Kingussie finally clinched the Mowi Premier League title on Saturday after a 4-1 away victory against Kilmallie at the Canal Park. It gives Kingussie their first Premiership title since 2009 and means that their final match of the season against Kyles Athletic will now be of academic interest only.

Not that manager John Gibson takes any match lightly, least of all one against Kyles, and especially on an occasion when the Camanachd Association will be presenting their trophy.

“What has pleased me is that our away form has been excellent,” Gibson said after the match.

“That’s six in a row we’ve won. We’ve gone to some difficult places and picked up both points – Kilmallie made it very difficult for us in this game and Kyles will take pride in testing us also, so we have to maintain our focus.”

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Indeed, Kilmallie gave their Badenoch visitors an early fright when they took the lead in the 13th minute when Daniel Stewart’s snap shot caught out Kingussie keeper Rory MacGregor who moved to clear it with his stick when he might have been better to use his feet. Kingussie’s young side reacted well and a good run down the left from wing-forward Roddy Young drew Kilmallie full-back Steven Stewart off the “D”. With the route to goal clear, Young played in full forward Savio Genini and he knocked the ball past keeper Shane Gillies to go level.

Kilmallie, however, continued to compete tenaciously, but the Kingussie backline were equally tenacious and Oban failed to threaten MacGregor’s goal in any serious manner. Eventually, just before halftime, Kingussie edged in front following a move which saw a fine shot from half-forward Ruaraidh Anderson saved in the air by the stick of goalkeeper Gillies. The ball remained in play and with Gillies prevented from clearing his lines securely thanks to a timely block by Kings’ Liam Borthwick, Roddy Young was on hand to knock into the net to make it 2-1 .

The second half saw Kingussie begin to exert a stronger grip on the game, particularly when in 64 minutes they went further ahead when Genini got his second strike of the afternoon. The goal followed some effective work on the left by young wing-centre Kieran Macpherson who had his initial shot blocked by Kilmallie full-back Stewart but followed up to play in Genini, who finished well from the edge of the box.

With Kingussie in full control it wasn’t too long before they added a fourth and final goal in 76 minutes when Anderson freed Young on the left and he sprinted through to fire his backhand strike high into the net past Gillies and bring the Premiership title to the Dell after a 10-year wait.

Earlier, Oban Camanachd, who had been harbouring championship-winning ambitions in the event of a Kingussie defeat at Kilmallie, had to abandon these hopes following a 1-0 away loss to Lovat at Kiltarlity. Though it didn’t matter in the end given Kings’ victory, Oban enjoyed a huge amount of possession in the match but were unable to find the net.

Partly that was due to focused Lovat defending – with Craig Mainland in particular outstanding – but mostly it was down to weak Oban finishing, though an early injury to forward Malcolm Clark certainly did not help.

In the end, as was always liable to happen, Lovat lifted both points thanks to a late strike from Ryan Ferguson who fired the ball low past Oban keeper Cammy Sutherland with just three minutes left on the clock.