Celtic Cup Glasgow 25-27 April 2014

The 2014 Celtic Cup tournament was played at Clydesdale Hockey Club, Beaton Road, Glasgow. The Over 60s tournament included France and Ireland for the first time, along with the original contestants, Scotland and Wales. The Over 65s Celtic Cup was fought out between Scotland and Wales. There were also two matches for Scottish Thistles against a Glasgow select and a Barbarians team.

Scotland Over 60s took the Grand Masters Celtic outright after three wins out of three while the Over 65s retained the Great Grand Masters trophy after two successive draws with Wales.

Celtic Cup Dinner guests

Guests at the tournament dinner in the Hilton Hotel, Glasgow

Friday 25 April

Scottish Thistles crestScottish Thistles 3 (Mitchell, Murphy, Gallacher pen) Glasgow Select 7 Glasgow crest

The Glasgow Select started really strongly with the Thistles under the cosh and eventually the Select scored. Shortly after this the Thistles replied with a spectacular goal, Gallagher with a superb strike across the face of the goal and Mitchell on hand to slot the ball into the goal. The Select side continued to exert lots of pressure eventually going up to 3-1 before the Thistles scored again (Mitchell?) to bring the score to 3-2. The second half was much the same as the first with the Select extending their lead to 5-2. After some good attacking play the Thistles were rightly awarded a pf. Gallagher made no mistake and slotted the penalty home to make the score 5-3. The Select side continued to press but eventually the large age difference and lack of substitutes taking their toll and the Select side stretched their lead to 7-3. - Graham Conkie.

Scotland flag Scotland Over 60 7 (Morrison 2, Paton, Connaghan, Ogilvie, Lorimer, Loudon) France Over 60 0 France flag

In appalling weather conditions, Scotland took the game to the French from the start, and were ahead in two minutes from a well worked move which switched from left to right: Connaghan to Bishop to Morrison who deflected a rocket shot into the top of the net. With ten minutes on the clock, Paton scored from a penalty corner, then just before the end of the quarter Durajcyzk broke down the right and crossed to the unmarked Connaghan who had only the keeper to beat with a simple tap in to make the score 3-0. The French resisted for the whole of the second quarter but, one minute into the second half, Ogilvie scored Scotland's fourth goal, a solo effort from Morrison made it five and Lorimer (with an assist from Ogilvie) added a sixth during the third quarter which ended with Scotland leading 6-0. Once again, Scotland hit straight away at the start of the fourth quarter with a goal from Loudon who picked up the rebound off the French keeper's pads from a shot by Lorimer, and ended the scoring with Scotland seven goals ahead. Bernie Morrison was Scotland's man of the match.

Wales flag Wales Over 60 3 (Sparkes, Johnson 2) Ireland Over 60 1 (Gelletlie) Ireland flag

Saturday 26 April

Wales flagWales Over 60 7 (Sparkes 3, Wyatt 2, Johnson, Chapman) France Over 60 0 France flag

Scotland flag Scotland Over 65 2 (Springford, Crichton) Wales Over 65 2 (Minney, Hills) Wales flag

Scotland started the match in command, moving the ball well and retaining possession. Trainor made a strong run down the right, slipped the ball to McLernan, who in turn fed Springford to open the scoring from close range. The Scots increased their lead when Crichton, one on one with the Welsh keeper, had two attempts blocked before lifting the ball high into the net. Wales were dangerous on the counter attack and only good goalkeeping by Leighton kept them from clawing a goal back - that and a shot which hit the post. Wales reorganised at half time and Scotland suddenly found themselves pushed back and unable to enjoy the kind of possession they had in the first half. Still, Crichton had an excellent chance to tie up the game but shot narrowly past, while Wales again hit the post at the other end. The Welsh reduced the deficit when a hard hit into the circle looped up from Downie's stick and was met by Minney who netted to make the score 2-1. In the last quarter, Wales pressed forward and Scotland's midfield dropped deeper and deeper. In the dying seconds, they finally equalised through Hills, whose shot at a penalty corner went in at the unguarded right hand post. Rather than taking the match to a penalty shoot out, the teams agreed to settle the tie by playing the Sunday match as a decider.

Scotland flag Scotland Over 60 2 (Ogilvie, Bishop pen) Ireland Over 60 (Gelletlie) Ireland flag

With Wilson marshalling the Scotland defence, Ireland were quiet in the first half of their first match against Scotland at Over 60 level. On the stroke of half time, Bishop found himself in acres of space on the left and his cross was met by Ogilvie who scored a typical short range goal from a horizontal position, and a comfortable Scotland win looked on the cards, though Ireland had a good deal of possession without seriously threatening the Scots defence.

A green card for Bishop just after the restart upset Scottish plans to recover the lead and Ireland had their best spell of the match. The game turned on its head at the end of the third quarter when Gelletlie's shot from an impossible angle incomprehensively went in at the Scotland near post to level the scores and, at the start of the fourth quarter, Ireland took control of the match and managed a couple of shots on target, helped by the Scots being reduced to ten men when Durajczyk went off with a yellow card. However, as the quarter went on and Scotland were back to a full team, the Irish began to tire, and the pace and harassment from Bishop and Morrison, in particular, produced some close shaves at the other end. A Wilson shot from a penalty corner was going wide of the post (and above backboard height) when Ogilvie deflected it downwards into the net. With the Scots celebrating what looked like the winner, the umpire disallowed the goal for a high ball. Bishop was causing all sorts of problems for the Irish defence by his strong running and with only four minutes left went past an Irish defender and was fouled as he stretched for a ball that might well have been out of his reach. Was it a goal scoring opportunity, would Bishop have reached the ball? It did not matter - the same umpire ruled that it was a deliberate foul in the D and gaved a penalty flick. The Irish keeper went to his left and Bishop fired the penalty to the other side to make the score 2-1. Scotland had beenhampered by sin bins, but 3-1 was a more likely score than 2-2: a solid 2-1 win.

Ian Wilson was the Scottish man of the match.

Sunday 27 April

Scotland flag Scotland Over 65 0 Wales Over 65 0 Wales flag

Once again Scotland, with a few positional changes designed to tighten up the centre of midfield, took the game to Wales and played some good hockey. All the same, they created few chances and the best they could muster were a couple of penalty corners, successfully defended by the Welsh. The first quarter of the second half was a different story, Scotland again falling back and looking disjointed and ragged in midfield. There was some confusion when a Welsh hit from outside the circle took a slight deflection past Pollard but a conference between the umpires resulted in the award of a free hit to Scotland as the deflection had been off a Welsh foot and not a stick. One more chance was to fall to Wales but once again a post came to the rescue of the Scots, the ball rebounding across the goal and eventually cleared to safety. The quarter break gave Scotland the chance to regroup and they were far the stronger side in the last quarter, but in spite of mounting incessant attacks in the last five minutes, they were unable to break down the resolute Welsh defence and the match ended scoreless. There being no time for a penalty shoot out, Scotland retained the Great Grand Masters Celtic Cup after three successive victories in the competition.

France flag France Over 60 0 Ireland Over 60 7 (O'Malley, Pollock, McCutheon, Blackwood, Enger 2) Ireland flag

Scotland flag Scotland Over 60 2 (Morrison, Bishop) Wales Over 60 1 Wales flag
With two wins each, Scotland and Wales were playing for the Celtic Cup in the final match of the tournament. Wales's superior goal difference meant thatonly a win would do for Scotland if they were to retain the trophy won the previous year in Cardiff. There was not much in it, though in the first half Wales had the better chances, one stopped on the line by Chisholm and a save from Taylor. The second half was even more open, the Welsh using a mixture of long balls and midfield runs, while the Scots ran and pressed in numbers. finally, with 54 minutes on the clock, a long hit in from Bishop was half stopped by the keeper, and Morrison nipped in from short range to make the score 1-0 for Scotland.

The Welsh pressure increased, but five minutes later the umpire from the day before intervened again: another deliberate foul in the D, another penalty. Bishop's stroke went left again and this time the keeper guessed correctly, but the ball went over his diving stick arm to put Scotland 2-0 up with only eleven minutes left on the clock. The Welsh increased the pressure, assisted by Scotland's reduction to ten men when Moore was given a yellow card for a deliberate foul, immediately folllowed by a short corner for a foul in the 22, and then a penalty stroke for a deliberate foul in the D. Johnson stepped up for Wales, Kalman dived right and Johnson placed the ball iin the other corner to make the score 2-1.

The last nine minutes brought anxiety from Scottish players, coach and supporters, and much Welsh possession. Just as the French match had allowed the the strikers and midfield to shine, now it was the defenders' chance. Bate, Chisholm, Wilson and McBride all had moments of real class and for all their pressure, the Welsh did not create another real chance and the score remained at 2-1, Celtic Cup won for Scotland.

Fittingly, Hew Bishop who had scored the winner in their last two of matches was Scotland's man of the match.

Scottish Thistles crestScottish Thistles 2 Barbarians 2 Barbarians image

Squads

France Over 60

Leroux(GK), Delaporte, Van Den Bussche, Tirlo, Paty, Dujardin, Deschamps, Lyon, Laminie, Wentworth, Grimaldi, Fournier, Putz, Girault, Coucke.

Ireland Over 60

McKee (GK), McKean (GK), Pollock, Parker, Enger, Keppel, Hamilton, McCutheon, Switzer, Tynan, Moore, Gelletlie, Fleming, Jordan, O’Malley, Blackwood, Rice.

Scotland Over 60

Bate, Bishop, Burns, Candlin, Chisholm, Connaghan, Durajczyk, Kalman (GK), Lorimer, Loudon, McBride, Moore, Morrison, Ogilvie, Paton, S Robertson, Taylor (GK), Wilson (C).

Wales Over 60

Hardman, B. Perkins, P. Perkins, Graham, Drowley, I. Johnson, Wheeler (C), Chapman, Ible, Sparkes, Brothers, Parry, Martineau, Gill, Ferguson, Wyatt, Kumar, Parr.

Scotland Over 65

Auld, A. Bain, Bryce (C), Crichton, Downie, Ferrol, Gordon, Leighton (GK), McLernan, Margerison, Philip, Pollard (GK), Springford, Trainor, Turner, Weir.

Wales Over 65

Thomas (GK), Sewell (GK), Coles, Harbottle, McIntosh, Davies, Hills, Holland, B. Johnson (C), Hughes, Minney, Maas, Phillips, Robinson, Willis, McCombe

Scottish Thistles

Graham Conkie, Alan Parker, Dick Pearce, Duncan Mitchell, John Smith, Stevie Macdonald, Ernie Brittain-Dodd (Friday only), Robbie Robertson, George Black (Sunday only), Doug Morrice, Colin Gallacher (Friday only). George Pickett (Hillhead HC) and Tommy Murphy (Irvine HC) filled in the gaps on Friday 25 April.

Tournament Director and Umpires

Brian Moore (TD), Jon Scott (IRL), Roy Woolley (WAL), Pritpal Shiota (WAL), John Smith (SCO), Paul Ruddock (SCO), John Mackenzie (SCO), Norrie Springford (SCO)