Skye Camanachd U14 won the Camanachd Association run North of Scotland 5-A-Side Tournament at the Dalfaber Sports Centre, Aviemore on Saturday 16 February 2013.
The Skye youngsters and coaches John MacLeod and Davie Pringle set off from Portree High School at 7.30am on Saturday morning as the competition, which featured the top youth sides in the North, started at 12.30pm.
The competition was run by Camanachd Association Highland Development Officer Russell Jones and a series of round-robin league games were played for 5 minutes one way.
The Skye youngsters faced Kingussie in their opening game and went down 3-1 with Ruaraidh MacLeod getting the Islanders; goal.
Skye seemed to take time to settle after their long journey and they also lost their second game; 2-0 against Beauly.
Coaches MacLeod and Pringle changed the team around with Ryan Morrison going in goals and Ruaraidh MacLeod joining Conor Ross up front. John Gillies took over at full back and James Pringle went to centre with John MacInnes and Marcus Ross used to great effect as substitutes.
The switches paid immediate dividends as Skye beat Newtonmore 1-0 thanks to a James Pringle strike.
Goals from Ruaraidh MacLeod, James Pringle and John MacInnes gave Skye a 3-0 win over Fort William in their fourth outing.
Skye had their biggest win of the day when they beat Uist 8-0. James Pringle, Conor Ross and Ryan Morrison each scored doubles and John Gillies and John MacInnes got the others.
There was another big win as Skye beat Lovat 7-0, John Gillies and James Pringle each grabbed doubles with Conor Ross, John MacInnes and Ruaraidh MacLeod also amongst the goals.
Skye finished the league section on a high with a 5-0 win over Lochcarron. Ruaraidh MacLeod scored twice and Conor Ross went one better with a hat-trick.
Following the league section, the semi-finals saw the first placed team play the fourth placed team and the second placed team play the third placed team. There were also play-off games for the teams which finished further down the league table.
All play-off games were to be 4 minutes each way with a 2 minutes golden goal period and penalties if necessary.
League winners Beauly played fourth place Kingussie in the first semi-final. Kingussie led 3-0 and seemed set for the final however Beauly fought back to draw 3-3 before coming out on top 4-3 in the golden goal period.
Skye finished in second place in the league so they faced third place Fort William in the second semi-final. Skye again hit the heights with a 7-1 victory. Conor Ross scored twice; John MacInnes got a hat-trick with Marcus Ross and Ruaraidh MacLeod also scoring.
The final between Skye and Beauly was 5 minutes each way. Beauly took the lead but Conor Ross equalised mid-way through the second half. With a golden goal period looming, Conor Ross got the crucial winning goal a minute from time to win the trophy.
Skye captain Ryan Morrison was presented with the North of Scotland 5-A-Side Trophy by Russell Jones and his delighted team-mates received their medals.
The Skye team scored an impressive 34 goals in eight games. Their top scorer on the day was Conor Ross with 10 goals. The other scorers were Ruaraidh MacLeod - 6, James Pringle - 6, John MacInnes - 6, John Gillies - 3, Ryan Morrison - 2 and Marcus Ross – 1 which meant that all the players scored during the competition.
After the competition, Youth Coach John MacLeod said, “We couldn’t fault the boys, they all were fantastic, especially in final where they kept going right up to the final whistle and they got their reward.”
Skye Camanachd U14 from; Ryan Morrison (captain), John Gillies, James Pringle, Connor Ross, Ruaraidh MacLeod, John MacInnes, Marcus Ross
The Skye success was tinged with sadness though when news came through that Joy Robson had tragically died following an accident at the Snowman Rally earlier in the day. Joy worked as a Classroom Assistant at MacDiarmid Primary School where Skye players John Gillies and Marcus Ross are pupils. Everyone at Skye Camanachd sends their deepest condolences to Joy’s family at this sad time.