joy Elliot-Bowman limit the Cornish Skipper and whilst he was brought down in the visitors ‘D’ by the visiting Captain, it was Kewely who dispatched efficiently when a second penalty was awarded at the other end on 64minutes. The Cornish redeployed to kill the tie and were able to bring on another debutant, Luke Sparrow and Cornish Ladies Skipper Hayley Goacher, fresh from scoring a brace over the visiting Ladies to earn their Duchy caps. An emphatic double win for Cornwall, whose Ladies and Seniors finish unbeaten outside Scotland in 2013. Well done one an all.