Portree High School Retain Donella Crawford Title - UPDATED! | |
06 March 2019 Portree High School won the coveted Donella Crawford Sixes at the Jubilee Park, Ballachulish on Wednesday 6 March 2019. A record 17 teams comprising of 140 players took part and the sides were split into three groups. Each team played each other once allowing for the top teams from each league to qualify for the semi-finals along with the best overall runner up. Portree sent two teams with the younger side also competing well. There was a minutes silence before play got underway following the recent passing of John Crawford, Donella Crawford’s husband, who always showed a keen interest in the event and enjoyed hearing of the growth in the women’s game. Portree HS, Plockton HS, and Culloden HS all topped their respective groups whilst Lochaber HS qualified for the last four as the best runner up. The semi-finals were played simultaneously for 4 minutes each way and the draw pitched Plockton against Lochaber and Portree against Culloden. Donella Crawford Semi Finals Plockton HS 1 Lochaber HS 0 Plockton scored the only goal of the game in the first half against a battling Lochaber side to reach the final. Portree HS 2 Culloden HS 0 Portree, who only dropped one point in the league section, scored a goal in each half to set up a west coast meeting with Plockton in the final. Donella Crawford Final Portree HS 3 Plockton HS 0 The final showcased some fantastic shinty. Portree’s Holly MacLean kept her best performance of the day for the final where she displayed fantastic dribbling and passing skills, creating a number of chances for her team. Plockton never gave up though and forced Portree keeper Katherine Dibble into two excellent saves. Portree eventually ran out 3-0 winners to take the trophy home for the second successive season. Donella Crawford’s cousin, Alistair McMillan made the presentations and winning Portree captain Christina Macdonald raised the cup in front of her delighted team mates. |