The 102nd Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup Final between Fort William and Kyles Athletic takes place at Mossfield, Oban on Saturday 19 September 2009.
Kyles Athletic’s road to the final started with victory over Newtonmore in a penalty shoot-out. The tie originally took place on 9 May 2009 but was abandoned with Kyles leading 1-0. The tie was replayed on 16 May 2009 and when goals from Duncan Kerr and David Cheyne in the first 5 minutes were the only goals in 120 minutes of shinty, it took a penalty shoot-out to separate the teams with Kyles winning 3-2.
Kyles were then drawn against Oban Camanachd at Mossfield. The original tie on 6 June 2009 was postponed as the pitch was unplayable but when the teams met a couple of weeks later, Kyles enjoyed a 3-0 win. Oban Camanachd already had a 3-1 win over Kyles when the sides met at Mossfield on league duty in May 2009 but this win secured a semi final spot against last year's beaten finalists Kingussie.
Fraser MacDonald hit a vital strike for the visitors a minute before the break and a double from David Martin on 55 minutes and another 10 minutes later gave Kyles a convincing win
The controversial semi final against Kingussie first took place at Ballachulish on 15 August 2009. A Ronald Ross had double put the Kings 2-0 up but a Colin MacDonald strike reduced their advantage. Ross completed a first half hat-trick to give the 2008 runners up a 3-1 half time lead. Ross took his and Kingussie's tally to 4 into the second half. Kyles lost Roddy MacDonald just after the hour mark to a head knock having lost Colin McColl to a split head earlier in the game. It later transpired that MacDonald suffered a broken nose and cracked cheekbone. Conditions were difficult from the outset and after 65 minutes, referee Charles Young decided that they had deteriorated to such an extent that he abandoned the match. Neither side felt that the game should have gone ahead in the first place however the early end to the tie certainly favoured Kyles who were unlikely to recover the 4-1 deficit in the final 25 minutes. Kingussie were left feeling very frustrated by the decision and felt that as conditions had been poor throughout, the match should have been played to a conclusion
The replayed game 2 weeks later gave Kyles a second chance which they didn’t waste and it was a more determined Kyles’ side who took the field this time with Tom White giving them a 14 minute lead. Kevin Thain, restored to the Kings side after missing the previous weekends MacPhee & Partners Macaulay Cup defeat to Inveraray with injury, scored after 20 minutes to ensure the sides went into the break all square. Ronald Ross, the scorer of all 4 of his side’s goals in the abandoned game, gave the Kings the lead on the hour mark but the tie turned on its head in the final 10 minutes. First Duncan Kerr leveled the contest on 80 minutes and he then dramatically gave Kyles the lead just 3 minutes from full time. However Kingussie pressed until the end and Kevin Thain scored his second goal right on full time to take the game into extra time. It was Duncan Kerr who became the toast of Tigh na Bruach when he completed his hat-trick just 6 minutes from the end. Referee Charles Young sent off Kingussie’s John Hutchison for in the dying minutes for a rash challenge, awarding a penalty to Kyles in the process. The penalty was missed but it mattered little and it’s Kyles Athletic who marched through to their first Scottish final since 2000.
The 2009 final throws up at 1.45pm and will be broadcast live on both television and radio. Television coverage will be on BBC2 Scotland and radio coverage is on both BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio nan Gaidheal.