Skye leaves Inverness's silverware hopes in tatters
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INVERNESS’ hopes of winning through to the Balliemore Cup final were dashed after losing 3-1 to Skye in Saturday’s semi-final at Lochcarron.
Both sides were close to full strength but Skye started stronger. After a couple of near misses the islanders took the lead with eight minutes on the clock as Jonathon MacLennan fired home from 20 yards.
Skye continued to dominate and in the 33rd minute Kenny Campbell doubled their advantage. Inverness keeper Stuart MacRae was in top form and kept his side in the match with a string of excellent saves.
Inverness found a renewed sense of purpose after the interval and it was Skye’s turn to feel the heat. Former Skye and Ballachulish player Dougie Rankin reduced the leeway midway through the half as Inverness came more and more into the game.
With Inverness pushing hard for the equaliser which would have taken the match into extra time they were caught with a last minute sucker punch as Kenny MacLeod fired home an unstoppable shot to confirm his side’s place in next month’s final at Taynuilt.
Elsewhere it was the quarter-final stage in the Artemis MacAulay Cup and Lovat ended a mini slump in their form with a comfortable 3-0 win to send Fort William crashing out of the competition.
Lovat took control from the start and Fort keeper Paul MacKay was called into action, pulling off a couple of smart saves. But Fort’s resistance was crushed in brutal fashion with Kevin Bartlett hitting three goals in a 17 minute period, his third coming in the 32nd minute to leave no way back for the Fort.
The second half proved to be an anti-climax and with heavy rain falling Lovat played out time while the Fort rarely posed a threat.
Lovat will face Newtonmore in the North Area semi-final after the Badenoch side came out on top in the derby match at Kingussie with a 4-1 win.
The MacAulay is the last piece of cup silverware available to Newtonmore after early exits in the MacTavish and Camanachd Cups and on Saturday they showed their determination to mount a serious challenge, brushing aside the challenge of Kingussie with a strong second half performance.
A James Hutchison own goal was all that separated the teams at the break but ’More took command after the interval with goals from Paul MacArthur and Glen MacKintosh. A Louis Munro counter in the 82nd minute came too late for Kingussie and MacKintosh with his second three minutes from time finally snuffed out their challenge.
Oban Camanachd are also through without having to lift a caman in anger after opponents Glenorchy withdrew their team from the competition, citing team-raising difficulties for a proposed change of venue to An Aird after their Mart pitch had failed a Saturday morning pitch inspection.
In the Orion Premiership time looks to be running out for Lochaber who crashed to their eighth defeat of the season, losing 2-1 at home to Glenurquhart. James MacPherson struck early for the Glen and Billy Urquhart sealed the points with an 81st minute strike before Stuart Callison hit a late consolation for Lochaber.
Inveraray pulled further away from the drop zone following a 1-0 win over Kinlochshiel with David Robertson hitting the winner seven minutes from time.
In the Marine Harvest National Division, Caberfeidh experienced a second half collapse as they went down 6–2 to Kilmallie with Martin Munro hitting a hat-trick for the Canalsiders.
Bute sunk deeper into relegation trouble after losing 3–2 at home to Mid Argyll.
Glenurquhart, Newtonmore and Strathspey are through to the last four of the Strathdearn Cup while Beauly and Kingussie won through to the semis of the plate competition after beating Lochaber and Caberfeidh.
