Lovat and Glenurquhart into last four of MacTavish Cup
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LOVAT and Glenurquhart are on course for a repeat of last year’s MacTavish Cup final after they enjoyed victories in the last eight of the competition over Kilmallie and Caberfeidh respectively.
Beauly’s bid for a semi-final place, however, ended in glorious failure when they were edged out 3-0 by Newtonmore with the match close to going into extra-time.
Glenurquhart reached the semi-final stage of the MacTavish Cup for the third year in succession with a gritty 2-0 win over National League side Caberfeidh.
The Castle Leod side, who have been scoring freely in the league this season and had romped to the quarter-finals courtesy of a 5-0 defeat of Lochcarron, found the goals much more difficult to come by against a well drilled Glen defence.
For Glenurquhart supporters, there was the welcome sight of Dave Smart back among the goals after a period of injury.
After an even first half, Smart broke the deadlock with a strike three minutes after the restart and repeated the feat on the hour mark to complete the scoring.
The Glen now face a repeat of their 2012 semi-final against Newtonmore after the Badenoch side overcame a spirited Beauly at the Eilan.
‘More came into their tie against Beauly with several first-team players missing including Norman Campbell and top striker Danny MacRae, as well as Cameron Binnie and Andy MacKintosh.
Beauly, for their part, welcomed back captain Conor Cormack and were good value for a 0-0 half-time scoreline, although they were indebted to teenage goalkeeper Josh Grant and wasteful finishing by the Newtonmore forwards.
The second half followed the same pattern as the first, before Beauly were dealt a blow when defender Scott MacLeod limped off with a leg injury.
With the game still deadlocked going in to the final 20 minutes, ‘More brought on John MacKenzie and he created a goal out of nothing when he lashed home a spectacular volley.
Beauly continued to make a fight of it, however, and twice came close to equalising through David Maclean and Marc MacLachlan, but late goals by Evan Menzies and Jamie Robinson eased the record holders through.
Cup holders Lovat marched into the last four with a confident swagger, beating National League challengers Kilmallie 5-2 at Canal Parks.
After a short fallow spell, Lovat striker Greg Matheson was back amongst the goals with a well taken hat-trick.
He settled early Lovat nerves when converting a penalty in the fourth minute, but Kilmallie stunned the Kiltarlity side with the equaliser from Liam MacDonald in the 13th minute.
Matheson, however, completed his hat-trick with goals in the 16th and 30th minutes to give Lovat a comfortable half-time advantage.
The second half was much closer, but substitute Graeme MacMillan settled the tie with a strike in the 78th minute. Kevin Bartlett maintained his scoring streak six minutes later, before MacDonald converted a penalty two minutes from time to give the home side a well-earned consolation.
Lovat will face Kinlochshiel for a place in the final after the Kirkton side squeezed through, beating Kingussie 3 - 2 with talisman Finlay MacRae notching the winner in the final minute.
Earlier in the match, ‘Shiel had established a two-goal advantage through Macrae with Ally Nixon also scoring just before the break. Kingussie’s second half comeback courtesy of goals from Thomas Borthwick and Fraser Munro proved to be in vain.
The newly-introduced RBS MacTavish Plate produced the shock result of the day when North Division One side Skye eliminated Premiership club Lochaber 3-2 after extra-time in a dramatic match in Portree.
Teenager Will Cowie scored the winner three minutes into the first period of extra-time after Lochaber’s Sean Nicholson looked to have rescued the tie with a 90th minute equaliser.
Strathglass produced their poorest performance of the season as they crashed out after a 7-0 thrashing at home by Fort William.
Strath manager Calum Duff was left seething by his side’s poor performance, which left them trailing 4 - 0 at the interval. Youngster Arran Macphee top scored with four goals for the Fort, who will now play Boleskine for a place in the final.
In the south, Oban Camanachd, Glasgow Mid Argyll, Inveraray and Kyles Athletic won through to the last four of AJG Parcels Celtic Society Cup.
Meanwhile, the battle of the brothers at Bught Park ended all square at 2-2 when Allan MacLeod’s Inverness side denied Glenurquhart, managed by his sibling Iain, both points.
Veteran Dougie Rankin hit both Inverness goals with Daniel MacKintosh and Cairn Urquhart leveling for the red and blacks.
Urquhart was later to be involved in the game’s flashpoint moment when he was carried off after being struck on the face. In the melee that ensued, Inverness’ Mark Sproule and the Glen’s David MacLennan were red carded.
There was an encouraging result for the city club’s reserve side in North Division Three, who shocked league leaders Caberfeidh with a 2-1 win at Castle Leod.
It was winning debut for the new Inverness management team of Kenny Loades and Jason MacLeod, who picked up the reins from Gus Fraser after he stepped down due to family reasons.
