Cannich electrician delighted to be named shinty league’s player of the year
PENRI Jones says 2024 has been his best season in shinty after he was named the North Division One player of the year.
The Cannich electrician, who plays for Strathglass, was officially recognised as the top player in the division when he received the accolade at the MOWI Shinty Awards.
The 24-year-old, who is captain of the Cannich club, led his team to title glory, winning the league by six points and winning 16 of their 20 matches.
It is an immediate return to the National Division for Strathglass, who were relegated from the second tier last season.
Jones, who plays at half forward, played a major part in the club’s success, scoring 32 goals.
He said this season is one of the highlights of his shinty career as he claimed individual and team silverware for the first time.
He said: “I was delighted to receive the award. I was surprised as I never considered myself to be in the running for the award as there are a lot of good players in the league.
“I did manage to score a lot of goals, but there were other players who did a lot more running than I did and made a big contribution too.
“I was happy with the number of goals that I scored this season. I have never played in North Division One before as I have always previously played at a higher level.”
It is the first time that I have won a league or a trophy in senior shinty, so I would rank this is as the highest moment in my career so far. Of course we want to play at a higher level, but it is a great high to win the league.”
Jones said the target for Strathglass was always winning promotion back to the National Division at the first time of asking. He said it was a tough campaign but was always confident they could always reach their goal of clinching the title.
He said: “The plan was when we dropped down last season that we wanted to rebuild and give younger guys a chance to play at that level.
“The target was to win the league, but targeting winning the league at the start of the season is different to winning the league at the end of the season.
“We are delighted to have done it and we were all wary of the chance that we might not have won the league this season.
“It was always a target, but we knew it was always going to be tough. It wasn’t straightforward winning the league as there were a lot of good teams and some of the games we played was tough.
“There are some good second teams who play in North Division One, but we did well enough in the end.”
Jones has spent his entire shinty career playing at Strathglass, originally taking the game up as a youngster before making his way through its youth system before cementing his place in the senior team.
He says winning the league title and playing in the National Division means everything to the club and community, where they are looking to progress from this season’s success.
He said: “Winning games has had a positive influence with folk coming to the club to watch matches. There was more people watching us this season than before so it was great to see.
“We have not spoken about next season yet, but between us we have all played in the National Division before.
“We know that we are capable of finishing mid-table next season and that could be a good base for us to move on from.”
