Skye Camanachd 10 Lochcarron 4. | |
03 July 2011 Skye Camanachd beat Lochcarron 10-4 in their Marine Harvest North Division 1 derby meeting at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree on Saturday 2 July 2011. Skye manager Aonghas MacDonald made three changes to the squad which lost to Kinlochshiel the previous week. Robbie MacDougall missed out as he was working whilst Allan MacKinnon returned to second team action against Fort William and Iain Morrison picked up an injury playing football. The Skye boss was also without Danny Morrison who was on holiday and both Iain Nicolson and Steven Morrison who were also working. However Shaun Hedley, Willie MacRae and Malcolm Moir were added to the squad and all three started on the bench. John Moir got a start in defence which allowed Kerr Gibb to push into midfield in place of Allan MacKinnon. Darryl Macintosh was included up front in place of Robbie MacDougall. Lochcarron boss Andrew MacKenzie also had problems, especially in defence. He was without several players including defenders Ross Matheson and Ben Dalgety as well as longer-term absentee Angus MacKay. Midfield power-house Mark Slaughter was also unavailable. . Skye Camanachd’s Shockie MacLennan required treatment for a dead leg following an opening minute collision with Crisdean Finlayson. Lochcarron were first to threaten and a Gregor Cushnie shot on 3 minutes was saved with his legs by Michael Nicolson and cleared for a corner on the Lochcarron right. A good Lochcarron move involving a probing ball forward from Mark Sproule to Gregor Cushnie saw the Lochcarron full forward lay the ball off to Kieron Murray but Nicolson saved again at the expense of a corner on the Lochcarron right. Adam Porritt played the corner to Crisdean Finlayson and the Skye back-line hesitated and keeper Nicolson missed a chance to clear which allowed Kieron Murray to capitalise and fire into the net to put Lochcarron 1-0 in front. Skye fought back and good battling from AB Connor on the Skye right on 6 minutes set up a shooting opportunity for Darryl Macintosh but his effort flew over the bar. An Adam Porritt shot from the right fizzed wide of the Skye goal after the youngster had been given time to shoot. Skye leveled on 14 minutes. There seemed little danger when AB Connor collected a ball from midfield on the Skye right. However Connor took the Lochcarron defence by surprise when he shot goalwards. Lochcarron full back Alan MacKenzie let the ball run and keeper Kenny Ross was unable to stop Connor’s effort creeping into the net at his right post. The goal gave Skye confidence and a good move a couple of minutes later saw Iain Murray play a ball forward from midfield to AB Connor who found Darryl Macintosh. He laid the ball off to Somhairle MacDonald and his neat pass gave Kerr Gibb a shooting opportunity but his snap-shot went wide of goal. Skye took the lead for the first time in the game on 25 minutes when Somhairle MacDonald was allowed to dance through the Lochcarron defence and he slipped the ball past Ross to make it 2-1. MacDonald took a blow to the head when scoring and he left the field to have a cut bandaged up by Skye medic Dr Wilson Banks. Shaun Hedley came on in his place. Skye attacked again from the throw up and Alan Palmer was given two attempts to pick his spot but he shot wide. Lochcarron had the ball in the net on 33 minutes but referee Daniel MacRae spotted that Crisdean Finlayson had kicked the ball before he dispatched a rebound off Skye keeper Michael Nicolson into the net after the Skye keeper had saved a Gregor Cushnie shot. Seconds later Somhairle MacDonald back on in place of Shaun Hedley. Skye went 3-1 up after 34 minutes when Allan MacKenzie seemed to be in control of a ball into the D but he was pressured by Darryl Macintosh and the Skye forward got enough sight of the ball to drive it into the net to give the Islanders a two goal advantage. Skye keeper Michael Nicolson was forced to make a great save with an out stretched right leg from a fantastic Kieron Murray shot a minute later. Michael Nicolson then had to palm away a drive from distance from Peter MacKenzie on 37 minutes. Kenny Ross made a good save with his feet from a Shaun Hedley effort on 38 minutes. AB Connor made it 4-1 on 40 minutes. Kerr Gibb played in a corner rom the left and Connor was given two chances to shoot and he smashed the ball into the net and Skye took this lead into the break. Lochcarron manager Andrew MacKenzie reshuffled his pack at the start of the second half. Ian MacKenzie joined the attack with Crisdean Finlayson moving to defence. Calum Finlayson also dropped back into defence with Mark Sproule taking up the full centre berth. David Cameron came on for Adam Porritt. Lochcarron immediately went on the attack at the start of the second half. Gregor Cushnie tried to link up with Mark Sproule and Neil MacVicar took a blow to the face when clearing the danger. However he was able to continue and the match restarted with a throw up. Skye went 5-1 in front on 51 minutes. Lochcarron tried to clear the ball down their right but Darryl Macintosh intercepted near the touchline. With most people expecting a cross into the D, Macintosh unleashed a ferocious drive which flew into the top left corner of Kenny Ross’s net. Macintosh set up Somhairle MacDonald moments later but his effort went just past the post. Macintosh then played a good ball over the top to Alan Palmer on 51 minutes and Kenny Ross was forced to race from his goal to clear. Alan Palmer crashed a tremendous 35 yard shot from the right just wide of the visiting goal on 55 minutes. Lochcarron tried to respond and a good low shot from Kieron Murray brought an equally good save from Michael Nicolson who was continuing his good form in the Skye goal. Shockie MacLennan was replaced by Shaun on 58 minutes. Kerr Gibb dropped back into defence to take over from MacLennan, who was still bothered by his knock in the opening minute, whilst Hedley went to wing centre in place of Gibb. Michael Nicolson saved a Finlay Stark shot with his feet and cleared for a corner on 62 minutes. Iain Murray picked up a Lochcarron clearance on 66 minutes and he played the ball forward to Alan Palmer. He knocked found Somhairle MacDonald and he hit an early 25 yard shot which beat Kenny Ross at his left post to make it 6-1. Lochcarron didn’t let their heads drop though and a Finlay Stark corner on 68 minutes found Gregor Cushnie who managed to turn and rifle the ball into the net to make it 6-2. The goals kept coming and a ball from midfield from Iain Murray on 70 minutes found AB Connor on the penalty spot. Connor had Allan MacKenzie at his back but he managed to make enough space to turn to his right and crash a great shot into the net to complete his hat-trick and put Skye 7-2 in front. Finlay Stark and Mark Sproule combined on 71 minutes but the latter blazed his shot wide of target. Gregor Cushnie came deep to fire a swerving shot just wide of goal on 73 minutes. Lochcarron continued to press and Nicolson saved again from Cushnie a minute later and before clearing the ball for a corner. Iain Murray swept the ball forward to Darryl Macintosh on 74 minutes. He put Alan Palmer through l but Kenny Ross saved a certain goal by springing his stick low to the left to deflect the ball for a corner. Lochcarron returned on the attack and Skye lost a sloppy goal a minute later. Ian Mackenzie found Kieron Murray on the Lochcarron right. He played a one-two with Gregor Cushnie before crossing and it was Cushnie who took advantage of Skye’s reluctance to clear their lines to shoot into the net to make it 7-3 Cushnie was proving a real handful and he again came close a minute later as his drive whistled past the post Skye returned on the attack on 80 minutes and good battling from Darryl Macintosh won possession on the Skye left. He played the ball forward to Somhairle MacDonald who still had plenty to do but some skillful stick play conjured up a shooting chance and he netted to complete his hat-trick and put Skye 8-3 up. Neil MacVicar made a good challenge to deny Cushnie a minute later. He blocked Cushnie’s shot and the Lochcarron forward put the rebound wide. MacVicar took the goal-hit himself and he found Gilleasbuig MacDonald on the right of the Skye midfield. He quickly played the ball forward to Alan Palmer who fed Somhairle MacDonald around 40 yards from goal. MacDonald turned past Calum Finlayson and sent a terrific 40 yard shot which sailed into the back of the net to make it 9-3 for Skye with 82 minutes played. Shaun Hedley was impeded in the middle of the park on 88 minutes. Hedley took the free-hit himself and launched a looping ball which dropped near the penalty spot. Calum Finlayson went to clear but he misjudged the ball in the air and it dropped over his out-stretched caman to where Somhairle MacDonald was standing. With his back to goal, MacDonald turned to put a wonderful forearm shot into the roof of the Lochcarron net for his fifth and Skye’s tenth goal of the afternoon. Gregor Cushnie took a pass from David Cameron a minute later and he battled for possession and gave Michael Nicolson no chance with a powerful drive. This completed the third hat-trick of the afternoon to make it 10-4 for Skye and it proved to be the final goal of this incredible contest. Skye had only scored 11 goals in their 9 league games ahead of this one so this goal burst was as unexpected as it was enjoyable for the Skye support. Lochcarron on the other hand had only conceded 10 goals in their 5 league matches so far which puts the result into context. Skye were well served by Iain Murray, Gilleasbuig MacDonald, scorers AB Connor and Darryl Macintosh and man of the match Somhairle MacDonald. Skye Camanachd from; Michael Nicolson, Neil MacVicar, Andrew Banks, John Moir, Shockie MacLennan, Gilleasbuig MacDonald, Iain Murray, Kerr Gibb, Alan Palmer, Somhairle MacDonald (captain), AB Connor, Darryl Macintosh subs Shaun Hedley, Willie MacRae, Malcolm Moir, Aonghas MacDonald Lochcarron from; Kenny Ross, Alan MacKenzie, Ian MacKenzie, Daniel MacRae, Mark Sproule, Adam Porritt, Calum Finlayson, Aaron Matheson, Finlay Stark, Crisdean Finlayson, Kieron Murray, Gregor Cushnie subs David Cameron, Peter MacKenzie, Douglas MacKenzie Match Referee – Daniel MacRae The match balls are sponsored by Nor-Dan |