Skye Camanachd 4 Beauly 1 | |
15 August 2012 The Skye Camanachd first team beat Beauly 4-1 in Marine Harvest North Division 1 at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree on Saturday 11 August 2012. Skye manager Willie MacRae named a 17 man squad for the 2pm throw up and he made four changes from the pool which drew with Lochaber last weekend. Captain Shockie MacLennan was injured and Shaun Hedley was suspended. Stewart Grant and David Grant returned to the second team. Jamie MacDonald made a welcome return after a long-term knee injury and Iain Nicolson was back after missing the Lochaber game through work commitments. Danny Morrison returned from holiday and Allan MacLeod stepped up from the second team. Neil John Campbell was also back from injury and U17 forward Angie MacPherson was also added to the squad. Skye remained without longer-term injury absentees Gilleasbuig MacDonald and Iain Morrison. Iain Nicolson started at wing centre whilst there was a first start in the senior side for 15 year old Will Cowie. Beauly’s Marc MacLauchlin was a late call-off and with regular full forward Jamie MacLennan also missing, co-manager Stephen MacLean started at full forward. Beauly made the better start and Skye keeper Jamie Gannon had to save with his feet twice, once from Beauly's U17 forward Calum Morrison, to keep the visitors at bay. However it was Skye who took the lead on 11 minutes with what was their first real attack of the game. Ally MacDonald won possession on the right and his high ball was brilliantly taken down by Jordan Murchison who spun past his man. Murchison’s shot was deflected into the path of Iain Murray who coolly lifted the ball over MacKay Murray’s shoulder to make it 1-0. A long ball from Allan MacKinnon on 28 minutes caught out the Beauly defence and Will Cowie burst forward before shooting just past Murray’s left post. A couple of minutes later, Ally MacDonald stopped the ball going out for a shy and played it down the wing to Iain Murray on the left. Murray crossed the ball into the middle where a Neil Rose block denied Will Cowie. There was a moment of controversy on 38 minutes when Jordan Murchison collected the ball on the edge of the D. Murchison was fouled but beat his marker before going clean through on goal. However referee Robert Morrison had already blown for the foul so play was brought back. Iain Murray’s twice taken free-hit found Will Cowie but his shot went wide. Skye almost increased their advantage a couple of minutes before the break when they were awarded another free-hit for a foul on Jordan Murchison. Will Cowie took the free-hit and found Jordan Murchison in space but his shot rose over the bar. Beauly made the better start to the second period and Jamie Gannon had to look lively to save with his feet to keep out a Barrie MacDonald effort. The second half was only two minutes old when Gannon saved with his feet again; this time from Stephen MacLean. Allan MacKinnon burst out of defence into the Beauly half on 50 minutes before playing the ball to Chris Rose who exchanged passes with Iain Murray but the Beauly defence dealt with the danger. A minute later Will Cowie won the ball from a Skye corner and found Ally MacDonald but MacKay Murray saved with his feet before clearing for a corner. Darryl Macintosh took the resultant corner and Jordan Murchison crashed the ball goalwards but MacKay Murray produced a fantastic save and cleared the ball before the Skye forwards could get on the rebound. Murray was in action again on 54 minutes. Chris Rose won the ball in midfield and strode forward into space but his shot was saved above his head by the Beauly custodian. Jordan Murchison tried to get onto the rebound but was flagged offside. Beauly skipper Barrie MacDonald won the ball on 57 minutes but Gannon was again equal to his effort as he saved with his feet. A couple of minutes later Gannon raced from his line to again deny Barrie MacDonald. Skye extended their lead on 63 minutes with what was to be the goal of the match. Iain Nicolson played in a corner from the left and Will Cowie swept the ball on before Ally MacDonald lost his marker and sent a thundering back-hand drive into the roof of the Beauly net to make it 2-0. Skye manager Willie MacRae immediately made a double substitution with Danny Morrison and Jamie MacDonald replacing Iain Murray and Iain Nicolson. It was a particular boost for the Islanders to have Jamie MacDonald back for the run-in after he missed a large chunk of the season with a knee injury. Beauly pulled a goal back on 65 minutes. Stephen MacLean collected the ball on the left and his bouncing shot beat Jamie Gannon to make it 2-1. Skye restored their two goal advantage on 70 minutes. Jordan Murchison collected a Will Cowie cross from the right and his shot from the edge of the D went into the roof of the net off the keeper’s feet to make it 3-1. Skye went 4-1 up on 85 minutes when the Beauly defence failed to clear a Chris Rose free-hit and Jordan Murchison fired the ball low and hard into the net. Murchison almost completed his hat-trick on 87 minutes when he collected the ball and shot into the side-netting. Iain Nicolson made a great run forward in the closing minutes but he was tripped before he could shoot. Skye’s U17 forward Angie MacPherson came on before the end to make his first team debut. The win takes Skye back to the top of the league. Their best players were Steven Morrison, Neil MacVicar and Chris Rose. Will Cowie made an impressive first start for the senior side and showed himself to be quite at home at this level. Jordan Murchison also deserves a mention for scoring twice on a day when not everything worked out for him. Beauly suffered from the fact that they had not played since the Balliemore Cup Final but they were always a threat and the game could have gone either way for the first hour. Skye Camanachd from; Jamie Gannon, Steven Morrison (captain), Neil MacVicar, Allan MacLeod, Allan MacKinnon, Darryl Macintosh, Chris Rose, Iain Nicolson, Jordan Murchison, Ally MacDonald, Will Cowie, Iain Murray, subs Jamie MacDonald, Danny Morrison, Angie MacPherson, Neil John Campbell, Aonghas MacDonald Beauly from; MacKay Murray, Scott MacLeod, Douglas Bain, Neil Rose, Conor Cormack, Iain Broadhead, David MacLean, Ross Forbes, Barrie MacDonald (captain), Jack MacDonald, Calum Morrison, Stephen MacLean, subs Ryan MacKay, Cameron MacKay, Jordan Keil Match Referee – Robert Morrison The match balls were sponsored by Nor-Dan |