Final Pre-season Friendlies Ahead Of 2010 Shinty Season. | |
25 February 2010 There are several interesting pre-season friendlies on Saturday 27 February 2010 as teams hope to beat the weather and prepare for the start of the shinty season.
Skye Camanachd and Kingussie meet at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree for the 2010 Thomas Ferguson Memorial Cup. Both sides will be at full strength in what should be an entertaining tussle. The Skye players have already been involved in a North Skye v South Skye match for the Ewen Morrison Memorial Cup whilst the Islanders also beat Glasgow Mid Argyll last weekend. Forwards Alan Palmer and Ally MacLennan have looked particularly impressive in these games. Also a dozen Skye players were also involved in the Iomain Cholmcille international between Alba and Eirinn. Kingussie have already beaten Marine Harvest North Division 1 opposition, defeating Beauly 4-3 in a tight game. The King’s Ronald Ross will make his first appearance of 2010.
Fort William – aided by a Garry Innes double - already have a pre-season win against Kilmallie under their belt and they face Marine Harvest North Division 1 opposition again this weekend when they visit Cannich to play Strathglass. The Strath, with Raymond Fraser returning in goal and Garry Reid continuing at the full back berth he occupied at the end of last season, secured an impressive draw with Scottish Hydro Premier Division Glenurquhart to retain the MacDonald Cup.
Beauly gave a good account of themselves against Kingussie a fortnight ago before eventually going down to a late Ryan Borthwick strike in a 7 goal thriller. They saw their pre-season clash with Fort William fall foul of the weather last weekend and now continue their punishing pre-season against Newtonmore at the Eilan. Norman MacArthur’s side will be keen to get off to a good start after coming so agonisingly close to the title last season. The match throws ups up at 2pm ahead of ‘Mores open day which starts at 12.30pm.
There will be an interesting clash at Mossfield where Oban Camanachd host Kilmallie. Oban will be keen to make an impact in this season’s top Division whilst Kilmallie start the season amongst the Marine Harvest North Division 1 title favourites.
Marine Harvest North Division 1 meets Marine Harvest South Division 1 as Kinlochshiel travel south to Jubilee Park to play Ballachulish. This will be the first pre-season match for both sides.
The shinty season proper starts on Saturday 6 March 2010. |