The Shinty Round Up – Saturday 17 September 2022 | |
18 September 2022 Kingussie won the Tulloch Homes Camanachd Cup and Skye Camanachd under-14 retained the MacMaster Cup following the shinty action on Saturday 17 September 2022.
Tulloch Homes Camanachd Cup Final Lovat 1 Kingussie 3 Kingussie ended an eight-year wait as they won the 114th Tulloch Homes Camanachd Cup Final, beating Lovat 3-1 in their 2pm throw up at the Dell. With the Artemis Macaulay Cup and cottages.com MacTavish Cup already secured, the Mowi Premiership leaders are homing in on another title but they were focused on the Scottish as a 3,000 strong capacity crowd cornered a Dell pitch which was in pristine condition although a couple pre-match showers of rain left the surface slippery in places. Lovat boss Jamie Matheson welcomed almost all his injured players back with several not having played since the semi-final win over Kyles Athletic. Lorne MacKay was his most recognised absentee but skipper Craig Mainland, Drew Howie, Danny Kelly and Greg Matheson were amongst those to prove their fitness. Kingussie manager John Gibson’s main concern in the lead up to the final was James Falconer who suffered a hairline fracture below the knee after colliding with a metal pole at the side of the pitch in the semi-final win over Oban Camanachd and last year’s top scorer took a place on the bench where he was joined by Calum Grant and Fraser Munro. Savio Genini, who scored twice as a 17-year-old when the Kings last won the trophy in 2014, recovered from an achilies problem. Ryan Borthwick started in defence, Lee Bain in midfield and James Hutchison in attack. Thomas Borthwick and Alexander Michie remained long-term absentees. The teams were led out by their respective Presidents; John MacRitchie from Lovat and Kingussie’s Joe Taylor accompanied by Gillean Clark. There was a minute’s silence ahead of throw up as a mark of respect following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Both teams tried to make an impact as early play raged from end-to-end. Lovat goalie Stuart MacDonald was first to be called into action, saving with his feet to keep out James Hutchison’s low shot from a central position. It was then Kingussie goalie Rory MacGregor’s turn to demonstrate his worth, displaying superb reflexes to parry Greg Matheson’s blistering shot from the edge of the D after Marc MacLachlan had slipped the ball inside from Martin Mainland’s hit-in on the right. The goalkeeping master-class continued as Stuart MacDonald dived to his right to turn away Roddy Young’s shot but goal judge Des McNulty had already flagged for offside. Kingussie took the lead on 27 minutes. Ruaridh Anderson drifted a corner in from the right and Savio Genini, in a central position, turned away from Daniel Grieve to allow the ball to come across his body before beating the keeper low to his left to make it 1-0. Lovat replaced Lewis Tawse with Callum Cruden a couple of minutes later. Cruden went to centre with Graeme MacMillan pushed up front. Rory MacGregor saved with his left foot to keep out Greg Matheson’s shot from the left before clearing the ball up-field as Lovat responded. Kingussie went back on the attack and Roddy Young almost took advantage of some hesitancy in the Lovat defence, but Stuart MacDonald was quickly off his line to clear the ball out of harms way. Roddy Young then cut inside from the right and when the ball broke to Ruaridh Anderson, keeper MacDonald saved under his crossbar but again the goal judge’s flag went up for offside. Kingussie knew they needed a second goal but they had to settle for a 1-0 lead at the interval. Jamie Matheson tore into his team for what he felt was a lacklustre first half performance and they looked a different prospect from the restart. Greg Matheson was first to threaten as he played a one-two with Graeme MacMillan before hitting the side-netting with a shot from the left. Lovat had brought Calum MacAulay on for Marc MacLachlan to freshen up their attack and MacAulay sent a dangerous ball into the goal area which Rory MacGregor palmed away. The keeper ran up the right side as he tried to clear the ball and ended up winded following a Fraser Heath challenge. With the keeper on the ground, and the goal vacant, Lovat could not get a shot on target before the ball eventually went out of play for a Lovat hit-in. Duncan Davidson became the game’s first booking for a catching Cameron Bremner on the foot before being replaced by a returning Lewis Tawse soon after. Rory MacGregor took no chances as he palmed away Callum Cruden’s dipping shot from distance by his left post but Lovat’s persistence paid off as they equalised on 58 minutes. Fraser Heath played in a cross from near the left corner and the ball bounced to Calum MacAulay in space on the right and he took a touch before hitting a swerving shot on his left side and the ball flew over the keeper to make it 1-1. Kingussie immediately replaced Ryan Borthwick with Calum Grant. The Kingussie support claimed for a penalty when Roddy Young and Martin Mainland went shoulder-to-shoulder to the left of the D but neither goal judge Martin MacLean nor referee Deek Cameron were moved. As the rain came down, Louis Munro pepped up the Kingussie midfield as he came on for Lee Bain. James Falconer made his much-anticipated appearance from the bench with a quarter of the final to go and he would go on to more than play his part. He replaced veteran James Hutchison and one of his first interventions saw him booked for a challenge on Martin Mainland who limped off to be replaced by Bailey MacKay. A Ruaridh Anderson shot lacked power with Drew Howie doing just enough to put him off as the final entered an incredible final 10 minutes. With less than 5 minutes remaining, Lovat almost won it. Fraser Heath collected a long ball forward before making space on the right. His shot was sweet but Rory MacGregor turned the ball away just under the bar. Tempers were rising and, just a minute later, Louis Munro, who had been on the receiving end of a bad challenge across his knee, was booked for a high challenge on Lewis Tawse. The final’s pivotal moment came with just a couple of minutes remaining. Roddy Young came inside his own half to win possession from Danny Kelly before going on surging run at the heart of the Lovat defence. Young survived two fouls on him, with referee Cameron playing advantage, before touching the ball inside to James Falconer who sent a match-winning backhand strike low by Stuart MacDonald to the keeper’s right and Kingussie were back in front. Callum Cruden was booked for his part in trying to halt Young’s run. Despite bringing Marc MacLachlan back on for Calum MacAulay, Lovat looked down and out and Kingussie sealed victory a minute into time added on. Savio Genini’s shot from the left bounced before Stuart MacDonald and was saved by the Lovat custodian but Roddy Young race in to lift the rebound into the roof of the net to make it 3-1 and score his 31st goal of the season. After almost 6 minutes stoppage time, Fort William referee Deek Cameron, who re-enforced his reputation as shinty’s top official with a top class performance, blew for time. Cameron took charge of his fourth final, equalling a record set by legendary referee John Henderson, and it is a record you wouldn’t bet against him beating. The coveted Albert Smith medal was presented for the 50th time and a wonderful goalkeeping display earned Rory MacGregor the accolade. The final act saw Savio Genini collect the Camanachd Cup from Tulloch Homes Managing Director Sandy Grant and the celebrations began. Lovat from: Stuart MacDonald: Drew Howie, Daniel Grieve, Danny Kelly, Craig Mainland (captain): Martin Mainland, Graeme MacMillian, Duncan Davidson: Fraser Heath, Lewis Tawse, Greg Matheson, Marc MacLachlan: subs Bailey Mackay, Callum Cruden, Calum MacAulay, Sam Stubbs, Chris Johnston, Kingussie from: Rory McGregor: Robert Mabon, Rory MacKeachan, Ryan Borthwick, Kieran MacPherson: Liam Borthwick, Lee Bain, Cameron Bremner: Ruaridh Anderson, Roddy Young, Savio Genini (captain), James Hutchison: subs: James Falconer, Calum Grant, Louis Munro, Fraser Munro, Dylan Borthwick, George Taylor Ramsay
WCA Round Up There was a mixture of league and cup action over the weekend.
Mowi National Division Inverness 3 Lochaber 4 Lochaber took the points, beating Inverness 4-3 in an exciting game at the Bught Park. Katie McMillan scored twice for the hosts with Isla McNeil getting the other but Leah Maxtone’s hat-trick and Isla Culbertson’s goal gave Lochaber victory.
Mowi North Division 2 Strathspey Camanachd 2 Glenurquhart 11 Glenurquhart were too strong for Strathspey Camanachd, winning 11-2 at Grantown Grammar School. Glen’s Hazel Hunter scored five times with both Grace Montague and Lyndsay Fleming bagging doubles. Sophie Power and Sussanah Edwards got the others. Charlotte Bisset scored both Strathspey goals.
Mowi South Division 2 Dunadd 5 Ardnamurchan 5 Dunadd and Ardnamurchan shared ten goals. Eilidh Cameron scored four times for Dunadd with Rhian McCuig also on target. Four-goal Hannah MacDonald and Mya Carmichael counted for Ard’.
Mowi WCA National Development League Finals The Mowi WCA National Development League Finals took place at the Eilan, Newtonmore on Saturday 17 September 2022. Glenurquhart, Inverness and Kinlochshiel all took part with Inverness running out eventual winners. The results were: Inverness 2 Kinlochshiel 0 Glenurquhart 1 Inverness 1 Kinlochshiel 1 Glenurquhart 0 Glenurquhart’s Rebecca Van Loon was named player of the league.
Skye Retain The MacMaster Skye Camanachd U14 5 Newtonmore U14 1 Earlier in the day, Skye Camanachd under-14 beat Newtonmore under-14 5-1 to retain the MacMaster Cup. This was an entertaining prelude to the Camanachd Cup Final and a good crowd gathered to see the best of youth shinty. Skye went in front through Iain MacInnes whose low shot from wide on the left bounced past the keeper. Ollie Hood levelled with a low shot to keeper Archie Buchan’s right following to make it 1-1 at half-time. Ruairidh MacLeod crashed the ball high into the net to put Skye back in front before Iain Graham added a third from wide on the left. Rylie Anderson turned home a rebound and Oliver Langlands rounded off the scoring from the penalty spot. Skye skipper Iain MacInnes raised the trophy as the Skye celebrations began. Martin MacLean was the match referee. |