Newtonmore youth boss says his side’s time will come in London Shield
Newtonmore youth coach Glen Mackintosh has said his side’s time will come after missing out on one of the biggest prizes in junior shinty.
Two late goals consigned ‘More’s under-17s to a 4-2 defeat against their Glenurquhart counterparts in the London Shield final at Blairbeg on Saturday.
Mackintosh looked back on the game: “It was a good final, and it was very close.
“Glenurquhart obviously made a good start but it was end-to-end.
“The teams were level until the final 10 minutes, and we ran out of steam a wee bit at the end when we struggled to get the ball up the park.
“Glenurquhart deserved the win through and congratulations to them.
“We included under-14 players such as Brodie Campbell, Jaiden Mccormack and Donald Ross and they were all terrific.
“We lost Rory Gilligan when he was hit on the throat by a swinging club, so Jacob Bain had to go to half back against Alfie Macleod and he played him very well.
“Glen’s Daniel Maclean scored four times so that shows just how well Jacob did to be named man of the match.
“We’ve been trying to get a date for this final organised for many weeks now.
“The date for the final should be set at the start of the season, as it is with other youth finals like the MacTavish Juvenile, and that’s it.
“As it turned out, we were missing players on Saturday including my own son Lewis who is abroad and Archie Bloor.
“That said, we might not have won the London Shield, but we did win the MacTavish Cup earlier this year, and I would have taken that at the start of the season.
“We only lose a couple of players for next year – our captain Alex Shearer and Archie MacKenzie - whilst the likes of Glenurquhart lose six players so, fingers crossed, that sets us up nicely for next season.”
‘More were missing skipper Archie Bloor and defender Lewis Mackintosh.
The Glen had the advantage of the final taking place on their home pitch and Daniel Maclean got them off to a great start when he found the net with a turn and shot from the left of the D in the opening minute of this noon throw up.
James Coyle levelled quickly in just the fourth minute with the goal of the game, stretching high to pull down a Joe Coyle ball from the right before hammering it by keeper Rory Mcwhirr, inside his right post.
The Glen regained the lead though through Daniel Maclean on 22 minutes, finishing from a tight angle on the left after some nice passing so Glenurquhart led 2-1 at the break.
James Coyle cut in from the left to tie the final once more on 53 minutes and it stayed that way until late in the game.
Glenurquhart finished strongly though, and Daniel Maclean made the difference with late efforts on 70 and 79 minutes, taking his tally to four strikes.
Steven MacLachlan was the match referee.
Camanachd Association Youth Director Willie MacDonald presented the trophy to Glen skipper Daniel Maclean afterwards whilst Newtonmore’s Jacob Bain was named man of the match.
Harper Macleod Camanachd Association Cup Final
Kingussie under-12 3 Oban under-12 4
The Kingussie under-12s were edged out 4-3 by the Oban under-12s in the Harper
Macleod Camanachd Association Cup final at Blairbeg on Saturday.
A piper led the teams from the changing rooms onto the pitch before the formal introductions ahead of this 2.15pm throw up.
Kingussie struck first with Somhairle Dawson scoring on just four minutes but Aiden Michie equalised in the ninth minute.
Somhairle Dawson scored for a second time a couple of minutes after to put the young Kings back in front but a double from Ollie Duffy on 14 and 26 minutes had the Oban side 3-2 ahead at the interval.
Izayn MacIntyre added a fourth Oban goal on 31 minutes and although Malki Mainland made it 4-3 on 54 minutes, the Oban youngsters stayed in front to win the trophy for the first time.
