Memory Lane – Season 1989 / 90 – Part 34 | |
23 December 2010 MacTavish Cup First Round Lovat 2 Skye Camanachd 6 The Skye Camanachd first team had a fantastic season having won the Camanachd Cup and finished runners up in North Division 1 but they also had the MacTavish Cup to contest. Skye Camanachd were drawn away to Lovat in the MacTavish Cup first round. Skye attacked Lovat from the throw up and home keeper Ally MacRae made a good double save from Calum Murchison to prevent the visitors taking an early lead. The remaining 20 minutes were scrappy at best as the Skye midfield struggled to get a grip on the game. Lovat then enjoyed a period of pressure and they forced a series of corners and eventually took the lead midway through the first half thanks to a goal from Garry Reid. Lovat were just 2 minutes away from taking this lead into the half time break before Skye levelled. Willie Cowie and John “Slippy” Finlayson carved open the Lovat defence and Calum Murchison was on hand to slam the ball past MacRae from 15 yards. The 1-1 scoreline at the break probably flattered Skye but the Islanders started the second half in a much more determined fashion. Skye took the lead on 52 minutes with the goal of the match. Calum Murchison collected the ball close to the bye-line and from the tightest of angles; he crashed a glorious back-hand shot into the net for his and Skye’s second goal. Skye full centre Caley MacLean was now starting to control the centre line and he played a long ball forward to Willie Cowie who took one look at goal before cracking the ball into the net to make it 3-1. Lovat brought on Davie Urquhart at full forward and he proved to be a handful for Skye full back Duncan MacDougall. Lovat showed their fighting spirit and it was sub Urquhart who netted after 71 minutes to make it 3-2. Skye manager Ross Cowie reshuffled his pack. He withdrew wing back Ewen MacKinnon and pulled wing centre Ally “Stenscholl” MacDonald back into defence. Andy MacLean came on to take up the wing centre role. The switch seemed to give Skye a lift and they restored their two goal cushion on 75 minutes when Willie Cowie blasted an unstoppable shot into the roof of the Lovat net to make it 4-2. Skye’s superior fitness began to tell in the latter stages of the game and a late brace secured a 6-2 win. First John “Slippy” Finlayson netted on 82 minutes to make it 5-2 and then Willie Cowie completed his hat-trick on 86 minutes when he set a 20 yard rocket shot into the net. Skye will now go on to meet the winners of the replay between Lochaber or Glenurquhart after the sides drew 3-3 in their first round tie. In the other first round matches, Kingussie recorded a post war record win when they beat Newtonmore 9-0 at the Dell. Angus MacIsaac and Kevin Thain bagged hat-tricks for Kingussie. Davie Anderson hit a double and Dave Borthwick got the other. Newtonmore’s cause wasn’t helped when full back Angus MacRae was sent off after 73 minutes. Ron MacLeod scored twice and Alan Reid got the other as Fort William beat Kinlochshiel 3-0. Beauly avenged the previous season’s defeat to Glengarry when they trounced their opponents 8-1 to progress to the next round. Sandy MacKay scored five times whilst Jamie MacLennan, Ian Flynn and Fraser MacRae got the others. After the Skye match, manager Ross Cowie and players Caley MacLean, Willie MacRae and Duncan MacDougall took a helicopter from Kiltarlity to Kyleakin so they could play football for Portree Utd in the MacRae Cup Final against Gairloch which kicked off at 5pm. The helicopter, piloted by Peter Clunas from Black Isle Helicopters, got them to the game in time as Portree Utd attempted to complete a clean sweep of West Highland League trophies – the first time any team would have achieved this feat since the league was formed in 1942. The boys had their stamina tested as the final finished 2-2 after the regulation 90 minutes with Willie Cumming and John Angus Gillie scoring for Portree Utd. Skye Camanachd and Portree Utd manager Ross Cowie was forced to come on in place on Caley MacLean who picked up an injury. Extra time goals from John MacRae and an own goal gave Portree Utd a 4-2 victory. Speaking after the game, Ross Cowie said, “The result justifies the expense we went to, to get some of our best players back in time for the final. It is not something we would want to do every weekend but it was very much worthwhile.” |