Skye Camanachd 1 Inverness 1 | |
08 July 2019 The Skye Camanachd colts and the Inverness first team drew 1-1 in their Mowi North Division 1 match at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree on Saturday 6 July 2019. After the Glenurquhart defeat, Skye Camanachd co-managers David MacInnes and Daniel Morrison made changes which seemed to work right from the outset. Cameron Campbell and Gilleasbuig MacVicar came in to the side in the place of Ian MacPherson and Calumn MacKay. Chris Baillie was given a first start at wing centre and with Andrew Banks missing, Jamie MacKay played at full back where he would go on to have a great game against Scotland U21 international Charlie MacDonald. With Murphy Henderson unavailable, youngster Calum Nicolson made his second team debut in goal. With MacInnes and Morrison both on the field, Davie Pringle assisted from the touchline. Throw up was brought forward to 1pm at the request of Inverness. Inverness were on a good run of form in their lead-up to the game, winning their last three matches; scoring fourteen goals in the process and not conceding any. Both teams started well but defences were on top. Inverness made some early breaks up the park which didn’t come to much but when they threatened; they found Calum Nicolson in fine form in goals. When Skye did get the ball up the park, they played some nice flowing shinty but they also found the opposing defence to be resilient. Skye Cameron MacKay had a shot from the left midway through the half which looked like it might creep in to the far bottom corner but keeper Drew McNeil got an out-stretched leg to the ball, guiding it out to the edge of the D, right in front of goal. Daniel Morrison was first to react but a great last-ditch block from a visiting defender prevented an almost certain goal. Skye were then forced into a double defensive reshuffle. First they lost Gilleasbuig MacVicar with a nasty leg knock picked up after he was charged from behind by Charlie MacDonald. MacVicar’s game was at an end and John Angus MacInnes came on in his place at wing back and would go on to have a good game in an unfamiliar position. Skye then lost Calum Robertson shortly after with the youngster feeling unwell so Connor Gilpin dropped to buckshee back and Sam MacPhee came back to full centre. Iain MacPherson came off the bench at wing centre. Prior to the changes, Skye were starting to take control of the game but the switches rocked them for a spell and the sides went into the break scoreless. Inverness won the throw up from the restart and they keep the ball up the park during the early stages. The pressure paid off on 50 minutes. Inverness won a free-hit on the right, deep in the Skye half and a well-worked set-piece, coupled with some poor Skye defending, allowed Charlie MacDonald score the opening goal of the game. Inverness began to take a grip of the match but the Skye defence held out forcing the Inverness forwards to rush some good chances to score. Skye were able to bring Calum Robertson back on and he went to buckshee forward with Daniel Morrison pushing on to full forward. This move paid immediate dividends as Sam MacPhee won the ball in the centre line and played a cross-field pass from the Skye right to Cameron MacKay on the left. MacKay showed good control and managed to flick the ball between two defenders to Daniel Morrison and he took a touch to get the ball out from his feet and with his back to goal, he turned and struck the ball low to McNeil’s right hand corner to level the game with 74 minutes played. Both teams would go on to have chances to win the game but never took them and, in the end, a draw was probably a fair result. For Skye, Cameron Campbell, Sam MacPhee and Connor Gilpin all had good games as did Chris Baillie on his first start for the side. Next up for Skye is a league visit to An Aird to play their Fort William counter-parts this coming Saturday. Skye Camanachd from: Calum Nicolson; Jamie MacKay, David MacInnes, Gilleasbuig MacVicar, Calum Robertson; Chris Baillie, Connor Gilpin, Cameron Campbell; Sam MacPhee (captain), Archie MacDonald, Daniel Morrison, Cameron MacKay; subs John Angus MacInnes, Ian MacPherson, Keith MacKenzie Scorers Skye Camanachd Daniel Morrison (74) Inverness Charlie MacDonald (50) (The match balls will be sponsored by Nor-Dan) |