Beauly 2 Skye Camanachd 4. | |
21 March 2010 Skye Camanachd started their Marine Harvest North Division 1 campaign with an impressive 4-2 win over Beauly at Braeview Park on Saturday 20 March 2010.
Skye Camanachd first team manager Aonghas MacDonald made the trip without several players. Ally MacLennan was unavailable and John Moir, Kenny Campbell, Danny Morrison and Ian Morrison were all injured.
However Shockie MacLennan and Iain Nicolson both recovered from knocks and Allan MacKinnon returned to the side.
Stewart Grant, a London Shield winner in 2009 with the Skye Camanachd U17 side, was called up to the first team whilst Dougie Rankin and Norman MacLeod came out of semi-retirement to help out. Keith MacKenzie was also called up to the squad.
Beauly welcomed new signing Marc McLaughlin into the side for his first appearance of the season.
Skye played with the wind in the first half but it was Beauly who had a couple of chances in the opening stages of the game. David Neilson came close to giving them the lead when he steered the ball past the sprawling Jamie Gannon but Skye captain Steven Morrison cleared the ball off the line. Beauly claimed the ball had crossed the line but referee Donald MacRae was unimpressed.
Skye took the lead on 16 minutes when good movement from the Islanders forward line gave Somhairle MacDonald the chance to crack the ball, low into the net.
Just a minute later it was 2-0 to the visitors as MacDonald lost his marker to score his second with a tidy low strike.
The Skye forward line of Somhairle MacDonald, Allan MacKinnon, Alan Palmer, and Iain Nicolson were playing some lovely shinty and they completed a devastating 11 minute spell when Allan MacKinnon made it 3-0. A deep, low corner from Shockie MacLennan flashed across the Beauly goal and MacKinnon controlled the ball expertly before pushing it over the line.
Beauly full forward David Neilson pulled a goal back a couple of minutes later to reduce Skye’s half time advantage.
Beauly remained a constant threat and Skye keeper Jamie Gannon made several fine stops to maintain his side’s 2 goal lead.
On 67 minutes, Somhairle MacDonald got on the end of a Shockie MacLennan shy to thump the ball low into the net at the keeper’s left hand post to make it 4-1.
Skye took off forward Alan Palmer, who was unlucky not to get on the score sheet, as he was feeling the effects of a tight hamstring. Palmer was replaced by 17 year old Stewart Grant who came on to make his debut for the senior side.
Sean Stewart pulled a goal back for the home side 11 minutes from the end but Skye held on to take the points.
Probably the main difference between the sides was the good play from the Skye forwards during an 11 minute display in the first half when they took their chances with some aplomb.
Skye will hope their injury worries ease before next week’s league trip to Castle Leod to play Caberfeidh. However they will be without the effective Kerr Gibb who is unavailable.
Skye Camanachd from; Jamie Gannon, Steven Morrison (captain), AB Connor, Jamie MacDonald, Allan MacLeod, Shockie MacLennan, Gilleasbuig MacDonald, Kerr Gibb, Somhairle MacDonald, Allan MacKinnon, Alan Palmer, (Stewart Grant), Iain Nicolson, subs Norman MacLeod, Keith MacKenzie, Aonghas MacDonald not used
Match Referee – Donald MacRae |