Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup Quarter Final - Preview. | |
09 June 2011 The draw for the quarter finals of the Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup was made at the Edradour Distillery near Pitlochry on Thursday 9 June 2011. The draw was made by renowned Scottish musician Dougie MacLean and Camanachd Association President Archie Robertson. The two sides from outwith shinty’s top flight definitely through to the last eight have both been given tough home draws against Badenoch giants Kingussie and Newtonmore. Bute were given their third home draw of this year’s competition. They beat Skye Camanachd and Glasgow Mid Argyll on Rothesay in the opening two rounds but this time they host 2011 runners up Kingussie. Speaking to The Buteman earlier today, Bute coach Barry Martin said, “It’s a tough draw but if you want to progress, you’ve got to beat the best teams and I’m sure we’ll rise to the challenge – especially at the Meadows.” There is an all-south top division clash between Inveraray and Kyles Athletic at the Winterton. Kyles have won their two previous encounters at the Winterton this season. They won 3-2 in the league and 4-1 in the Celtic Society Cup semi finals with Dunkie Kerr scoring three times over the two games. Kilmallie will have home advantage against the winners from the second round replay between Lovat and Glenorchy. Kilmallie’s John Stewart has recent experience of playing both teams. “We have faced both in the league already this season,” he said, “so we know what we have to do even though it’s always different playing Scottish Cup ties. I think Lovat, Glenorchy and ourselves will be pleased to have avoided a draw against Newtonmore, Kingussie and Kyles Athletic at this stage in the competition.” Finally Kinlochshiel and Newtonmore meet in cup competition for the second time this season. The sides were drawn to play at Kirkton in the Artemis Macaulay Cup just three weeks ago. The wet west coast weather that weekend meant the game was transferred to the Eilan and ‘More capitalised with a 5-0 win. However Kinlochshiel were without Scottish international forward Finlay MacRae that day and he is looking forward to this meeting. “In my opinion we have drawn the strongest team we could have got in the competition,” said MacRae. “But we play them at Kirkton and I think we will give them a few things to think about. If we are going to be in with a serious shout of ever winning the Camanachd Cup then we need to be able to rise to the occasion and beat the big teams like Newtonmore. We will definitely go out confident of causing an upset.” The full draw is; Bute v Kingussie Inveraray v Kyles Athletic Kilmallie v Lovat / Glenorchy Kinlochshiel v Newtonmore The ties will be played on Saturday 2 July 2011 whilst the Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup Final takes place at the Bught Park, Inverness on Saturday 17 September 2011. |