The Shinty Round Up – Saturday 10 March 2012 | |
12 March 2012 After an exciting opening day, the second weekend’s shinty fixtures took place on Saturday 10 March 2012. Orion Group Premiership Kilmallie 1 Lovat 2 Lovat go clear at the top of the Orion Group Premiership following their 2-1 win over Kilmallie at the Canal Parks. After an excellent opening day result and performance against Newtonmore at the Eilan, Lovat were on the road again as they headed for the Canal Parks to play Kilmallie. The home side had Michael Rodger free of suspension. Lovat striker Greg Matheson followed up last week’s hat-trick against Newtonmore with the opening goal in this game after 14 minutes. John Stewart squared the game from the penalty spot 4 minutes from the break. Owen Ferguson put the visitors in front again on 56 minutes and they could have extended their lead when they were awarded penalty after 70 minutes but Greg Matheson proved that he is human after all by putting the spot-hit wide of the target. A couple of minutes later, Kilmallie were awarded their second spot-hit of the game by referee Robert Baxter. However Lovat keeper Stuart MacDonald made a great save from John Stewart’s second penalty attempt. Lovat saw out the remainder of the game to make it four points out of four. Kinlochshiel 1 Fort William 1 The game between Kinlochshiel and Fort William was switched to Balgate as both Kirkton and the Black Park were unplayable. Shiel boss Johnston Gill had Scottish U21 international John MacRae back after missing last week’s game through suspension. Fort William, who announced a new shirts sponsorship deal with the Letterfinlay Lodge this week, were without Gary Innes who swapped a meeting with the Wester Ross side for a musical trip to Italy. ‘Shiel captain Gordie MacDonald put his side ahead with a 14 minute strike – his third goal of the season/ however 16 year old Arran MacPhee, who made his senior debut against Bute last week, earned the Fort a point when he made it 1-1 with a goal 15 minutes from time. ‘Shiel go second in the table. Newtonmore 4 Bute 0 Newtonmore got their bid for a third successive title back on track when they beat Bute 4-0 at the Eilan. The match was to take place on Rothesay but the venue was switched following a midweek pitch inspection. Glen MacKintosh fired ‘More into the lead after 27 minutes. However it took three goals in the final12 minutes to seal the win. David Cheyne netted twice on 78 and 81 minutes and Chris Sellar got the other on the stroke of full time. Kingussie 3 Kyle Athletic 1 Kyles Athletic made their first appearance of the season when they lost 3-1 to Kingussie at the Dell. Kingussie don’t often lose once at the Dell far less on successive weekends so managerRussell Joneswas be looking for a reaction from his players following last weekend’s home defeat to Kinlochshiel.Ronald Rosswas still out for the home side. Donald Irvine was missing for the visitors as are longer term absentees Grant Irvine and Sandy MacVicar. Youngster Cameron Keith was called into the squad. Kings’ captain Craig Dawson made the difference as he scored an 8 minute first half hat-trick. Dawson got the opener on 35 minutes and he added a second 3 minutes later. Dawson completed his hat-trick a couple of minutes from the break. Although Dunkie Kerr replied for Kyles on 59 minutes, Kingussie went on to win their first points of the season. Glenurquhart 0 Inveraray 1 An Andrew MacMurdo strike on the stroke of half time gave Inveraray a 1-0 win over Glenurquhart at Blairbeg. The new Glenurquhart management team of Fraser MacKenzie and Drew McNeil made a winning start to the 2012 shinty season when they beat Kilmallie last weekend but forwards Neale Reid and Ruairidh Cameron were carrying injuries. This was Inveraray’s first outing of the season and they were without talisman Russell MacKinlay. All that separated the sides was Andrew MacMurdo’s goal on the 45 minute mark which gave Inveraray a perfect start to the season.
Marine Harvest North Division 1 Beauly 4 Lochcarron 1 Early league leaders Beauly made it two wins out of two when they beat Lochcarron 4-1 at Braeview Park. Ben Dalgety gave the visitors a first minute lead. Beauly’s Barrie MacDonald opened the season with a bang as he scored twice in the win over Inverness last week and he grabbed another double on 8 and 15 minutes to put Beauly in the lead. David MacLean on the half hour mark and Jamie MacLennan 15 minutes from time sealed the win. Strathglass 2 Inverness 2 There was a derby match at Cannich where Inverness made the short journey to face Strathglass. The home side made their first appearance of the season as they were the odd team out last weekend in the seven team league. Robert Geddes made a scoring appearance for the Strathglass second team last week but he took over for his second stint in charge of the senior team for this one. Inverness played well against Beauly last week, with former Skye Camanachd stalwart Somhairle MacDonald linking up well with ex Fort William player James Cameron in attack. Somhairle MacDonald scored his first goal for the Highland capital side after 16 minutes. However a Laurence Jones strike on the half hour mark made it 1-1. Robbie Stokes put ‘Glass in front 20 minutes from time but Somhairle MacDonald rounded off a fine performance when he grabbed his second a minute later to earn a share of the points. Euan Wotherspoon was a stand-out for Strathglass in the middle of the park whilst Dougie Rankin was excellent in the buckshee back position for Inverness. Lochaber 7 Skye Camanachd 1 Lochaber beat Skye Camanachd 7-1 at Spean Bridge. Click on the link to read the match report in full http://www.skyecamanachd.com/news/lochaber7skyecamanachd1 (more to follow) |