Surprise defeat puts Inverness out of cup
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Willie Gilles (Taynuilt) and Callum McLeod (Inverness) challenge for an aerial ball during the Camanachd Cup tie at the Bught.
THE Inverness area lost three representatives from the Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup after Beauly, Inverness and Strathglass dropped out at the first round stage.
For Inverness, it was a case of what might have been after they were surprisingly beaten 4-3 by Taynuilt at the Bught.
On a perfect summer’s day, the city club looked to have found the answer to their lack of goals as their new look forward line appeared to click from the start. But the visitors refused the lie down and pulled away late in the second half as Inverness’ challenge faded.
"That about sums us up," said a rueful James MacDougall, joint manager of Inverness. "We were pretty pleased overall with the performance, but we need to learn how to put teams away.
"It seemed to be that every time we scored, we allowed them back into the match. I don’t want to sound like a bad loser, but I thought each of their goals were a bit soft."
Teenager Conor Golabek, nephew of Caley Thistle stalwart Stuart, gave Inverness a dream start when he hit the opener in the 11th minute and despite the home side creating openings after that, it was the visitors who were celebrating in the 30th minute when Stuart Scott equalised.
There was further disappointment for Inverness in the 38th minute when Michael MacQueen put Taynuilt in front somewhat against the run of play, but a James Cameron double either side of the interval put the hosts back in the driving seat.
Taynuilt refused to panic, however, and took control of the game when Scott completed his hat-trick with goals in the 71st and 75th minutes.
At Kirkton, despite a dominating second half performance, Beauly are also out following their 2-1 loss to Kinlochshiel.
Neil Fraser gave the west coast side the lead in the 20th minute when he converted from a free hit and on the hour mark the Beauly defence were caught out, allowing Keith MacRae to score a simple goal.
Barrie MacDonald crashed home a long drive in the 68th minute, but in the face of strong pressure the ‘Shiel defence held out to deny Beauly a replay.
Strathglass found Mid Argyll too hot to handle as they crashed out, losing 4-0 at Yoker. Doubles from Craig Anderson and Fulton Ross did the damage with the Strath trailing 3-0 at the interval.
Elsewhere, Lochcarron survived the long trip to Lochgilphead to return north with a 2-0 win over Kilmory to show for their efforts, Kieran Murray and Criosdean Finlayson getting the goals.
Skye emphatically lost the battle of the island teams going down 6-1 to Bute in Rothesay, while Lochaber crushed Oban Celtic 8-0 with Ben Delaney hitting a hat-trick.
In the Scottish Hydro Premier Division, league leaders Kyles Athletic continued their unbeaten run with a 3-0 home win over Kilmallie.
Kyles’ finishing was, in the end, too good and goals by Dunky Kerr in 42 minutes followed by second half strikes from Fraser Macdonald and Roddy Macdonald saw the Tighnabruaich side bring their points total to 15, five ahead of Kingussie who now occupy second spot.
Kingussie beat Inveraray 3-2 in a tight match at the Dell. Veteran striker Ronald Ross was on target twice, scoring his first in the opening minute. Neil Campbell then hit two for Inveraray to give the visitors a brief lead, but James Hutchison equalised for Kingussie just before the interval. Ross finally made both points secure with a goal in the 50th minute.
Lovat crafted one of their best ever results in the Premier Division, beating Oban Camanachd 2-1 at Mossfield.
Lovat have raised their game over recent weeks and had to overcome an early setback when Oban took the lead in 26 minutes through Scott Macmillan. But a goal from Fraser Gallagher and a penalty conversion in the 82nd minute by James Macpherson saw both points head north.
In the final match, a solitary goal in the 70th minute from Fraser Mackintosh gave champions Newtonmore a narrow away victory against fourth placed Fort William at An Aird as the Fort stumbled to their second defeat in as many games.
Glenurquhart and Lovat — last year’s finalists — are through to the quarter-finals of the Sir William Sutherland Cup after narrow victories in the derby matches against Glengarry and Beauly respectively. Caberfeidh are out after losing 3-2 at home to Perth-based club Tayforth.
Other winners were Skye, Kingussie, Aberdeen University and Kyles Athletic, while Lochaber were granted a walkover after Strathglass scratched following team-raising difficulties.
