Ireland 1 (G Pinder) Scotland 2 (F Bruce, S Jamieson)
Ireland’s women had to settle for a shared series with Scotland as they lost 2-1 to Scotland at Stormont, ending with a win, a draw and a loss on their record.
For coach Graham Shaw, the series has been about testing his wider panel and he handed Liz Murphy her debut, the second goalkeeper to be tried out between the posts for the first time.
Indeed, 10 of Wednesday’s match day 18 at Stormont had less than 10 caps to their name with seven teenagers involved while there was no player aged over 26. Of the teens, 19-year-old Lena Tice earned her 50th cap.
The Scots took the lead 13 minutes in when Fiona Bruce’s deflection gave Murphy no chance from a penalty corner.
Sarah Jamieson made it 2-0 from a turnover on the 23-metre line to set up a well-executed two-on-one chance.
Gillian Pinder pulled one back just before half-time from an Irish corner that she won herself following Chloe Brown’s crossfield pass.
Ireland won a series of set pieces in the second half and saw a couple of goalmouth scrambles cleared off the line as Scotland to retain their narrow lead.
Ireland: L Murphy, J McMaster, S Torrans, L Tice, H McLoughlin, G Pinder, R Upton, Z Wilson, D Duke, E Curran, J McGirr.
Subs: E Buckley, K Lloyd, C Brown, E Getty, A Meeke, R Barry, Y O'Byrne
