The Shinty Round Up – Saturday 29 May 2010. | |
01 June 2010 The MacTavish Cup and Glasgow Celtic Society Cup finalists are known after the semi final ties on Saturday 29 May 2010. There was a thrilling local derby at An Aird where Fort William met Kilmallie in the semi final of the MacTavish Cup. The Fort were still be without James Clark whilst Kilmallie welcomed Scottish internationalists John Stewart and Michael Rodgers back into the side following suspension. They also had defender Ewen Stoddart back in the side whilst Kevin Toye continued to deputise for Neil MacNiven in goal. There was an explosive start to the game as Kilmallie took a 4 minute lead through Fraser Massie but Fort William’s Gordie MacKinnon equalised just 2 minutes later. Nobody predicted what would happen next as Kilmallie raced into a 4-1 lead. Michael Rodger helped Kilmallie regain the lead on 26 minutes and Liam MacDonald gave them a 3-1 half time advantage when he beat Paul MacKay on 35 minutes. Whilst everyone expected an onslaught from the home side in the second half, it was Kilmallie who incredibly went 4-1 up thanks to MacDonald’s second strike of the game just a minute into the second period. If Kilmallie had defended resolutely in the first half, they were put under even more pressure in the second period. Fort William’s Drew Ferguson made it 4-2 on 61 minutes and the home side were rewarded for pushing Duncan Rodger into attack when he beat the brilliant Toye on 85 minutes. Kilmallie held on to clinch a win that their supporters will talk about for years to come and the Marine Harvest North Division 1 side will take their place in the final on 19 June 2010. Beauly shocked 2009 beaten finalists Kingussie by taking a first minute lead in their tie at Braeview Park. Barrie MacDonald and Jamie MacLennan combined to set up a chance for the unmarked David Neilson and he made no mistake as he shot past Andrew Borthwick in the visiting goal. Innes Simpson returned to the Beauly line-up after suffering a broken ankle against Oban Celtic earlier in the season. Kingussie were missing Louis Munro with a hand injury. There was heavy rain throughout the match which made under-foot conditions very difficult. Kingussie leveled on 16 minutes through Ronald Ross and the sides remained all square at the break. Shinty’s record scorer went on to put his side into the final with a second half hat-trick. Goals two and three came after 63 and 71 minutes and he added his fourth deep in to injury time. League champions Kingussie were unsuccessful in the cups in 2009 but they have now given themselves a great chance of winning the first senior domestic prize of the 2010 season. Beauly can take heart from the fact they competed so well for an hour against one of the top teams in the game. It took extra time to settle the Glasgow Celtic Society Cup semi final between holders Inveraray and Oban Camanachd at Mossfield. This match was a repeat of the 2009 final which Inveraray won 3-2. Euan MacMurdo got Inveraray off to a great start with a 4 minute goal. Iain MacMillan made it 1-1 on 29 minutes and it was advantage Oban Camanachd when Inveraray’s David Robertson was sent off by referee Ted MacDonald on 37 minutes. However despite this, the Winterton men regained the lead just 2 minutes from the break through Grant Griffin. Andrew MacCuish squared the match again on 65 minutes but disaster struck the men from Oban 5 minutes later when they too were reduced to 11 men following Gareth Evans’ sending off. There were no further goals and the tie went to extra time. Inveraray’s Grant Griffin got the all important strike 2 minutes from the extra time interval to put the holders through to the final with a 3-2 victory. Bute and Kyles Athletic served up a fantastic derby meeting at the Meadows. The sides also met last weekend in the Scottish Hydro Electric Camanachd when a late Roddy MacDonald strike took the match to extra time. It eventually took penalties to settle the tie in Kyles favour. This time it was Bute who took the initiative and they raced into a 3-0 lead thanks to a double from Brian Liddle on 6 and 13 minutes, either side of a 9 minutes Robert Zaveroni goal. A Dunkie Kerr double on 17 and 19 minutes took the score back to 3-2 but a Robert Walker effort on the half hour mark saw Bute lead 4-2. Kyles battled back as Roddie MacDonald made it 4-3 just 3 minutes later whilst Dunkie Kerr completed a first half hat-trick on 41 minutes to leave a remarkable first half all square at 4 goals apiece. Roddie MacDonald scored his second just 3 minutes into the second half to put Kyles ahead for the first time in the game. Fraser MacDonald made it 6-4 on 54 minutes but it was 10 minutes from the end before Kyles could finally relax as Colin MacColl made it 7-4. A Tom Whyte goal in the final minute gave Kyles an 8-4 victory in a match that will live long in the memory of all who were present at the Meadows. Kilmallie will play Lochaber in the Balliemore Cup semi finals after the Spean Bridge side beat Lochcarron 1-0. Lochaber recently won 6-1 against Lochcarron in the Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup and recently beat the west coasters 4-2 in the league. However this time the sides were only separated by a second half Andrew MacDonald strike. Skye Camanachd will meet either Kinlochshiel or Beauly in the other semi final. Lovat and Skye Camanachd had a 12 noon throw up in the second round of the Strathdearn Cup. Skye Camanachd second team manager Davie MacVicar made 5 with skipper David Grant and wing centre Scott Martin were both out injured, while Darryl MacIntosh was cup tied having played for Lewis Camanachd earlier in the competition. Jordan Murchison and Daniel Morrison were both unavailable. Willie MacRae, Angie MacDonald and Michael Nicolson returned to the squad - Nicolson for his first ever game as an outfield player. Lovat were missing the cup tied Owen Ferguson. Despite the changes, Skye went on the offensive from the throw up and Ally MacDonald was inches away from scoring an opening goal in the first minute. Play then swung from end to end with neither side creating any clear cut chances. There was a let off for Skye in 10 minutes when Jimmy MacKenzie crashed a thunderous drive off the outside corner of the post from a tight angle. The ball was eventually cleared to safety by Andrew Banks. Less than ten minutes later Skye came even closer to opening the scoring when Willie MacRae teed up Ian Morrison, and from 25 yards the youngster sent in a rasping shot which rebounded off the inside corner of the post to safety. At the other end the Skye defence were coping well and restricting the Lovat forwards openings in front of goal, with Shaun Hedley in particular snuffing out the threat of Jamie Matheson. Skye continued to pose a threat down the right hand side and when Neil MacVicar played in Ally MacDonald, the youngster expertly turned his man to fire goalwards only to see Chris MacCallum in the Lovat goal turn the ball behind at the expense of a corner. The deadlock was eventually broken on 37 minutes. The Skye defence failed to challenge for the ball following a Lewis Tawse hit, and as the onrushing Rory Cruden and full back Andrew Banks dueled for the possession, it was the Skye full back who turned the ball past a helpless Ross Graham to put Lovat 1 0 ahead. This set back only served to renew the Skye effort and the visitors came close to equalising when Davie MacVicar played a long ball over the defence to Angie MacDonald who expertly flicked the ball over keeper MacCallum only for Craig Mainland to clear from in front of his own goal line. With Skye creating the best of the openings in the first half further opportunities fell their way with Ian Morrison just failing to get a touch to a Stewart Grant corner and on the stroke of half time a scorching drive from Morrison just cleared the junction of the bar and post. Lovat introduced Tom Smith at wing centre against Neil MacVicar at the start of the second half. Smith was restricted to half a game as he would feature in the first team line up against Newtonmore later in the afternoon. Skye continued to have the best of the game in the opening minutes of the second half without creating any clear cut chances. Lovat’s buckshee back Alan MacPherson was proving a real obstacle to the Skye forwards and his long clearances were providing his forwards with more of the ball. Skye’s hopes of salvaging something from the game were dealt a killer blow when Lovat scored a quick fire double in 65 and 67 minutes. The first goal came when Jimmy MacKenzie dropped deep to escape the attentions of Andrew Banks and his 20 yard grounder seemed to get lost under keeper Ross Graham’s feet before it entered the net. With Skye still reeling from this blow, further Lovat pressure saw Jamie Matheson break free from marker Shaun Hedley for the only time in the game to steer a low shot into the left hand corner of the Skye net. Skye introduced Ally MacLeod for Willie MacRae for the closing 20 minutes and the youngster looked lively in attack. Michael Nicolson came on at wing forward for player manager MacVicar with Ally MacLeod then dropping to wing centre and Neil MacVicar taking over at full centre from MacVicar senior. As Lovat continued to press in the last quarter, Ross Graham pulled of a superb save low to his right with his stick from a Matheson shot. Jamie Matheson had the ball in the net again soon after but this was correctly ruled out for a kick by the referee and his brother Greig Matheson who was goal judge. To their credit Skye kept pressing until the last minute, but openings for Nicolson and Morrison failed to produce a goal. Marine Harvest South Division 1 side Lochside Rovers were too strong for Col Glen from Marine Harvest South Division 2 in their Bullough Cup first round meeting at Ganavan. Goals from Craig MacDougall, David Devine, Drew Walker and Brian MacCallum eased the Oban side into the next round. Taynuilt from Marine Harvest South Division 1 hosted Bute who sit bottom of Marine Harvest South Division 2. However it was the Islanders who pulled off a shock victory following extra time. Neil MacMurdie put Bute ahead on 15 minutes but Mark Began levelled on 65 minutes. There was no further scoring during the regulation 90 minutes and Stewart Stirling was the Bute hero with a goal right at the end of the fist period of extra time. There was just one match in the Scottish Hydro Premier Division as Lovat hosted Newtonmore at Balgate. Norman MacArthur’s troops knew that victory would take them back to the top of the table but they found it difficult to break Lovat down and they only had a Glen MacKintosh effort on 31 minutes to show for their first half efforts. ‘More when 2-0 ahead on 53 minutes when Lovat defender Drew Howie, who was back in the side following suspension, put through his own net. A double from David Cheyne on 63 and 77 minutes sealed a 4-0 victory. Skye Camanachd’s Marine Harvest North Division 1 title chances suffered a blow when they lost 5-1 to neighbours Kinlochshiel at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree on Saturday 29 May 2010. Skye Camanachd first team manager Aonghas MacDonald made 2 changes to the starting line up from last week’s win over Kilmallie. Jamie MacDonald missed out through suspension and Iain Morrison returned to second team duty. Alan Palmer and Allan MacKinnon started in attack whilst A B Connor dropped back into defence. Kinlochshiel joint managers Keith Loades and Johnston Gill were without the suspended John MacRae but Zander Grant was on the bench, his first inclusion in the senior squad for 4 weeks. They also gave a first starting place to 17 year old striker David Falconer. Shiel attacked Skye from the throw up. Keith MacRae charged down an Iain Nicolson clearance and burst forward. He played in his brother Finlay MacRae and he crossed low to David Falconer who fired a glorious drive, high past Jamie Gannon to give Shiel the lead. Skye responded and after 3 minutes, Dougie Rankin and Alan Palmer linked up with Palmer shooting into the side netting. Shockie MacLennan did well to keep the ball in on the right touchline after 9 minutes and he drove the ball forward to Dougie Rankin who set up a chance for Somhairle MacDonald but Graham Kennedy saved his shot. A Kinlochshiel shy from the left caused Skye problems after 18 minutes. The ball fell to Keith MacRae who ran across goal before firing a bullet shot into the net to make it 2-0. Worse was to follow just 2 minutes later. Skye keeper Jamie Gannon was short with a clearance and Neil Fraser took advantage to tuck the ball loose over the line. Skye manager Aonghas MacDonald was forced to switch his team around just moments later as Iain Nicolson had to be withdrawn with a recurrence of a hamstring problem. Shockie MacLennan went to buckshee back, Gilleasbuig MacDonald to wing centre, Kenny Campbell to full centre, AB Connor into attack and substitute John Moir took up the wing back position. A good Skye move on 25 minutes came close to getting the home side back into the game. Shockie MacLennan passed to Gilleasbuig MacDonald who found Alan Palmer. Palmer moved the ball forward to Dougie Rankin who slipped a pass to Somhairle MacDonald but he shot over with Rankin looking for a return pass. The changes seemed to have revitalised Skye and an Alan Palmer run down the right and cut back found AB Connor but he shot wide of Kennedy’s right post. A 29 minute foul on Dougie Rankin saw the Skye full forward take the free hit himself. He nudged the ball to Somhairle MacDonald who shot just over the bar. Aonghas MacDonald had another injury problem and positional change to deal with after 34 minutes. Shockie MacLennan collided with a Shiel player and required treatment from Skye medic Dr Wilson Banks. The player left the field and required an x-ray on his collar bone. Allan MacKinnon came on in his place with Gilleasbuig MacDonald dropping back to buckshee back. Kenny Campbell moved to wing centre and Dougie Rankin took over the full centre role. Skye pulled a goal back on 37 minutes and it was a brilliant solo effort from Kenny Campbell. There seemed little danger when Campbell collected the ball on the right of midfield. He skipped past his marker before running down the right. He brushed off four separate challenges on his way towards the goal and just before he reached the D he knocked the ball past Kennedy to make it 3-1. Skye almost reduced the deficit to a single goal a couple of minutes later. Allan MacKinnon crossed from the left but AB Connor just failed to make contact, under pressure from a Shiel defender. Skye started the second half strongly and Kennedy had to look sharp to save with his legs from Kenny Campbell after another good run and the ball was cleared for a corner. Shiel came close to increasing their lead on 58 minutes when a Neil Fraser shot flashed past the post. However they went 4-1 up on the hour mark. An Ian MacDonald shy from the right fell to Finlay MacRae who turned his man and gave Gannon no chance with a fierce drive. Jamie Gannon made a wonderful save from a Keith MacRae shot moments later, diving to his right to tip the ball over the bar. Danny Morrison came on for Allan MacKinnon after 63 minutes as Skye tried to find that cutting edge up front. It went from bad to worse for Skye on 79 minutes. Shiel substitute Zander Grant floated a corner in from the right which evaded Jamie Gannon. Gilleasbuig MacDonald stopped the ball but as he tried to clear make a clearance, the ball bobbled over the goal line to make it 5-1. There was more injury concern for Skye when Kenny Campbell received an accidental blow to the ankle on 86 minutes. He was carried from the field and again required an x-ray to assess the damage. Shiel’s Neil Fraser pulled up moments later with a hamstring problem leaving both sides to finish a game a man short. The victory increases Shiel’s advantage at the top of the table to 2 points and confirmed their status as the form team in the league at the moment. Strathglass and Inverness met at Cannich. The sides occupied the bottom two places in the league making this game a classic 4 pointer. In the end it was Inverness who ran out 4-3 winners with all their goals coming in the first half. Player / manager Stevie Munro led by example with strikes on 13 and 31 minutes with further goals on 33 minutes from James Ross and a 37 minute Kevin McVey effort. Spare a thought for Strathglass veteran Robert Geddes who is back in the side following an injury plagued start to the season. He bagged a hat-trick on 30, 67 and 84 minutes but still ended up on the losing side. Marine Harvest South Division 1 leaders Glenorchy over-ran bottom club Inveraray at the Winterton. Glenorchy have won all 5 of their league matches this season and they made it 6 of the best with a 6-0 win. The matches between Ballachulish and Kilmory are normally tasty affairs and although their meeting at Jubilee Park produced a goalless first half, it sprung into action in the second period. Alec Cunningham gave Kilmory the lead on 55 minutes but an Andrew Young effort 9 minutes later brought the home side level. Ballachulish took the lead on 75 minutes through Brian MacKinnon but it was then Kilmory’s turn to equalise through John Strachan on 82 minutes. However parity on remained for 3 minutes when Scott Henderson scored what proved to be the winner for Ballachulish. Marine Harvest North Division 2 leaders Fort William traveled to the Eilan to play Newtonmore and whilst they were able to counter a 26 minute David Wilde strike, they ultimately had to settle for a share of the points following a 1-1 draw. Glengarry continued their good start to the season with a 3-0 win over reigning champions Glenurquhart at Invergarry. Stuart Gregory opened the scoring on 30 minutes and Mathew Ross added a second a minute into the second half. Ross netted his second on 61 minutes to seal a 3-0 victory. There was a minutes silence at the start of the game in memory of Kathleen Tembo, mother of Glenurquhart’s Scottish international Eddie Tembo. Kingussie played Kinlochshiel at the Dell. The Kingussie reserves have had some experienced players available for selection in recent games but they were 6 players short for this game including their main goalscorer Kevin Thain. Full centre Colin MacDiarmid gave Shiel a first half lead with a tremendous shot from distance. Rory Borthwick countered and the points were shared. Kilmallie over-powered Beauly at Canal Parks. This match started at the earlier time of 11am and Kilmallie were ahead within 4 minutes thanks to a goal from Mark Graham. It was 2-0 on 16 minutes with Graham again on target. Sebastian MacMillan made it 3-0 just 3 minutes later whilst Graham completed his hat-trick on 31 minutes to round off a good first half for the home side. Goalscorer Sebastian MacMillan turned from saint to sinner on the hour mark when he was sent off by referee Dunkie Kerr. However his side saw out the remaining 30 minutes and Mark Graham even managed to take his personal tally to 4 when he made it 5-0 just 3 minutes from time. The match between Marine Harvest South Division 2 runaway leaders Kyles Athletic and fourth place Aberdour at Tighnabruaich was postponed. Second top Glasgow Mid Argyll and second bottom Strachur meet at Yoker. The visitors took the lead on 32 minutes thanks to a David Wilson strike. David Smith squared the game a minute into the second half but Strachur’s Duncan MacNicol knocked in the winner on 83 minutes. Lochaber continue to lead Marine Harvest North Division 3 following a narrow 4-3 win over Inverness at Spean Bridge. Lochaber had a resounding 8-0 win when the sides met at the Bught Park in March but this was a much closer affair. Youngsters Connor Sweeney and Stuart Callison each bagged a brace for Lochaber. Graham MacMillan followed up last week’s hat-trick with another goal whilst Liam Girvin and Colin Fraser got the others. Lochbroom mad the long journey east to play Aberdeen University. Lochbroom have been in good form recently but they found the Students to be strong opponents. Doubles from former Skye Camanachd player Jamie Beaton and Willie Hunter and a Donald Lamont goal gave Aberdeen a 5-1 win. Steven Urquhart scored a consolation goal for Lochbroom. Caberfeidh and Boleskine met for the second consecutive Saturday. They drew 1-1 at Farr last weekend but Caberfeidh were convincing 5-0 winners following this game at Castle Leod. Iain MacDonald helped himself to a double and Scott MacPhail, Alan Ross and 16 year old Tom Evans scored one apiece. With 12 minutes remaining of their match at Cannich, Strathglass trailed Ardnamurchan thanks to a James Strachan goal on the hour. However goals from Raymond Stewart on 78 minutes, Craig Ferguson on 86 minutes, Josh Fraser on 88 minutes and Fraser again just before the final whilst gave Steve Harvey’s men the points. Strathglass now go 3 points clear of bottom club Ardnamurchan. |