Enda Rowland putting his golf skills to use for upcoming hurling/shinty international

Ireland captain Enda Rowland with the Mowi Shinty / Hurling International Quaich, in attendance during the Shinty Hurling International 2024 launch at Croke Park in Dublin.

When the pandemic struck, Enda Rowland had a little more time on his hands and used it to sharpen his golf game.

The Laois goalkeeper halved his handicap from 12 to 6 at that time and is currently batting off a neat five.

The Ireland captain’s golf prowess will come in handy this Saturday in Ennis when he pulls on the green jersey again for the hurling/shinty international against Scotland.

The main compromise from the hosts’ perspective is that players can’t catch the ball, meaning it is predominantly a game of ground hurling.

When it comes to the puck-outs, goalkeeper Rowland will be striking off a tee, just like he’s used to doing as a golfer.

“It was a nine-inch high cone,” said Rowland of the ‘tee’ he used in last year’s international. “The Scots were complaining that it was too high, that it was going too far, so I had to doctor it down to a six-inch cone this year. It’s different to a regular puck-out for sure. You’re striking it mid-shin high. Like, you can’t ping them the same as a normal hurling puck-out but you can still probably get it almost to the far 65.”

So does the golf help?

“It doesn’t do any harm anyway,” smiled former All-Star nominee Rowland, who made it clear that hurling is his number one sport. “It was always hurling for me, golf was number two. There was actually a bit of a clash there this year, we got to the All-Ireland Junior Cup final and two of the hurlers were on it. So we had to miss a training session before the Portlaoise quarter-final but that was it.”

The biggest difference of all between the two sports is that nobody is tackling you in golf. And when it comes to Scotland, the shinty players enjoy a tackle.

“I wouldn’t be holding onto the ball too long,” smiled Rowland. “The two times I played, I brought my two favourite goalie hurls and they both got snapped below the grip, an inch below my thumb. So you wouldn’t want to be holding on for too long.

“You make sure that you get a good touch and then get rid of it fairly quick. It’s different. Sometimes in hurling you’d have a shot off the ground and the ball is rising up and coming at pace.

“That would nearly be every shot from the shinty boys because with the sticks they use the ball is rising from the ground and it’s nearly picking up more pace then.

“Like, if you ever see a lad whipping on a ball from the 13 in hurling, it’s in the net before you know it. They’re the kind of shots you’re getting.”

The series was revived last year after a four-year hiatus and Ireland won for the first time since 2016. They have a strong 20-man panel assembled this year with seven MacCarthy Cup players - Eoin Cody, Martin Keoghan (both Kilkenny), Tom and Dan Morrissey (both Limerick), Aidan McCarthy, Shane Meehan (both Clare) and Cianan Fahy (Galway) - included.