THE first round of the Artemis Macaulay Cup dominated the weekend’s fixture list, with the match of the day taking place at Drumnadrochit, where Glenurquhart eventually defeated Ross-shire side Caberfeidh on penalties after the teams were deadlocked at 4-4 following extra time.
Caberfeidh manager Jodi Gorski has every reason to be disappointed by the defeat because for a large part of the match, particularly in the second half of normal time, his side were on top and creating chances which they were unable to convert.
He also had to watch his international striker Kevin Bartlett fail to convert four attempts at a penalty in the shoot-out after retakes were ordered because goal judge Willie Cameron ruled Glen keeper Stuart Mackintosh to have moved before the ball was struck. Each time, Mackintosh’s saves got better and after his fourth penalty miss Bartlett snapped his caman over his knee in frustration. His team-mates also wilted under pressure and in the end Glenurquhart won 3-0 in the shoot-out with strikes by James MacPherson, Fraser Heath and Conor Golabek.
It was a tame ending to what had been an enthralling afternoon’s shinty in which both sides had clear chances to win within regulation time.
Glenurquhart took a first-half lead somewhat against the run of play after MacPherson fired home from a narrow angle following a Mike Fraser free hit which confused the Caberfeidh defence.
Fraser doubled the Glen’s lead with a fine finish early in the second period before the visitors hit back to even things up with quick goals from Colin MacLennan and Bartlett.
Caberfeidh then began to exert severe pressure on the Glen defence and it eventually paid off after 75 minutes, when Craig Morrison tucked the ball home from close range to make it 3-2 in favour of the visitors. Cabers continued to push forward in search of further goals and in so doing left the door open at the back for Golabek to nick the 86th-minute goal that took the tie into extra time.
Once again Morrison gave Caberfeidh the lead with a nice finish in the first half of extra time, but youngster Oliver Black cleverly set up MacPherson for the final Glenurquhart equaliser of the afternoon.
Then came the shoot-out and victory for a relieved Glenurquhart, who had lost on penalties to Newtonmore in a MacTavish Cup tie a fortnight before.
The other big news of the afternoon was the 2-1 defeat of serial cup winners Newtonmore by Kinlochshiel. The switch of the tie from their home ground at Balmacara to Beauly didn’t look to be doing Shiel any favours, especially when Drew Macdonald put More 1-0 up with a close range strike in the opening minute.
However, Keith Macrae equalised just before the break and a second-half strike from Ali Nixon eventually sealed the tie for Shiel after 54 minutes.
Also in the Macaulay Cup, both Oban sides progressed to the next round with Oban Camanachd defeating Glasgow Mid Argyll 5-1 and Oban Celtic winning 2-1 against Bute.
Both matches had their stories, with Camanachd trailing Glasgow at the break before coming back to score five second-half goals. Meanwhile, Celtic were involved in a tousy tussle which ended with two Bute players being red -arded by referee Des McNulty.
Elsewhere in the competition, Kyles defeated Inveraray 3-0 while Kingussie and Lovat progressed at the expense of Skye and Lochaber respectively.
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