Skye Camanachd won the Marine Harvest Plate Competition at the Clash of the Camans event at An Aird, Fort William on Saturday 20 June 2009.
Skye were drawn against Lochside Rovers in the semi finals but first they watched Fort William and Kilmallie second teams do battle. The Fort came out on top with a 3-0 win thanks to a Victor Smith double and a Daniel Stewart strike which secured their final spot.
Skye, top of Marine Harvest North Division 1, started well against the Marine Harvest South Division 1 runaway leaders Lochside Rovers. The Islanders raced into an early 3-0 lead with Ally MacLennan opening the scoring and the same player netted a second moments later. An Alan Palmer strike increased the lead and there was no way back for Rovers. Skye saw out the rest of the match and were even able to introduce all 3 substitutes – Donnie Campbell, Allan MacKinnon and Danny Morrison – before the end of the match.
Skye started with the breeze at their backs in the final against Fort William and they created several early chances. However the Fort colts, cheered on by a lively home support, were certainly up for the clash and they caused the Skye defence problems. However Jamie MacDonald and Steven Morrison were also on their game and dealt with the early exchanges.
Skye took a first half lead after a clever finish from Somhairle MacDonald and the sides started the second half with the Islanders 1-0 ahead. However the Fort fought back and snapshot from youngster Josh McGhee levelled the game. Skye thought they had regained the lead when a great shot from distance by captain Kenny Campbell was palmed away by the Fort William keeper but Somhairle MacDonald reacted first to knock the ball into the net. The Skye support’s joy was short lived when the goal was surprisingly ruled out for offside.
Skye regained the lead when a good run and pass from Alan Palmer played in Dougie Rankin and he neatly slipped the ball past the on-rushing Fort keeper into the net. The cheers from the Skye support had barely died down when veteran Fort William forward Victor Smith fired the ball past Jamie Gannon to level the game once again.
Dougie Rankin continued to cause problems for the Fort defence and with only 5 minutes remaining, he burst forward and was fouled as he bore in on goal. Just as he was falling, Rankin managed to get his caman to the ball and guided it past the keeper into the net.
Try as they might, Fort William could not level for a third time and so Skye went on to win and a delighted Kenny Campbell was presented with the winning plate.
Skye Camanachd from; Jamie Gannon, Steven Morrison, John Moir, Iain Nicolson, Jamie MacDonald, Kenny Campbell (captain), Gilleasbuig MacDonald, Kerr Gibb, Somhairle MacDonald, Alan Palmer, Ally MacLennan, Dougie Rankin, subs Donnie Campbell, Alan MacKinnon, Danny Morrison