HOLDERS Oban Camanachd won the Scottish Sea Farms Glasgow Celtic Society Cup, defeating arch-rivals Kyles Athletic 2-1 at Taynuilt in the tightest of matches. It went all the way to the last minute of extra-time before a sweet finish from Oban’s top scorer Andrew MacCuish decided the contest.

The victory means that Oban have now won the oldest trophy in the sport – a total of 20 times. The fact that they have also achieved back-to-back wins for the first time since 1994 is also a source of pride to the club, though for manager Stephen Sloss, the fact that his side have beaten Kyles in their last three competitive meetings is of more immediate importance.

“It’s a huge thing for the club to beat Kyles three times on the bounce. They are a side that have had a lot of success and our players have perhaps had a mental block against them in the past.

“The pitch was slippery after the heavy rain but our fitness levels were good and I was pleased that our commitment allowed us to keep going to get the winner before it came to penalties.”

Indeed, Oban’s commitment to the cause was evident right from the outset when they went ahead inside the first minute after Kyles had conceded a free hit near the centre line. The ball was immediately chipped forward by wing-centre Aiden MacIntyre where it eventually fell kindly for Oban captain Daniel Cameron. His neat control and quick strike caught out Kyles keeper John Whyte who managed to block the ball with his foot, only for it to rebound into the path of MacCuish who finished nicely from close range.

Kyles quickly rallied however, and their own midfield, particularly the experienced Paul MacArthur began to pump long balls forward and probe the Camanachd defence. For the most part, the Oban half-backs dealt competently with these attacks before they developed but teenage keeper Cameron Sutherland also had his part to play when he kept out a drive from Ross MacRae after the half-forward had been played in by a crossfield ball from team-mate Roddy MacDonald.

Sutherland was to do even better minutes later when he kept out a penalty conceded after Oban’s teenage defender Daniel Sloss brought down MacDonald in the box. Kyles frontman Thomas Whyte certainly hit the ball cleanly enough but Sutherland’s rapid-reaction save with his caman kept his goal intact.

Play continued to surge from end to end but despite nice interplay from both sides up front, clear chances were hard to identify. Though the first half did conclude with Oban midfielder Scott MacMillan – the eventual man of the match – testing Kyles keeper Whyte with an accurate drive.

Kyles rejigged their line-up after the break, bringing on George Thomson in place of Innes MacDonald. The effect was immediate, with Kyles forcing a corner in the 46th minute. The subsequent high ball over was pulled out of the air by Roddy MacDonald who then neatly slipped it past Sutherland for the equaliser.

Both sides then drove hard for the decider, with Oban perhaps missing the better chances. Though Sutherland also played his part with several good stops from the Kyles forwards.

The deciding goal, however, did not come until the last minute of the extra-time period when Cameron outmanoeuvred Roddy MacDonald and slipped the ball across for MacCuish to finally seal the game with a strike from just outside the D.