Skye Camanachd 4 Oban Camanachd 0 | |
02 October 2023 Skye Camanachd inflicted Oban Camanachd’s heaviest defeat of the season when they won 4-0 in their Mowi Premiership match at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree on Saturday 30 September 2023. Skye’s James Pringle was a late call-off when he failed to shake off a foot injury whilst Neil MacVicar recovered from a heavy cold to start in attack. William MacKinnon lined-up at full centre but he will miss Skye’s final match of the season against Kingussie at the Dell for passing through the disciplinary points threshold. Daniel Cameron, Lewis Cameron, Blair McFarlane, Evan MacLellan, Scott MacMillan and Craig Macmillan were all missing for the Oban side, but Daniel Madej was back and Ross Macmillan returned after his suspension. The whole match was broadcast LIVE on Radio Skye’s “Camanachd LIVE” show. Throw up is at 3pm. The pitch was playable despite the heavy rain during parts of the week, but it did cut up in places as the game went on. There was a minute’s silence ahead of throw up to mark the passing of former Skye Camanachd player and club Vice-President Richard “Ditchie” Stoddart. Skye manager Kenny MacLeod had been critical of his side for their slow start against Kyles the previous week, but the Islanders were a different prospect this time around, attacking from the start with Cammy Sutherland making an early save with his foot from Jordan Murchison and then using both feet to keep out William MacKinnon’s effort before sweeping the ball away for a hit-in. Skye kept pressing and they broke the deadlock on 18 minutes. Jamie Gillies sent a hit-it from the left which Ross MacKinnon played on to Ross Gordon, As the Oban defence tried to clear Gordon’s diagonal ball to the right, Jordon Murchison fired goalwards, and Ross Gordon played it on. The ball deflected off Daniel Sloss’s club and Ross MacKinnon whipped it into the net. The second half was just a couple of minutes old when Ross Gordon won possession from Scott McKillop and spotted an overlapping Neil MacVicar to his right and MacVicar’s glorious strike on the run flew into the top corner of the net to the keeper’s left to make it 2-0. The game threatened to boil over at times and referee Iain Kennedy had his work cut out to keep matters on an even keel. Skye had something to play for, and perhaps that was significant as the afternoon unfolded, as they still required a point to secure their place in the Premiership for next season and they were awarded a penalty when substitute Archie Millar took a high ball down on the right and he cut into the D where he was brought down by Daniel Madej. Ross Gordon sent the spot-hit low by the keeper’s feet and it was 3-1 with 79 minutes played. Then, just a couple of minutes later, Ross MacKinnon got his second goal of the game from outside the D on the right after good lead-up play from Archie Millar and Ross Gordon and he took Gordon’s pass on a forward run before lifting it over the keeper. Full back Scott Mackillop was best on a poor day from Oban Camanachd whilst youngster Alexander MacDonald continues to show his promise. Another youngster, Skye’s Seonaidh-Alex MacLeod, turned in another top display after recently forcing his way into the side. The result confirms that Skye Camanachd will play Mowi Premiership shinty next season. It was confirmed the following day that Oban Camanachd’s Louie McFarlane, who played wing centre in the game, suffered a broken collarbone in the game and will now miss the rest of the season. Speaking straight after the final whistle, Skye boss Kenny MacLeod said: “I sometimes wonder if we are a cup team as we keep our best performances for games when the chips are down, and we have to win. We didn’t want to leave it for other teams to decide our fate and we lit a fire under the players this week and they responded perfectly. “We didn’t speak about winning. The message was not to lose the game because not losing is what we needed to do, and what a performance, everyone was terrific. “Young Seonaidh MacLeod has come into the defence over the last couple of games and I know he’ll have ups and downs along the way, but he looks like a seasoned Premiership player, he was unbelievable.” Oban Camanachd manager Gareth Evans added: “Skye were far hungrier and sharper all over the pitch. Shinty isn’t a difficult game. You have to win your individual battles, but we didn’t win any of our battles today. “We had boys making wrong decisions and half-hearting it and, at this level, you can’t do that. “I said to the boys in the changing rooms that maybe they think they are up there because of what’s happened this season and they think they just have to show up to win games of shinty, but you have to earn it at places like this and we did nothing today so well done Skye who deserved it. “Our boys need to go home and have a look at themselves because if they want to do anything, that is not the attitude to have.” Skye Camanachd from: Murphy Henderson: John Gillies (captain), Seonaidh-Alex MacLeod, Sam Macphee, James Morrison: Ally “Cleodi” MacLeod, William MacKinnon, Jamie Gillies: Ross MacKinnon: Neil MacVicar, Jordan Murchison, Ross Gordon: subs Ross Nicolson, Kenny Cushnie, Archie Millar, Iain MacLellan Oban Camanachd from: Cameron Sutherland: Scott Mckillop, Daniel Sloss (captain), Daniel Madej, Alexander MacDonald: Andy MacDonald, Daniel MacCuish, Louie McFarlane: Daniel MacVicar, Malcolm Clark, Ross Macmillan, Matthew Sloss: subs Scott Robertson, Gregor MacDonald Match Referee – Iain Kennedy
Click on the following link to watch Fiona MacDonald’s coverage of the game. |