After Match Reaction To Skye Camanachd’s Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup Exit - UPDATED! | |
19 July 2012 There was after-match reaction from Willie MacRae, Shockie MacLennan, James Perlich and Kenny MacDonald following Skye Camanachd’s 5-2 Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup defeat to Kyles Athletic at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree on Saturday 14 July 2012. Skye Camanachd first team manager Willie MacRae was not too despondent in defeat. He said, “There was plenty good, fast shinty out there today and you can see why Kyles are top of the Premiership. They were that yard faster, they were always on the move and their swing was a bit faster. That’s what we have to be aiming for and maybe we should have ploughed up the pitch beforehand as the conditions suited them! It took us a while to get to grip with their forwards but they are just a good team. You only have a chance against these teams if you bring your along your 110% game but we will keep preserving here because we have a team for the future. We put Will Cowie on again and we will introduce him gradually throughout the rest of the season so he is used to the level ahead of next season. He’s one of our best trainers and he links up well with Jordan Murchison.” MacRae had a final word for the crowd at the game, “It was great to have such a big crowd today too and they stayed with us until the end.” Skye Camanachd captain Shockie MacLennan, “We are disappointed although I thought Kyles were immense all over the park. Their defence is a good unit, their midfield is really powerful and their movement up front was incredible. We were a bit nervous at the start but we did well to come back twice. We just lacked the belief that we could come out and do it in the second half and it just didn’t happen for us. Kyles are not at the top of the Premiership for nothing and this is the sort of teams that we want to be playing against every week in the Premiership. Kyles coach James Perlich was delighted to be in that last four of shinty’s top competition. “That was a great game,” he said, “and an especially good first half. We got in front twice but Skye responded straight away each time although we got our noses in front just before half time. The first 20 minutes of the second half was a tousey affair and we felt we just had to keep working hard but we were wary that Skye were good on the break. Skye are a very good team, a good young team and we are just delighted to get to the semi-final. It was disappointing to get knocked out of the Camanachd Cup by Inveraray in the fashion we did last year but the boys are hungry for it this year. We had a slow start at the beginning of the year but we are now starting to pick things up a wee bit and we are starting to play well as a team and the forward line is starting to score goals which we didn’t do at the beginning of the year. We struggled a bit at the start of the season with some players unavailable but we now have them back. We also have some fringe players who have had to up their game and that’s now given us a squad and that is something we have lacked a wee bit. We now have all our players available and we need to keep working hard, avoid injury and avoid suspension.” Veteran Kyles keeper Kenny MacDonald was also pleased. He siad, “It was quite a close game in the first half. I thought and there was quite a strong wind although we seemed to do better against the wind. I think every year we’ve been in the final of the Camanachd Cup, we’ve played Skye along the way so I this might be a lucky omen for us. Technically this is probably the best team that I’ve played with. There are a lot of boys there who have played since school, right through the age groups. It is a very talented squad.” As for himself, MacDonald added, “I’ll keep going. Most weeks I’ve not got a lot to do and that just suits me fine.” |