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English Shinty Association Complete Successful 2014 Tour | |
20 August 2014 The English Shinty Association has just completed a successful tour of Scotland which started on Wednesday 23 July 2014. The tour saw the ESA travel 4,000 miles and use 35 players over a total of 27 games. The ESA stopped off in Manchester on their journey North where they drew 4-4 with NW England. The hosts will feel they should have won the game having missed two penalties but ESA showed great battling qualities to come from two goals down with only 10 minutes remaining to earn a draw. Pipers Hamish Young and Hamish McGregor were a feature of the tour and the next stop was Glenfinnan – 700 miles away – where ESA lost 7-5 to the Glenfinnan on Thursday 24 July 2014. This was an exciting encounter and there was a debut for Gary Smith in the ESA goal. However the visitors suffered a blow as top scorer Jacob Harrell, who was given the man of the match award, broke his hand. ESA then faced Aberdour at noon at Silver Sands in the Bullough Plate semi-finals on Saturday 26 July 2014. Former Scottish Universities captain Alex Barnes bolstered the ESA midfield but a great display from Aberdour keeper Craig Callaghan helped the home team to a 2-0 win. Brian Toal put Aberdour ahead on 29 minutes but the tie remained in the balance until 4 minutes from time when Kevin Latimer made it 2-0. The English side enjoyed more than their fair share of pressure during the game but they were unable to find the back of the net. Alan Harrison was the match referee. It was a journey to the Highland Capital next for the following day’s Annual Inverness Sixes. This meant the first competitive matches for the CSM ladies who took part in the Alistair Gow Shield Women’s Competition which was eventually won by Glasgow Mid Argyll Ladies. The ESA men’s side competed in the Jubilee Shield where they performed well with ex-Kingussie player Malcolm Wink excellent at full back. They lost 2-1 to eventual winners Broncos 2-1, drew 1-1 with Boleskine and beat Caithness to record their first victory in the tournament. A visit to Glenurquhart Shinty Club followed on Monday 28 July 2014. Glen fitness coach Gavin Heath delivered an intense training session and a skills practice including blocking and shy taking took place thereafter. The evening was rounded off with a 17-a-side practice match. Lochcarron welcomed the ESA to Battery Park on the evening Saturday 2 August 2014. Lochcarron fielded a mixture of players in the match and they ran out comfortable winners. The star of the show was Lochcarron’s 10 year old Sam Stubbs who scored five times. The link between the clubs dates back to April 2012 when Lochcarron player / manager Ross Brown took part in Cornwall’s first ever match. ESA have sent an open invite to clubs to attend London Camanachd’s Festival of Shinty on Saturday 27 September 2014. The Lowender Peran Festival in Cornwall takes place from Wednesday 14 October 2014 to Sunday 19 October 2014 for the start of the second SW Shinty League. For further details, get in touch with graham.love.05@aberdeen.ac.uk (London Camanachd) or mmossop@archaeologicalconsultancy.com or visit the relevant facebook page for londoncamanachd cornwallshintyclub or englishshintyassociation for details. Read English Shinty Association President Matt Mossop’s account of the trip by clicking on the following ESA |