After four years, the Shinty/Hurling International Exhibition match is set to return this October, confirmed by the GAA.
This returning event, with a history spanning over 140 years, brings together the best players from Scotland and Ireland to compete against each other.
This year's game is scheduled to be held at Páirc Esler in Newry on Saturday, October 21.
The collaboration is made possible through the partnership of the GAA and the Camanachd Association, which serves as the governing body for Shinty.
Both organizations will select a 20-player squad to travel to Newry in the coming weeks. Scotland's team will be managed by Garry Reid, and the Irish team will be managed by former Connacht Hurling Director, Damien Coleman.
The match will kick off at 3:00pm, followed by the Down Intermediate Hurling Final at 5:00pm.
Shinty/ Hurling International returns after four-year absence: The GAA is has announced the return of the Shinty/ Hurling International Exhibition match, which will see Ireland take on Scotland in a composite rules game for the first time since 2019. https://t.co/BniJ6DVgA7 pic.twitter.com/gTmSHZvnD5
— hoganstand.com (@hoganstandgaa) September 14, 2023
Larry McCarthy, GAA President, said, “On behalf of the Gaelic Athletic Association, I welcome the resumption of our collaboration with our friends and neighbors and sporting cousins in Alba agus An Cumann Camanachad to stage the Ireland-Scotland Hurling-Shinty international.
“This match is an opportunity to celebrate our ties and the cultural links between our proud peoples – chief among which are the games of hurling and shinty, which share a common ancestor.
“Next year, the Gaelic Athletic Association will be 140 years old, but that is a mere trifle in the lifespan of hurling, which later this decade will mark 3,300 years in our consciousness.
“Rules have changed dramatically in the last 140 years, never mind 3,000. But what the games of hurling and shinty continue to champion are extraordinary levels of skill and feats of stamina and strength that people marvel at.
“Nothing celebrates Gaelic Games more than the playing of games, and that is why this link between the GAA and the Camanachad Association is so important."
