GLENURQUHART were shocked 2-1at home to Kinlochshiel in the Marine Harvest Premier League as they prepare for next weekend’s flight across the Atlantic to represent the shinty fraternity in New York’s Tartan Day Parade.
The Loch Ness-side club were approached by the organisers after their historic MacTavish Cup victory last June but would have certainly hoped to make their American journey on the back of a more positive performance.
With the game switched to Drumnadrochit after Shiel’s home park was ruled unplayable, home advantage should have told in the Glen’s favour but Shiel quickly showed that they had other ideas.
Right from the outset, their midfield had the edge and for the first quarter they kept continuous pressure on the home defence. That Shiel were only able to score once in this period – through a nice finish by winger John MacRae – was mostly due to wasteful finishing by their front men, though superb defending by Glen full-back Lewis MacLennan also played a part. Glenurquhart pulled youngster Connor Golabek back to tighten things up defensively and gradually came back into the game.
Shiel keeper Scott Kennedy had to make two important saves to keep out Neale Reid and David Smart. Fraser Heath then brought the scores level on 38 minutes. Played in by Smart, he ran some distance with the ball before firing it past Kennedy.
A second strike from MacRae just after half-time restored Shiel’s lead. Glenurquhart fought hard for an equaliser but were denied just at the death by an excellent Kennedy save from Glenurquhart full-forward Michael Fraser.
Fraser – in his football career a goalkeeper with Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Motherwell and Ross County – had one further chance to equalise but, under heavy pressure from Shiel defender Paul MacRae, failed to connect cleanly and the ball was scrambled clear.
For Glenurquhart manager Billy MacLean the loss was keenly felt.
“Shiel were worth their win – they were that bit sharper when it mattered,” he said. “It was a very tight game and both sides were guilty of not taking chances.
“That seems to be the story of our season so far – and we certainly need to learn from this and get our focus back.”
Bizarrely, despite the loss, Glenurquhart moved up one place in the table above Lochaber who suffered a late collapse at home, going down 6-2 to Kyles Athletic.
Lochaber held what appeared to be a comfortable 2-1 lead thanks to strikes by Shaun Nicholson and Stuart Callison against a single from Roddy MacDonald.
However, injuries to Barry MacDonald and Neil MacDonald reduced Lochaber’s ability to compete, while the Kyles management rejigged their frontline, bringing on sub Gordon Whyte and moving the influential Grant Irvine up to half-forward.
The tactical shift paid off big-time and a stunned Lochaber backline conceded five goals in the last 20 minutes. Whyte netted a hat-trick, including one from the spot, with the further strikes coming from Irvine and Innes Macdonald.
The result means Kyles head the league table on goal difference from Oban Camanachd, who knocked previous leaders Kingussie off their perch thanks to a comfortable 3-1 win at Mossfield.
Lorne Dickie, Daniel Cameron and Willie Neilson were the Oban scorers while Ryan Borthwick got a late counter for Kings.
Elsewhere, goals from Greg Matheson and Kevin Bartlett saw Lovat defeat bottom-of-the-table Fort William 2-0. Skye managed to hang on at home to defeat Kilmallie 4-3 in the RBS MacTavish Cup.
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