The Shinty Preview – Saturday 26 March 2011. | |
23 March 2011 The opening rounds of the Co-operative MacTavish Cup and Celtic Society Cup take centre stage on Saturday 26 March 2011. Co-operative MacTavish Cup - First Round There is only one all Scottish Hydro Premier Division clash in the first round of the Co-operative MacTavish Cup and that is the meeting between 2010 runners up Kilmallie and Glenurquhart at the Canal Parks. Kilmallie will be boosted having held the lead against Newtonmore last weekend before going down to 4 goals in the last 20 minutes. Glenurquhart have been finding goals hard to come from in their opening 2 games and they will be looking for a lift from Scotland Head Coach Drew McNeil’s involvement in their set-up. They will hope to have attacker Ruaraidh Cameron back. The winners will be at home to Lochaber in the second round. Skye Camanachd will be put to the test as they head for the Eilan to play Newtonmore. Norman MacArthur’s side had David Cheyne back in their line up and he made a scoring appearance against Kilmallie last weekend. Skye manager Aonghas MacDonald has somewhat of a defensive headache. AB Connor and Martin Bruce are injured whilst Shockie MacLennan is a major doubt. Skye’s most famous day was a win over Newtonmore in the 1990 Camanachd Cup Final but it would likely be the shock of the round if they were able to repeat that victory in this competition. The winners will travel to play whoever qualifies from the tie between Inverness and Beauly in the second round. Beauly are another club who have a short journey to make as they head for the Highland Capital to play Inverness at the Bught Park. Beauly won 7-3 when the sides met at the same venue in the league last season. They also met at Braeview Park in a controversial league match a fortnight ago. Beauly were leading 5-2 with only 11 minutes to go when referee Innes Wood abandoned the match because of the deteriorating weather conditions. Beauly felt the result should stand and they have raised the matter with the Camanachd Association. The winners will host the winners of the clash between Newtonmore and Skye Camanachd. Strathglass welcome Fort William to Cannich and this match throws up at the slightly later time of 3pm. Youngster Ryan Campbell will continue in the Fort William attack. He scored twice against Oban Camanachd last weekend despite reports crediting the goals to Gary Innes and Ewen Campbell. This match throws up at the slightly later time of 3pm. The winners will host Caberfeidh or Lochcarron in round two. Lochcarron make the short journey to Castle Leod to play Caberfeidh. The visitors will have to keep an eye on Cabers forward Kevin Bartlett who netted 4 times last weekend. The prize for the victors is a trip to Strathglass or Fort William. There could be little to separate Lovat and Kinlochshiel at Balgate. The home side will have captain Euan Ferguson back in their line up after he missed the defeat to Kyles Athletic. However they will be without forward Iain Nicolson who also missed the Kyles game. Shiel manager Johnston Gill hopes to add Graham Morrison and Zander Grant to the squad which beat Beauly. Shiel were 3-0 winners when the sides met at the same venue in a pre-season friendly. However neither side were at full strength that day. The winners will be away to Kingussie in the next round. Holders Kingussie and Lochaber have been given a bye into the second round and the 2011 Co-operative MacTavish Cup Final takes place at the Bught Park, Inverness on Saturday 18 June 2011. Glasgow Celtic Society Cup - First Round There are just a couple of first round ties with Ballachulish, Glenorchy, Kilmory, Kyles Athletic, Oban Camanachd and Taynuilt receiving a bye. Holders Inveraray open the defence of their trophy when they meet Bute at the Winterton. Bute have made an emphatic start to life in Marine Harvest South Division 1 but they will be aware that few sides take anything from the Winterton. The winners travel to Jubilee Park to play Ballachulish in the second round. Glasgow Mid Argyll and Oban Celtic meet at Yoker in an all Marine Harvest South Division 1 clash. Mid Argyll will start as favourites as Oban Celtic have made a faltering start to the season. The winners have a home tie against Kyles Athletic in the next round. The Glasgow Celtic Society Cup Final takes place on Saturday 25 June 2011. Scottish Hydro Premier Division Glenorchy and Kyles Athletic meet for the second time this season. Both clubs have taken advantage of their Glasgow Celtic Society Cup byes and have brought forward their league fixture. It’s been a difficult start to the season for Glenorchy and it doesn’t get any easier with this one as they lost 8-0 to Kyles at Tighnabruaich on the opening day of the season with Dunkie Kerr grabbing a hat-trick. Kyles are looking good, especially going forward where playmaker Dunkie Kerr orchestrates an attack which also includes Grant Irvine, Roddy MacDonald and full forward Fraser MacDonald. Kingussie and Oban Camanachd clash at the Dell and this game has a 3pm throw up. Kingussie will still be without Ronald Ross but manager Steve Borthwick hopes to have defender Lee Bain and forward Thomas Borthwick back in his side. Oban have had a win and a loss so far in the league this year. Marine Harvest South Division 1 Newly promoted Aberdour host a young Lochside Rovers side. Aberdour have lost their only game this season whilst Rovers have won both of their matches. Kyles Athletic are also newcomers to the division and they take on Ballachulish at Tighnabruaich. Both sides have a win each from both their games this season. Taynuilt are at home to Kilmory. The sides were only separated by a point last season. Kilmory won 3-0 at their opponents ground in 2010. Marine Harvest North Division 2 League leaders Newtonmore head for Blairbeg to play Glenurquhart. The sides have had contrasting fortunes so far this campaign. ‘More sit top of the table whilst reigning champions Glenurquhart are still to pick up their first point. Kingussie and Skye Camanachd meet in a 12 noon throw up at the Dell. Kingussie boss Norman Dickson will wait to see if the first team still require the services of veteran forward Kevin Thain. Skye manager Davie MacVicar will lose players because of the first team’s injury problems. The Skye players will head for the Eilan after the game to cheer on their first team against Newtonmore. Fort William and Lovat do battle at An Aird. Victor Smith’s Fort William side has a youthful look about if this season. Last year’s North U14 captain Aaron MacPhee, younger brother of the Fort’s Scottish international Niall MacPhee, holds down the wing centre position and wing back Cameron Grant is another youth who looks set for a promising future in the game. Smith is assisted on the touchline by former first team manager David Stafford and Jock Sneddon who has been steeped in the An Aird side’s youth structure for many years. Glengarry will hope to continue their good start to the season when they play Kilmallie at Invergarry. Teenage striker Ewan Brady grabbed a hat-trick for the Invergarry men last weekend and he will likely provide their main goal threat once again. Kilmallie have been playing will without yet picking up any points. Lochaber head for Kirkton to play Kinlochshiel. Both sides have a victory each from their opening games this season. Marine Harvest South Division 2 Ballachulish play Glasgow Mid Argyll at Jubilee Park. The home side are looking for their first points of the season. Bute and Inveraray have a derby meeting at the Meadows. Bute finished bottom of their league last season whilst Inveraray were relegated from Marine Harvest South Division 1. Strachur meet league leaders Col Glen at Home Farm. A Steven Bulloch hat-trick helped the home side to a 7-1 victory in the corresponding fixture last season. Tayforth host Aberdour. Tayforth finished in second place in the league last season, a point above third place Aberdour. Stuart Ferrier grabbed a hat-trick as Tayforth were 5-1 winners when the sides met last term. Marine Harvest North Division 3 League leaders Aberdeen University make the long journey west to play Ardnamurchan. The Students top the table and they have started the season strongly, scoring 22 goals in their opening 3 games. Former Skye Camanachd players top their scoring charts as Kenny MacLeod and Jamie Beaton have scored 8 goals each. Beauly and Caberfeidh meet at Braeview Park. Beauly have also started well and only trail leaders Aberdeen University on goal difference. Conor Cormack and Calum Morrison have each scored in all 3 league outings this season so it will be interesting to see if they can keep their run going. Lochbroom host Boleskine in Ullapool and former Kingussie captain Barrie Dallas is the referee for this one. Both sides have 2 points from their opening 2 games. Lochcarron will hope to continue their good start to the season when they play Inverness at Battery Park. The Lochcarron second string has been boosted by the experienced Gregor Cushnie and he has scored 7 of his side’s 9 goals this season. There is a 12.30pm throw up at Cannich where Strathglass play Lewis Camanachd. Lewis Camanachd will be without full back Daniel Gallagher who has a broken foot. Former Skye Camanachd youth players Alex Latton and Jack Latton feature for Strathglass. This could be a close affair as both sides look for a morale boosting first league win. |