Strathglass 3 Skye Camanachd 10 | |
17 February 2016 Skye Camanachd lifted the Murdo MacKenzie Memorial Cup when they beat Strathglass 10-3 at Cannich on Saturday 13 February 2016. Davie Pringle looked after the Skye side as John MacLeod was working. This was the Islanders first pre-season friendly and they were without forwards Will Cowie and Danny Morrison who are both abroad. Jamie Gannon took over in goal from Iain MacLeod. Chris Rose and Kenny MacLeod were also missing whilst Iain Nicolson was a late call-off. Youngsters John Gillies and James Pringle were called into the squad and they were joined on the substitutes’ bench by David MacInnes and Ally “Cleodi” MacLeod. Strathglass, who were runners-up in the Dropkick Murphy Sixes last weekend, continue to be managed by David Balharry and he is looking to build on the progress made last season with youngsters such as Jono Price mixed in with the more experienced Darren Reid and Ally MacAdams. There was also a place in the side for Lawrence Jones after a long-term injury and Adam Todd took over from the retired Steve MacLachlan in goal. The teams contested the Annual Murdo MacKenzie Memorial Cup which was won by Newtonmore last year and throw up was at 1pm. There was a minutes silence ahead of throw up to mark the passing of respected journalist and broadcaster Martin MacDonald who wrote the book, “Skye Camanachd – A Century Remembered”. Skye were first to threaten when Chris MacLennan ran in on goal and although his shot beat keeper Adam Todd, it rebounded to safety off the post. The home side took an early lead when Steven Hyslop punished some sloppiness in the Skye defence to put Strathglass 1-0 in front. Skye equalised when Chris MacLennan slipped the ball inside to Jordan Murchison around 15 yards out, and he struck a low backhand shot into the far away corner of the net. There wasn’t a lot of power in the shot but the accuracy beat the keeper. Skye went in front when Kenny Campbell hit a low and hard strike from a tight angle on the right and he also sent the ball into the far corner of the net. It was a nice finish and it gave Skye a 2-1 lead. Skye were now launching wave after wave of attack on the Strathglass goal and Chris MacLennan made it 3-1 with an opportunist finish from inside the D. Shockie MacLennan became the fourth Skye forward to find the back of the net. The goal came from a rebound inside the D which saw the ball flicked up into the air and MacLennan was quick to volley the ball home from close in to make it 4-1. Kenny Campbell added a fifth with what was arguably the goal of the game. Campbell gathered possession from a deep position and he made a driving run forward before sending a 20 yard backhand drive which nestled in to top corner of the net to make it 5-1 and Skye took this advantage into the break There was no respite for Strathglass and Chris MacLennan made 6-1 when he slotted the ball home from inside the D. Chris MacLennan completed his hat-trick to make it 7-1 with another close-range effort after the ball had ball rebounded into his path. Strathglass never gave up and Scott Douglas made it 7-2 when he took advantage of hesitancy in the Skye defence. Skye went back on the attack and Jordan Murchison got his second to make it 8-2. David MacInnes played a corner, deep to the back post and Murchison brought the ball down before striking a powerful drive nicely over keeper Adam Todd’s shoulder. Jordan Murchison then completed his hat-trick to make it 9-2 when he was one-on-one with the keeper and he tapped the ball past the Strathglass custodian and then ran round him and before tapping it into the empty net. A bouncing shot from Allan MacKinnon from around 20 yards out evaded Adam Todd and ended up in the back of the net to add a tenth Skye goal. Strathglass had the final say though when Scott Douglas got his second goal of the afternoon to make the final score 10-3. At the end of the match, Skye Camanachd captain Neil MacVicar was congratulated by Mrs MacKenzie, widow of Murdo MacKenzie on Skye’s Murdo MacKenzie Memorial Cup success. Next up for Skye is a pre-season friendly with Beauly at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree on Saturday 20 February 2016 whilst Strathglass host Caberfeidh on the same day. Skye Camanachd from: Jamie Gannon; Steven Morrison, Ally MacDonald, Ally “Spod” MacLeod, Neil MacVicar (captain); Allan MacKinnon, Gilleasbuig MacDonald, Iain Murray; Jordan Murchison, Kenny Campbell, Chris MacLennan, Shockie MacLennan; subs David MacInnes, John Gillies, Ally “Cleodi” MacLeod, James Pringle Match Referee – Calum Girvan
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