Plucky Glen succumb to cup final defeat
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GLENURQUHART narrowly failed in their bid to wrest the Sutherland Cup from holders Kingussie in a dramatic final at Beauly’s Braeview Park.
Trailing 2-0 at the interval, the Glen faced an uphill battle in the second half playing into a gathering wind and on a strength-sapping pitch made heavy by overnight rain.
But midway through the half, the task became much harder when Glen midfielder Calum Smith lost his cool in a clash with a Kingussie player and left referee Graeme MacMillan little option but to issue a red card.
Despite the loss of such a key player, Glenurquhart battled bravely to the end, but could not find a way through a resolute Kingussie defence for whom centre half back Hamish Anderson was outstanding.
The match had been played against an unfortunate background with the final originally held at Kingussie, Newtonmore winning a sensational match 5-4. It was subsequently discovered, however, that Newtonmore had fielded an ineligible player and were stripped off the trophy.
Glenurquhart, beaten 4-1 by Newtonmore in the semi-final with the same ineligible player in their ranks, were, along with Kingussie, given a second chance.
And in the opening exchanges of Saturday’s match, the Glen started as if they had every intention of grasping that reprieve with both hands as they took the match to Kingussie with a committed display.
A rasping 20-yarder from Drew Maclennan brought a sensational save from Kingussie goalkeeper Russell Menzies and minutes later a Ben Hosie drive whistled narrowly over the crossbar.
The holders looked rattled, but in the seventeenth minute and somewhat against the run of play they forced a penalty, confidently converted by teenage striker Savio Genini.
Kingussie veteran Michael Clark was becoming increasingly influential and three minutes later he rounded off some neat play to smash the ball beyond Cameron MacLennan and put his side two in front.
Kingussie continued to enjoy the bulk of possession at the start of the second half with veteran Greg MacRae beginning to dictate matters form the centreline.
The Glen were looking dangerous on the break, however, but were let down by poor finishing as several chances were wasted by wayward shooting.
Kingussie eventually saw the match out and captain Greg MacRae was presented with the trophy by Camanachd Association President Archie Robertson.
Meanwhile, the North Division One title race petered out in disappointing fashion when Lochaber became champions, picking up two points cheaply after opponents Strathglass defaulted due to team-raising difficulties.
The Cannich side contacted the Camanachd Association to inform them of their predicament on Friday, stating that several of their players were not available due to work commitments.
Elsewhere, Beauly and Skye played out their penultimate league matches with a strike in the 30th minute by Skye’s Danny Morrison all that separated the teams.
THE North dominated the juvenile clashes with the South on Sunday, winning 4-0 in the under-17 match and 9-0 at under-14 level.
