Fort William U17 2 Skye Camanachd U17 4 | |
05 June 2011 The Skye Camanachd U17s are through to the 2011 MacTavish Cup semi finals following their 4-2 win over Fort William U17 at An Aird on Monday 30 May 2011. The match started on what can only be described as a waterlogged surface and despite playing into the wind in the first half, Skye almost opened their account after just 2 minutes when full centre Shaun Hedley set up Andrew Grant and his blistering drive was superbly saved by 14 year old Gary MacKay in the Fort William goal. Mackay was in action soon after when he denied Will Cowie following good work by Mark Mortimer. The opening goal arrived on the quarter hour mark when a corner from Chris MacLennan was only partially cleared by the Fort defence and Jordan Murchison picked up the loose ball before powering home from 15 yards. With 25 minutes gone there seemed little danger when Fort William were awarded a free hit inside their own half but Cameron Grant picked out Jack Fraser who was allowed time and space to drill home from 20 yards to make it 1-1. Skye regained the momentum after this and went 2-1 following a surging run by Magnus Burd which took him past 3 Fort defenders before he set up Will Cowie who finished with relish. As the first half came to a close, Magnus Burd was only inches away from getting his name on the score sheet. With wind advantage in the second half, Skye began to exert their authority and MacKay in the Fort goal had to be quick to deny Will Cowie an early second half goal. Magnus Burd was reveling in the heavy underfoot conditions and he again fired just wide following good work by Jordan Murchison. The conditions were playing a big part in the game with players finding it difficult to keep their feet and connect with the ball. Just 10 minutes into the half, Fort keeper MacKay skewed a by hit and Burd was quickly onto the stray ball before rounding the keeper and slot home and put Skye 3-1 ahead. Despite the loss of half back Ally MacLeod to injury Skye, continued to dominate with Angie MacPherson coming on at wing centre and Mark Mortimer dropping back to MacLeod’s half back position. Skye went 4-1 up after excellent link up play involving the electric Ruairidh Morrison at wing back, Chris MacLennan and Magnus Burd that saw Jordan Murchison finish in style. With the heavy park taking its toll on tired limbs, Skye conceded a late goal to Mark Fraser following a goal mouth scramble. He was set up by Cameron Grant who had been pushed into attack in a bid to get Fort back in the game. With 10 minutes remaining, Ian MacPherson took over from Andrew Grant at wing forward with Steven Murchison replacing Chris MacLennan at wing centre. Despite a second half lasting 45 minutes, there was no further scoring. This was a richly deserved win for Skye who put on a great team showing in atrocious conditions. The whole team deserves great credit but special mention is due to full back Steven MacKinnon, wing back Ruairidh Morrison and full forward Magnus Burd who were stand-out performers. Fort William U17 from; Gary McKay, James Cruickshank, Alex Cameron, Lewis Smith, Cameron Grant, Calum Shepherd, Shaun Hendry, Arran MacPhee, Jack Fraser, Lewis Morrison, Jake McPhee, Mark Fraser subs Bradley Cameron, Joe Tangney, Michael Lawrie, Alex McMillan |