Skye Camanachd A U14 Complete Successful Season. | |
27 December 2009 Skye Camanachd A U14 side are able to reflect on a successful year having won the 2009 North Division 1 title and finishing MacMaster Cup runners up. This is the second consecutive season that the Skye youngsters have won the league title which is reward for all the excellent youth shinty work that is being carried out on the The Camanachd Association set a mid December 2009 deadline for clubs to finish their fixtures and by this time Willie Cowie’s side had won 5 out of 5 games in the league. Shinty Development Officer Ronald Ross will travel to Skye in January 2010 to present the trophy to the 2009 side. He will also formally present medals to the 2008 Skye Camanachd A U14 side who also won the title the previous year. Skye Camanachd A U14 started their league campaign with a 13-0 win over Newtonmore U14 at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree on Wednesday 26 August 2009. This was a very good performance from the Skye youngsters with Will Cowie scoring 4, captain Jordan Murchison and Stewart MacSween both scored hat-tricks and Andrew Grant got a double with substitute Angie Grant scoring the other. The Skye Camanachd youngsters followed this up with a narrow win over Caberfeidh at Castle Leod on Tuesday 1 September 2009. Skye were the better team in the first half and should have been out of sight by the interval. Will Cowie had a couple of good strikes that were just wide of the target. Jordan Murchison hit a rasping drive that hit of the keeper's legs and went safe. Andrew Grant had opportunities but it was Stuart MacSween who had the best chances to put Skye in the lead. There was no score at half-time and it was only a superb reflex save by Iain MacLeod low to his left that kept the score level. A super backhand strike by Will Cowie 10 minutes after the restart gave Skye the lead. Cabers came back strongly from this and equalised within 5 minutes. A quick free hit caught out the Skye defence and a tidy finish from close range made the match all square. With 10 minutes left Euan Forrest fed the ball to Andrew Grant and his low shot when through a ruck of players and into the corner of the net. Skye were under pressure for the remainder of the game and during this period Ruairidh Morrison, who was having a great game, suffered a bud ankle knock. He was replaced by Connor Henderson, Chris MacLennan dropping back and Jordan Murchison slotting in to midfield. Skye held firm and only some tidy goal keeping and a superb performance by Shaun Hedley kept Cabers out. Skye were delighted to head home with both points and although not the best performance of the season, Cabers were a tough side to beat. On this performance Cabers will do well in North Division 1 and will be difficult to beat on their own patch. Best for Skye were Iain MacLeod, Ruairidh Morrison and Johnnie MacDonald in defence. Chris MacLennan worked hard but Magnus Burd was the main man in the middle of the park where he put in a power of work. The forwards were best served by Will Cowie and Andrew Grant. It was Shaun Hedley though that was the difference and his performance at the back deserves a special mention. Skye Camanachd A U14 made it 3 wins out of 3 with a win over Lovat at Balgate, Kiltarlity on Wednesday 9 September 2009. The sides previous met at the same venue in the MacMaster Cup when there wasn't much between the teams. This time Skye were more dominant and turned in a much improved performance. The early signs were positive for Skye and Will Cowie hit the post and Jordan Murchison came close on a couple of occasions. Skye’s opener was a close range finish by Cowie and this was quickly followed by a tremendous backhand strike into the top corner of the net from Murchison. Murchison then found Cowie with a nice pass and he found the net with a low drive that gave the keeper no chance. Murchison had a goal disallowed before he scored Skye's fourth goal with a super hit from 30 yards. Lovat made sporadic forays into the Skye half and on the stroke of half-time Iain MacLeod made a good stop but unfortunately the ball ended up in his own goal to make the half time score 4-1 to the visitors. The second half provided more of the same and Murchison completed is hat-trick shortly after the break with another low drive from 25 yards. Cowie netted his third goal after good build up work by Andrew Grant - a neat dribble and finish on the hour mark. Angie Grant and Angie MacPherson came of the Skye bench to make good contributions. Murchison completed the scoring with his fourth goal to confirm a 7-1 win. The Skye defence looked solid and the midfield dominated for much of the match. However credit is due to Lovat youngsters who battled away. They had 4 primary school age players in their squad and these boys are certainly ones for the future. Skye Camanachd U14 A from; Iain MacLeod, Shaun Hedley, Johnnie MacDonald, Calum Gibb, Magnus Burd, Euan Forrest, Chris MacLennan, Jordan Murchison (captain), Will Cowie, Andrew Grant, Angie Grant, Stuart MacSween, Connor Henderson, Mark Mortimer Skye Camanachd A U14 continued their unbeaten run with a 10-1 win over Lovat at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree on Saturday 3 October 2009. Skye have already beaten Lovat twice this season at Balgate and this was their first meeting in Portree. Both sides took time to become adjusted to playing on the all-weather surface. However the facility at The Skye Camanachd A 14 side came out on top with an 8-0 win over Newtonmore at the Eilan on Friday 25 September 2009. After the disappointment of the MacMaster defeat to The points from the unplayed matches against Caberfeidh and home and Players such as captain Jordan Murchison, Shaun Hedley and Chris MacLennan – who all represented the North U14 against the South U14 - and Johnnie MacDonald, Ruairidh Morrison, Calum Gibb, and Magnus Burd amongst others move on to the U17 age level and coach Willie Cowie will look for some of his U14 B team players to step up to next year’s side. |