15 July 2010
The Balliemore Cup Final between Kinlochshiel and Lochaber takes place at An Aird on Saturday 17 April 2010.
Kinlochshiel have featured in 5 previous finals. They lost out in 1994, 1996, 2005 and 2009 with their only success coming in a 1-0 win over Glenurquhart in 2007. Keith MacRae set up 17 year old Neil Fraser to score the winning goal in 51 minutes and gave captain Fraser MacVicar the chance to lift a trophy which is steeped in the tradition of the MacRae’s of Balliemore and Eilan Donan.
Lochaber have played in 3 previous finals. They won the trophy in 1987 and 1994 but lost 2-0 to Bute in 2004.
They beat Bute 4-0 (after a replay) to win in 1987 and they beat Kinlochshiel 4-2 to win the trophy in 1994. The Lochaber side that day was managed by Alex MacNeill and Tom MacKintosh and featured 24 year old buckshee forward Angus Morrison who had just been named North Player of the Year. Morrison is also likely to feature in this weekend’s final as is Neil MacDonald who was a 15 year old substitute in 1994.
The Shiel side that day was managed by Murdo John Fraser and had John Don MacKenzie in goal. His son – also John Don MacKenzie - will feature in the west coast side’s defence this weekend. The classy Davie MacLeod played at buckshee back in 1994 whilst brothers Neil and John MacRae were also in the team. Their buckshee forward was Colin Fraser – the youngest of the Fraser brothers in the side – and he is the current Kinlochshiel second team manager. A substitute that day was Johnston Gill who is current co-manager of the ‘Shiel side.
The final throws up at 4pm and will be shown live on BBC ALBA. The match referee is Deek Cameron. |