Inveraray added the 61st MacPhee & Partners Macaulay Cup to the Celtic Society Cup, which they won earlier this season, following an exciting 4-3 win over Kingussie at Mossfield on Saturday 22 August 2009.
This was an impressive display by the South side especially as most of the pre-match facts favoured their North opponents. Kingussie had beaten Inveraray in their previous 5 finals before this 2009 encounter and their talisman Ronald Ross had 11 winners’ medals to his name, having never previously appeared in a losing final.
On the subject of Ross, he had scored 16 goals in 4 finals against Inveraray and had amassed an incredible 28 goals in 10 previous Macaulay Cup finals. He had also scored Kingussie’s last 13 goals, not included the 4 goals he scored in the King’s abandoned Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup semi final against Kyles Athletic last weekend.
However MacPhee & Partners Macaulay Cup holders Inveraray went into the final with confidence as a 75 minute strike from Tom Whyte gave them a 4-3 win over Kingussie at the Dell earlier in the season. An omen indeed!
The players were piped onto the field by the impressive Oban High School Pipe Band and a sunny Oban coupled with a good playing surface - despite the recent weather - awaited both teams.
The opening minutes saw both sides battle for supremacy and Inveraray keeper John MacKenzie was first to be called into serious action when he made a great double save. He first stopped a Ryan Borthwick effort high above his head and he then saved with his foot at his right post from Russell Dallas at the expense of a corner.
Kingussie took the lead when Ronald Ross turned Andrew MacMurdo and bore in on goal but he then appeared to have his legs clipped by the Inveraray full back and he crashed to the ground in the penalty area. The match was covered live by BBC2 Scotland and slow motion replays showed that Ross had actually lost his footing outside the D without any contact from MacMurdo but to be fair to referee Colin MacDonald, it did look like a penalty on first viewing. To Andrew MacMurdo’s credit, he did not make an issue of the decision but he could only stand and watch as Ross smashed the penalty high to MacKenzie’s right to give the Kings the lead.
Inveraray responded in the best possible way and Chris Crawford and Garry MacPherson both came close to levelling the game just minutes later.
However it was Kingussie who struck next on 12 minutes. Ronald Ross took the ball in the air, he turned McMurdo and his low shot was stopped by MacKenzie’s foot but the ball trickled agonisingly over the line.
A midfield spat between Douglas Dando and Russell Dallas after 15 minutes seemed to distract the Kings defence and Garry MacPherson took full advantage as he turned his marker and teed up his shot before blasting the ball into the net to reduce the deficit.
There was no doubt about the class of Ross’ third goal in 22 minutes. Paul Gow fired the ball goalwards but his shot was blocked by MacKenzie with his feet. However the rebound fell to Ross and he lobbed the ball with the most delicate flick over the keeper to complete his hat-trick and give the King’s a 3-1 advantage. It was a goal which was very similar to his Camanachd Cup Final goal in Dunoon a few years back.
Inveraray pressed the Kingussie goal for the last 10 minutes of the first half and Andrew Borthwick, recalled by manager Jimmy Gow following a 2 week holiday, made a great save to his left from a Chris Crawford shot.
The pressure on the Kings goal continued and in the minutes leading up to half time. Ally MacLeod cleared one effort off the line and Borthwick had a great diving save to his right from a Scott Robertson shot.
Minutes later a blistering shot from Robertson was well saved by Borthwick above his head to keep the half time score at 3-1 to the Badenoch men.
A face injury to Ian Borthwick after 47 minutes required several minutes’ treatment. Kingussie were unable to clear their lines from the resultant throw up and the ball broke to Garry MacPherson who beat Borthwick at his near post to reduce the deficit to a single goal.
Only Andrew Borthwick seemed to be standing between Inveraray and the Macaulay Cup and he saved well at his post from a MacPherson shot after 51 minutes.
David Robertson was booked on 59 minutes for clattering Iain Borthwick and the Kingussie defender never seemed to fully recover from this knock. Kingussie used the break in play to bring on James MacLean in place of John Gibson
Kingussie’s Ryan Borthwick saw a shot on the run well saved by MacKenzie in a rare Kingussie break.
In 72 minutes Garry MacPherson and big Scott Robertson linked up well but the latter shot wide
Barry Dallas replaced captain Russell Dallas for Kingussie after 73 mins after David Robertson had accidently stood on the Kingussie forward’s ankle.
Inveraray levelled the game on 78 minutes when Garry MacPherson played in Scott Robertson from the right and he found space, turned and fired the ball high into the net past the unsighted Borthwick to make the score 3-3.
Kingussie had by this time had so little ball up front that they actually pulled Ronald Ross back to buckshee back. However Barry Dallas had a chance to win the game for Kingussie when the ball fell to him from a poor MacMurdo clearance but his shot rose over the bar.
This was to be a defining moment as in injury time, man of the match Garry MacPherson beat Ronald Ross on the Inveraray right and played the ball into the danger area for Grant Griffen to drill a low shot into the Kingussie net to the delight of manager Davie MacPherson and the Inveraray supporters to win the cup for the Winterton men.
Kingussie threw on Rory Fraser at full forward and Graham MacPherson replaced goal hero Grant Griffen for Inveraray.
As referee Colin MacDonald’s final whistle blew, Inveraray captain Chris Crawford stepped forward to accept the trophy and associated silver mounted caman from sponsors Rosemary and Duncan MacPhee from the Fort William based legal and property business, MacPhee and Partners.
Inveraray were deserved winners and the match continued a series of exciting finals screened live on television which can only benefit the sport of shinty.
The pictures are courtesy of John MacTavish and you can view more pictures from the Macaulay Cup Final at www.john-mactavish.co.uk