The Shinty Preview - Saturday 2 April 2011. | |
31 March 2011 The preliminary round of shinty’s top competition, the Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup, takes place on Saturday 2 April 2011. Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup - Preliminary Round There are 3 Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup Preliminary Round ties and all pitch north teams against south opponents. Strathglass welcome Aberdour to Cannich. The home side will be without Scott Douglas who was sent off in the defeat to Fort William last weekend. Boss Brian MacKay will also run checks on Andrew Fraser and Ally MacAdam who picked up nasty head knocks in the same game. This match is a 3pm throw up. The winners will travel to Yoker to play Glasgow Mid Argyll in the first round. Lochaber and Ballachulish meet at Spean Bridge. Lochaber should come out on top in this one and manager Michael Delaney’s main concern will be a lack of games as his young side has only played in twice over the opening four weekends of the season. Donald MacRae should be available for Lochaber. Former Skye Camanachd player Dougie Rankin has already netted twice for Ballachulish this season. The winners will travel to play Oban Celtic. Bute and Caberfeidh clash at the Meadows. Both sides have made a decent start to the season. Hector Whitelaw has netted 9 times in 3 games for the home side already this term whilst Caber’s Kevin Bartlett has scored 5 times in his last two outings. The winners will be at home to Skye Camanachd. Ballachulish, Beauly, Glasgow Mid Argyll, Inverness, Kilmory, Kinlochshiel, Lochcarron, Oban Celtic and Skye Camanachd all received byes into the first round. Scottish Hydro Premier Division There is a full programme in the Scottish Hydro Premier Division. The match of the day could be the meeting between Inveraray and league leaders Kyles Athletic at the Winterton. Kyles have made a terrific start to the season but this match is the first in a run of three consecutive away fixtures, with trips to An Aird to play Fort William and the Eilan to play Newtonmore still to come. Both the league’s newly promoted sides meet as Glenorchy play Kilmallie. It’s been a difficult start for Glenorchy and they know that they will have to start picking up points or they will fall adrift at the bottom of the table. Kilmallie will be boosted from last week’s extra time win over Glenurquhart and they should come out on to in this one. Lovat and Fort William clash at Balgate. Fort William are started to get players back. Bryan Simpson and Adam Robertson returned last weekend and Liam MacIntyre will be free of suspension for this game. However Fort manager Peter McIntyre will have to do without Kyle Grant who was sent off against Strathglass last week. Lovat will be out to pick up their first point of the season at the third time of asking. There is a meeting at the Eilan between Newtonmore and Glenurquhart. ‘More have scored 21 goals in their opening 3 games this season so it is easy to see where their strengths lie. Danny MacRae has scored 9 of these goals and that doesn’t include the hat-trick he bagged in the abandoned league match against Lovat. This tally is all the more remarkable as ‘More manager Norman MacArthur tends to substitute his talisman at around the hour mark in each game. The Glen on the other hand have found goals hard to come by but their Scottish international keeper Stuart MacKintosh has been in fine form this season. Scottish international Andrew Corrigan could be missing for the Glen. Oban Camanachd play Kingussie for the second successive Saturday. Oban were 2-1 winners in a fiery match at the Dell last weekend. Oban Camanachd fought relegation for most of last season but they have made a good start to their 2011 league campaign, taking four points from their opening three games. Kingussie will again be without Ronald Ross but they could have Kevin Thain back as he was available last weekend. Kings’ manager Stevie Borthwick also pushed Lee Bain into attack for part of the second half and the former Strathglass player gave his manager food for thought as he showed his versatility and looked impressive in the forward role. Marine Harvest North Division 1 League leaders Kinlochshiel have the chance to re-enforce their lead at the top of the table when they take on Inverness. The match has been switched to the Bught Park as Kirkton is unplayable. Shiel lost their opening 3 games of the 2010 when they were hampered by suspension, injury and player unavailability. However they have come off the blocks quickly this season and victory over Inverness will give them 6 points from their first 3 games. Shiel manager Johnston Gill should have full centre Steven Callander and defender Zander Grant back and Graham Morrison may also be available again. However Fraser MacVicar is a doubt with a hamstring problem. Davie Glass is still an injury absentee for Inverness boss Stevie Munro and influential defender Fraser Stoddart is also out with a broken hand sustained last week. Skye Camanachd go looking for their first points of the season when they head for Braeview Park to play Beauly. Beauly’s Conor Cormack made a first team scoring come-back last week from a leg break. Manager Stephen MacLean will check on the fitness of Jamie MacLennan ahead of the game. Shockie MacLennan misses out again for Skye as he recovers from an ankle injury. AB Connor and Kerr Gibb are also doubts whilst the game will also come too soon for Martin Bruce. Marine Harvest South Division 1 League leaders Lochside Rovers are away to Taynuilt who have picked up one win in there three league outings. The Kyles Athletic reserve team welcomes Kilmory to Tighnabruaich. Kyle sit third top in the league whilst Kilmory are third bottom. Oban Celtic and Glasgow Mid Argyll also meet for the second successive Saturday. It took a second half Fulton Ross goal to separate the sides in a 7 goal thriller at Yoker last weekend. Young Mid Argyll striker Craig Anderson has been a real goal threat, racking up 5 goals in his last two games. Oban Celtic will be without Iain MacKechnie who was sent off in last week’s clash between the sides. Marine Harvest North Division 2 The match of the day could be the Badenoch reserve derby between Kingussie, who top the division, and Newtonmore at the Dell. Newtonmore won both their league meetings last season with David Wylde scoring six of their eight goals against their rivals. Fort William are in action against Kinlochshiel at An Aird. Shiel will hope that their first team has players back who should in turn increase manager Colin Fraser’s selection options. Fort manager Victor Smith will hope to find himself in a similar position as first team players return to action. Lovat will look to put last week’s team raising difficulties behind them when they travel to Craigard to play unbeaten Glengarry. A Steven Cameron double gave ‘Garry a 2-0 win in the corresponding league match last season. Newly promoted Lochaber had a good win at Kinlochshiel last weekend and they head west again to play Skye Camanachd at Pairc nan Loach, Portree. The Islanders will be looking to bounce back from an 8-1 defeat to Kingussie where they lost 6 goals in a disastrous opening 12 minutes spell. Skye manager Davie MacVicar will be without defender Neil John Campbell who will be absent for at least 6 weeks following an operation on his hand. MacVicar will also be hoping that defender Scott MacLeod will have recovered from a leg knock. Kilmallie and Glenurquhart meet at the Canal Parks. The Glen picked up their first points of the season last week but Kilmallie have yet to pick up a point and they sit bottom of the table. Marine Harvest South Division 2 Table toppers Tayforth host Glasgow Mid Argyll. Stuart Ferrier has been a consistent scorer for Tayforth in recent seasons and he got off the mark in spectacular style against Aberdour last weekend, scoring 5 times. Ballachulish hit-man Gary Young is another who has got off to a good start in the scoring stakes this season and he will be key to their chances against Bute at Jubilee Park. Col Glen have been awarded the points from their home match against Aberdour as the visitors have been unable to raise a team. Strachur will look to follow up last weekend’s impressive 5-0 win over Col Glen when they welcome Inveraray. Marine Harvest North Division 3 Aberdeen University have been sweeping all before them this season and they put their unbeaten record on the line against Lochcarron. The Battery Park side make the journey east in good spirits as they have also shown a good turn of form. Lewis Camanachd picked up their first point of the season against Strathglass last weekend and they travel to play Ardnamurchan. The home side are looking for their first point of the season. Full back Daniel Gallagher returns for Lewis but forward Donald Lamont will be missing. Both teams will feel they can take something from this game. Boleskine and Caberfeidh meet at Farr. Both sides have 4 points from their opening 3 games so far this season. Inverness face Beauly at the Bught Park, Inverness. The side from the Highland Capital have had team raising difficulties this season whilst Beauly suffered their first defeat of the season against Caberfeidh last week. Strathglass and Lochbroom meet in a 12 noon throw up at Cannich. Lochbroom hold a single point advantage over their rivals in the league. Lochbroom were 6-0 winners when the sides met at Cannich last season. |