IT was a second Saturday in a row of knockout shinty in the north, with the main tie of the weekend in the cottages.com MacTavish Cup taking place at the Canal Park in Caol, where home side Kilmallie were defeated 5-0 by holders Newtonmore.
It could have been a tricky journey westwards for the Badenoch side given that at the start of March they had lost out 2-0 at home to the same side. In the end the More victory was comprehensive, coming as a relief to their experienced manager PJ MacKintosh: “We opened the season without one or two of our key players but we don’t really begin to play better until the brighter nights come and the boys can get back outside to train on grass.
“We spend all winter inside in the gym but when we get back outside, that’s when our touch on the ball comes back to the fore. Today we played well and we were able to take our chances – which is really what it’s all about at this level.”
To be fair to Kilmallie, they were weakened from the outset by the unavailability of half-forward Michael Rodgers, but home advantage gave them the edge in the opening exchanges when they created some reasonable opportunities. The final shots though, from Calum MacDougall and Liam MacDonald were disappointing.
The same was not true at the other end when More eventually clicked into action and Kilmallie had to thank an alert keeper in Shane Gillies for blocking direct shots from Iain Robinson and Michael Russell. Next, Gillies had to deal with a high, dropping attempt from midfield from wing centre Jamie Robinson before once again having to thwart a snap-shot from More winger Robinson.
The Kilmallie defence were being stretched by the pace of the Newtonmore frontmen – and the long balls fired forward out of the visitors defence by centreman Steven MacDonald had them constantly under pressure.
This eventually told in 18 minutes when a long ball forward was brought down by wing forward Evan Menzies and his sudden turn and low strike beat Gillies to put Newtonmore into a deserved lead.
Kilmallie fought back to mount their own attacks but found defender Rory Kennedy a formidable obstacle at the back and the best they had to show for a good spell of play was a string of corners – though Daniel Stewart should have done better when given a clear opportunity in front of goals.
Newtonmore then doubled their lead with a goal that followed much the same pattern as their opener –only this time the long forward ball was provided from a free hit by wing back Andy Mackintosh. He sought out Robinson and his cross-field ball was knocked home by Menzies. Two further goals from the wing forward followed before the half-time break – each of them more down to slack defending than inventive play.
With that the game was effectively over as a contest and the second half was an anti-climax, though Newtonmore did add one further goal in 54 minutes when the excellent Robinson knocked the ball home from a rebound off Gillies after Glen MacKintosh had struck the initial shot.
In the other cottages.com MacTavish Cup tie, home side Strathglass defeated Inverness 5-1.
Elsewhere, in the Mowi Premiership, Kingussie’s 2-0 home win over Oban Camanachd took them level with Lovat. Savio Genini and Ruaraidh Anderson were the scorers.
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