HORRENDOUS weather conditions in Fort William saw referee Robert Baxter abandon the Tulloch Homes Camanachd Cup final between Newtonmore and Oban Camanachd shortly after the halfway mark.
With underfoot conditions at An Aird rapidly deteriorating and surface water compromising player safety, the decision to stop the contest was inevitable. And given that both sides were tied 0-0 at the point the game was pulled, there was little dissent at the decision from either management. The match will now be replayed this Saturday at the same venue.
Earlier in the day, two important games took place in the Mowi Premiership, with Kingussie defeating Caberfeidh 4-1 at the Dell and Lochaber finally losing their spot at the top division after suffering a 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Kyles Athletic.
For Kingussie, the win sees them now leapfrog Newtonmore into second place in the table. For manager John Gibson, the result proves his young side are keeping their focus in their quest for their first championship since 2009.
“I was concerned that we would be a little rusty after our three-week layoff after the Macaulay Cup final,” he said, “and we certainly showed signs of that in the first half. However, after the break we played some of the best shinty we have done this season.
“The win keeps our league challenge going and while we have some difficult games still to play – especially a visit to Kyles to finish off our season – our opponents, especially Newtonmore, have an equally tricky series of games to get through. We’ll have to maintain our focus right to the end.”
The victory was not always a given for Kingussie and Caberfeidh competed strongly, especially in the early stages where they had a chance to go ahead but failed to finish. Eventually, James Falconer took some pressure off his side in 29 minutes when he fired home a snap shot from broken play that caught out Caber’s goalkeeper Ian McColl to put Kings ahead.
The game remained tight with little between the sides until just before the half-time break, when a ball up the left found the experienced Lee Bain in front of goal. He neatly played in Roddy Young and his finish in 43 minutes saw Kingussie double their advantage at a vital point in the game.
An injury to Kingussie full-centre James Hutchison saw him eventually replaced by Bain who dropped back from the forward line to cover the gap, with defender Liam Borthwick going up front. This rejig eventually paid off though, in the short term, Kingussie conceded to a fine strike from half-forward Craig Morrison, who found space away from defender Robert Mason in 51 minutes and cracked the ball home to make it 2-1.
That was about as good as it got for Caberfeidh however, as the Kingussie frontmen clicked into top gear and Young went on to complete his hat-trick with two second-half goals. The first came in 65 minutes when he drilled home following a Ruaraidh Anderson free-hit, with the second coming five minutes from time after he was played into space by Savio Genini.
At Spean Bridge, Kyles internationalist frontman Roddy MacDonald opened the scoring for the visitors against home side Lochaber with a neat finish from close range in 10 minutes. Then, after a tight spell of play, Kyles eventually clinched the game 3-0 courtesy of two late strikes from Ross MacRae.
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