Badenoch stars at the double in Irish victory
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TWO rising stars from Badenoch were to the fore as the Scottish under-21s beat their Ireland counterparts for only the second time away from home.
The Scots put on a great show in the shinty/hurling international at the GAA National Games Development Centre in Dublin on Saturday.
And the star men were Newtonmore's Iain Robinson and his partner up front Roddy Young, of Kingussie, who are usually on opposing sides of the most fierce rivalry in the sport.
But the pairing certainly paid off with Robinson who scored 11 points (2-5) in the 25-13 victory and Young netting twice (2-0).
Another talent Blue and White's youngster Iain Richardson also notched up a point.
Young told the Strathy that he was delighted so that so many of his peers were now making the step up to international level.
He said: "It was a great occasion and important to get the win over the Irish which was revenge for defeat last year on our home turf."
Young, who left Kingussie High School in the summer and is now studying in the Scottish capital, said that it was a fantastic feeling to get onto the scoresheet.
"It was a big achievement and a proud occasion," he said.
It's not the first time that Young and Robinson have played up front together – the pair have starred together at under-18 level for Scotland and also playing for the north district through the junior ranks.
"I enjoy playing alongside Iain. He's a really good player and we seem to play well together."
But all the bonhomie playing for Scotland will be put aside when the Premiership restarts.
Young added: "I'll still want to get the better of him next season. I'm looking forward to playing against him again – and winning."
Scots team manager Alan MacRae gave Robinson and Young debuts in attack against the Irish.
The other debutants were Oban Camanachd's Daniel Sloss, Oban Celtic's Ross MacMillan, Jonnie MacAskill from Glasgow Mid Argyll and Findlay MacDonald from Lochaber who all started on the bench.
Caberfeidh's Blair Morrison captained the Scots on his fifth appearance at this level.
Richardson cancelled out an early Irish point before Young's debut goal put the Scots 4-1 ahead.
The hosts added another point before Innes Blackhall with a one point score and a two-pointer from Iain Robinson gave Scotland a 7-2 lead at half time.
Scotland went further ahead from the restart when substitute MacDonald netted a goal. Alexander MacMillan scored another goal to increase the lead to 13-2.
Robinson added a point then Ireland pulled a point back but the young forward added another two-pointer so the Scots now led 16-3.
Ireland pulled four more points back before Robinson and then Young again scored goals to make it 22-7.
The Irish fought back again with Aaron Shanagher scoring a goal and they converted another three points to pull the score back to 22-13.
However, Robinson took his tally to 11 points when he scored his second goal of the afternoon near the end to make the final score 25-13.
The Badenoch giants were well represented at international level with Rory MacKeachan, Robert Mabon and Calum Grant (all Kingussie) and Craig Ritchie (Newtonmore) also playing for the Scots in their victory on Saturday.
