Celtic Society Cup draw
Oban Celtic and Oban Camanachd have been paired at the Scottish Sea Farms Glasgow Celtic Society Challenge Cup quarter final stage for the second successive season.
Last week’s draw also means these Oban rivals are scheduled to clash twice in three weeks as they also meet in the Artemis Macaulay Cup first round a fortnight later.
Oban Camanachd manager Gareth Evans said: “Both these ties will spark huge interest in the town. We don’t meet often these days so derbies are good for Oban. There will be a huge crowd at both games, so I hope they go ahead.”
Col Glen and Inveraray also meet again in the first round but this time at Glendaruel. Glasgow Mid Argyll play Bute.
Ardnamurchan, who finished bottom of Mowi South Division 1 last season, have been given a tough draw against record winners Kyles Athletic at Tighnabruaich.
If they win through, big guns Oban Camanachd and Kyles Athletic have been kept apart in the semis with whoever wins the Oban derby facing Col Glen or Inveraray.
Scottish Sea Farms Glasgow Celtic Society Cup – quarter finals
Saturday April 20
Oban Celtic v Oban Camanachd
Kyles Athletic v Ardnamurchan
Col Glen v Inveraray
Glasgow Mid Argyll v Bute
Scottish Sea Farms Glasgow Celtic Society Cup – semi finals Saturday May 18
Oban Celtic/Oban Camanachd v Col Glen/Inveraray
Kyles Athletic/ Ardnamurchan v Glasgow Mid Argyll/Bute
The Scottish Sea Farms Glasgow Celtic Society Cup Final takes place on Saturday June 29.
Last weekend’s matches
Kingussie 2
Oban Camanachd 0
Oban Camanachd travelled to Kincraig on Saturday for a 1pm throw-up against Kingussie.
Oban Camanachd’s Daniel Sloss picked up a rib injury in the win over Kilmallie the previous week so didn’t play, whilst Ross Macmillan, Lewis Cameron and Scott MacMillan were working. Blair McFarlane had rugby commitments, but Matthew Sloss recovered from a hand injury to take his usual place in the forward line whilst Scott McKillop slotted back into defence.
Despite the absentee list, the visitors still travelled with a 17-player squad.
Kingussie were without keeper Rory McGregor who picked up an injury, so George Taylor Ramsay started in goal. Defender Rory MacKeachan was working, whilst Lee Bain and Kieran Macpherson were unavailable.
Dylan Borthwick started in attack, taking the field for the first time since towards the end of the 2022 season.
Kingussie wore their new strips with an emblem on the sleeve remembering their 19-year-old player Calum MacKintosh who died in November 2023.
Oban Camanachd started brightly and Kingussie stand-in keeper George Taylor Ramsay had to clear the ball out of the danger area twice during the first five minutes.
However Kingussie, who had the wind in the first half with Thomas Borthwick dominating the midfield and Alexander Michie assured at buckshee back, took a grip of the game and went 2-0 up through James Falconer and Dylan Borthwick.
Kingussie created other chances, but Cammy Sutherland made some fine stops in the Oban Camanachd goal, whilst Oban Camanachd gave Daniel MacVicar a marking job on Ruaridh Anderson in the second half and it remained 2-0 until the end.
Oban Camanachd manager Gareth Evans said: “We were poor so it was a fair outcome as we didn’t really test their goalie.
“Alexander MacDonald, Cammy Sutherland and young Logan Black can be pleased with their performances, whilst Ross Campbell was good before he had to go off.
“It was a worthwhile day other than Daniel Cameron, Ross Campbell and Daniel MacCuish all picking up injuries and, with Daniel Sloss also out injured, that’s my main concern now.”
Evans also appealed for opposition for this Saturday, adding: “Our final pre-season friendly against Kyles on Saturday won’t go ahead as we are due to meet twice in the league in March. We have Mossfield booked on Saturday and are available to arrange a game, even at short notice.
“We looked at a couple of alternatives but haven’t been able to fix something up yet. We would prefer to get a friendly match organised but if not, ourselves and Lochside will play a mixed match at Mossfield ahead of the new season.”
Kingussie boss Iain Borthwick said: “I thought we played really well and Thomas Borthwick was probably the man of the match at full centre. I thought their keeper Cammy Sutherland also had a great game and it could have been a bigger winning margin but for him.”
Fort William 1
Kyles Athletic 2
Kyles Athletic retained the Drew Ferguson Memorial Trophy, beating Fort William 2-1 in their 1pm throw-up at An Aird.
Kyles, with David Zavaroni dominating at full centre, were 2-0 up at then interval with Ross Macrae and Finan Kennedy scoring.
Struan Stephen, who captained the Fort William second team last season, pulled a goal back in the second half.
Scottish international Scott Macdonald captains Kyles this season and he lifted the trophy.
Kyles Athletic defender Andrew King was named man of the match.
Despite the defeat, Fort William co-manager Alan Knox took plenty positives from the game. “Kyles are a very good, strong team who are going to do well this season,” he said. “We went in 2-0 down at half-time, but re-grouped and won the second half. We rotated a big squad throughout the game. We also tried out some positional changes, giving us plenty to think about ahead of the new season.”
Lovat 0
Skye Camanachd 1
Skye Camanachd scored twice in the final three minutes to beat Glasgow Mid Argyll 3-2 a week earlier and they were on target again late in the game to defeat Lovat 1-0 in their noon throw-up at Balgate.
Manager Jamie Matheson continued to deputise for Stuart MacDonald in the Lovat goal. Craig Mainland was still missing.
Skye travelled without James Pringle, but Kenny Cushnie returned and started at buckshee forward.
Skye had the better of the first half but the experienced Lovat defence, and Jamie Matheson with a couple of good saves in goal, meant the first 45 minutes finished scoreless.
Skye lost Ross MacKinnon around the half-hour mark with a split knuckle with Ross Nicolson coming on in his place.
Lovat introduced Lorne MacKay and Callum Cruden at the interval and they went on to have their best spell in the game, but Skye weathered the storm with new full back Ryan Harrison immense in defence.
Skye suffered a blow five minutes into the second period when full centre John Gillies, who controlled the middle of the park in the first half, was forced off after being struck by the ball on an existing wrist injury. William MacKinnon went to full centre with young Seonaidh-Alex Macleod coming on at buckshee back.
Skye finished the final 20 minutes strongly. Dan MacDonald was scythed down on the edge of the ‘D’ with just the keeper to beat, whilst Jamie Matheson did well to deal with another couple of efforts on target.
With three minutes remaining, Seonaidh-Alex Macleod won possession for Skye and Jamie Gillies then found
William MacKinnon who floated a 25-yard shot into the net to win the game.
Skye manager Willie MacDonald said: “We’re really happy with today. The boys took on board the areas we needed to improve on from the week before and that’s important as was winning without John Gillies on the park for a good chunk of the game.
“Kenny Cushnie was excellent at buckshee forward. He ran flat out and put in a huge effort, causing Lovat continuous problems.”
Robert Wylie Memorial Trophy
Oban Celtic 1 Kilmory 1
Kilmory won 3-1 on penalties
Kilmory won the Robert Wylie Memorial Trophy but only after a penalty shoot-out decided their 2pm throw-up against Oban Celtic at Mossfield on Saturday.
A close 90 minutes finished 1-1. Both the goals came in the first half with Daniel Macmillan scoring for Celtic and Bruce Johnston netting for Kilmory.
Both teams had chances in the second half, but it took penalties to decide it in the end with Kilmory winning the shoot-out 3-1.
Beauly 3
Glenurquhart 2
Euan McCormick’s hat-trick was decisive as Beauly beat Glenurquhart 3-2 in their 1.30pm throw-up at Braeview Park.
Beauly may have been missing Ryan MacKay and Jack MacDonald but they still had enough to claim victory despite Charlie Macleod netting for Glenurquhart and John Barr scrambling the ball over the line for their second.
Col Glen 0
Kilmallie 2
Kilmallie scored a goal in each half to beat Col Glen 2-0 in their 1pm throw-up at Dunoon.
Lewis Birrell put Kilmallie ahead at the break. Col Glen had the chance to level from the penalty spot, but Andrew MacVicar sent his effort wide.
A heavy downpour made for difficult conditions during the final 20 minutes, but Seumas MacFarlane scored for the second successive Saturday near the end to seal Kilmallie’s win.
Oban Celtic 1
Inveraray 3
The Inveraray second team came from a goal down to beat the Oban Celtic second team 3-1 in their 1pm throw-up at Ganavan.
In what was their final pre-season team friendly, the Inveraray colts strengthened their squad when their first team game was postponed.
Celtic took the lead midway through the first half when debutant Ellie MacInnes played a perfect pass through for Alan MacInnes to score, but Ben Cameron levelled to make it 1-1 at the break.
Inveraray substitutes Ewan Donan and Archie Stewart made the difference with Donan putting the visitors in front for the first time on the hour with Stewart’s first-time finish making it 3-1.
Ardnamurchan 2
Newtonmore 9
The Newtonmore second team were too strong for Ardnamurchan, winning 9-2 in their 1pm throw-up at Strontian.
Xander Ross scored four times for Newtonmore with veteran Glen MacKintosh and youngster James Coyle adding doubles. Struan Ross got the other.
The Ardnamurchan goals came from Duncan McLaughlin and a Freddie Patterson penalty.
Kilmallie 0
Skye Camanachd 4
The Kilmallie colts and the Skye Camanachd colts arranged a 1pm throw-up at Canal Parks after both their initial fixtures fell through.
Kilmallie were to play Ballachulish for the Iain Aitchison Memorial Cup but when that game was called off on the Thursday, Skye stepped in to fill the void.
The islanders had been due to face Lewis Camanachd for the John “Kaid” MacLean Cup at Pairc nan Laoch, Portree, but the ferry timetable wasn’t suitable for Lewis to make the trip.
Skye ran out 4-0 winners over Kilmallie with Archie Millar getting a hat-trick and Ally Stewart the other to get manager Murdo Morrison’s second stint in charge off to a winning start.
The Iain Aitchison Memorial Cup will be played for at a later date.
Boleskine 2
Glengarry 4
Glengarry ran out 4-2 winners over Boleskine in their 2pm throw-up at Smith Park.
Callum Muir and Fionn Dempster scored for the hosts, but braces from Nick Dalgety and Stuart Gregory gave Glengarry the win.
Lochaber 3
Bute 2
David Langan grabbed a hat-trick as the Lochaber reserves beat the Bute reserves 3-2 in their 1.30pm throw-up at Spean Bridge.
Rory McDonald and Craig Speirs were on target for Bute.
Kingussie 5
Inverness 0
The Kingussie seconds beat an Inverness side 5-0 in their 11am throw-up at Kincraig.
Michael Slimon grabbed a hat-trick for the young Kingussie team which featured former first team player Fraser Munro at buckshee back. Miko Berowski added a brace.
Strathglass 7
Tayforth 0
Strathglass defeated Tayforth 7-0 to win the Murdo MacKenzie memorial cup at Cannich.
Inveraray P Lochaber P
The 12.30pm throw-up between the Inveraray and Lochaber senior sides at Taynuilt Sports Field was postponed on Saturday morning.
This weekend’s pre-season friendlies
The final round of pre-season friendlies takes place on Saturday February 24.
With the new season just a week away, Fort William and Lovat clash at An Aird.
Lochaber meet Oban Celtic and Beauly take on Kinlochshiel.
Glasgow Mid Argyll play Kingussie whilst Newtonmore take on Skye Camanachd.
The Oban Celtic colts play Tayforth with the match scheduled for Ganavan. The Kingussie and Glasgow Mid Argyll second teams meet at Kincraig whilst the Lochaber seconds play Glengarry.
The Inverness and Kilmallie seconds teams clash as do the Newtonmore second team and Kilmory.
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