Skye Camanachd U14 5 Fort William U14 2 | |
25 September 2014 Skye Camanachd U14 came from two goals down to beat Fort William U14 5-2 in their Marine Harvest North Division 1 match at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree on Saturday 20 September 2014. Ross Nicolson remained out for Skye with a broken thumb but the remainder of the squad was the same as the pool which lost out to Oban Camanachd U14 in the MacMaster Cup Final the previous weekend. The sides had already met in league action at An Aird when a last minute Ruairidh MacLeod goal earned Skye a 2-2 draw and defeat for either side would effectively end their league title hopes. Skye started brightly in this 1.30pm throw up and Ruaraidh MacLeod shot over the top from 20 yards after 7 minutes A Ruaraidh MacLeod solo run on 10 minutes ended when he was denied by a fine stop from Fort William keeper Jordan Morrison. A couple of minutes later, a low shot from Skye’s Stewart Taylor went wide of target. However Fort William took the lead on 13 minutes when Dean Williamson was quick to react to some hesitancy in the Skye defence and he pushed the ball home from close range to make it 1-0. Worse was to come for Skye on 19 minutes when their defence again failed to clear their lines and Lewis Clark shot home from close to goal. Ruaraidh MacLeod looked Skye’s best bet for a goal as the Islanders tried to get back into the game and he came up trumps on 22 minutes when he scored with a great individual effort to make it 2-1. The goal gave Skye a lift and Ruaraidh MacLeod got his and Skye’s second on 28 minutes with a low shot into the net from 15 yards. A Connor Gilpin shot went narrowly past the post on 31 minutes. With just sixty seconds of the first 35 minutes remaining, Ruaraidh MacLeod was first pounced on a loose ball before flicking the ball home to complete his hat-trick to make it 3-2. Skye Youth Coach John MacLeod was forced into a change at the break with Ross Gordon going off injured and James Morrison came on in his place. Skye continued to press Fort William with slight breeze now behind them. Fort William goalie Jordan Morrison made a great save from a long range effort from Ruaraidh MacLeod on 46 minutes. The Fort goalie was on top form a minute later when he kept out a Stewart Taylor effort. Skye continued to press and they extended their advantage on 48 minutes when a fine Ruaraidh MacLeod finish made it 4-2. Ruaraidh MacLeod completed a great afternoon’s work on 53 minutes when he went on a super solo run before finishing well to make it 5-2 to notch his fifth goal of the afternoon. Murphy Henderson in the Skye goal made a save with his feet on the hour mark. Fort William kept trying to reduce the deficit but they found home defenders John Gillies and Marcus Ross in no mood to give anything away. Skye made further changes as Martin Pringle replaced Anna MacDonald and Mark MacQueen came on for Ryan Macaskill. The win leaves the Islanders in a good position ahead of next weekend’s crucial league meeting with Kingussie U14. Best for Skye were John Gillies and Marcus Ross in defence, the centre line of Connor Gilpin, Emma Gordon and Angus MacDonald were excellent as was five-goal Ruaraidh MacLeod in the forward line. Skye Camanachd U14 from; Murphy Henderson; John Gillies (captain), Ross Gordon, Jamie Gillies, Marcus Ross; Angus MacDonald, Conor Gilpin, Emma Gordon; Anna MacDonald, Ryan Macaskill, Stewart Taylor, Ruaraidh MacLeod; subs, James Morrison, Martin Pringle, Mark MacQueen, Jack Henderson Match Referee – Davie MacVicar The match balls were sponsored by Nor-Dan |