Sunshine on Chief for Oban Celtic

On July 19^th the newly named Chieftain’s Cup, formerly the Single Team Cup, brought together Oban Celtic and Ballachulish to contest its final, two sides who the editor has it on good authority (nudge to a certain Mr MacPhee, Ballachulish) had never met in a senior final before. The final took place at Cannich, the home of Strathglass Shinty Club, perhaps not the most obvious place for the two sides to meet, but it was decided at the start of the season that the competition would honour the Camanachd Association’s first Chieftain, Captain Archibald Macra Chisholm. The organisation, hospitality and effort put in by Strathglass in delivering the final was commended by both teams and indeed Camanachd Association Chieftain and President alike.

Turning our attention to the match, Oban Celtic would arrive at the final as favourites, topping South Division 1 and boasting a 3-0 victory over Ballachulish earlier in the season. Balla on the other hand found themselves comfortably midtable and with one of the most stubborn defences in the division, only bettered by Lochside Rovers. Aly Paterson thew the ball high into the air to start the game with the final taking a familiar pattern, both sides feeling their way into the game and looking to avoid committing too much too soon. The first chance of the game though would fall to Oban Celtic, Innes Jackson picking up on a loose ball out of defence and feeding Scott Dempster on the right of the D, he shifted the ball further wide before cracking one towards the near post, Dougie Rankin called into action with a smart stop with his chest and behind for the corner.  Following that chance Oban Celtic grew more into the game and began putting Ballachulish under a lot of pressure, though the Jubilee Park men put their bodies on the line to stop Rankin having any more serious work to do during that spell.

That pressure would eventually tell though, Kyle MacFarlane playing a ball from the centre into Lennon Campbell on the left, his cross-field ball was missed by the full back and William MacEwan had pulled off his man to the right flank where he had time to take a touch and rifle it into the roof of the net.  On the brink of half-time Celtic would double their lead, 16 dropping a ball right into the centre of the D, MacEwan laying the ball off to MacFarlane who, despite the ball being right under his feet, managed to hit a sweet shot high into the top right-hand corner. Two goals in five minutes and with the half-time whistle going 60 seconds later a tough time for Ballachulish to concede.

Fears that Celtic might run away with it were cemented five minutes after the break, Campbell picking the ball up on the right flank and playing a flat pass across the centre, the Balla defender would have easily cleared the ball was it not for the smart side on block from MacFarlane who then took a couple of touches to create a yard and lasered a shot into the keeper’s bottom lefthand corner for his 27^th of the season.

The Ballachulish men were down but not out and just two minutes later they were rewarded for their match long endeavour, Cian MacPhee hitting a long ball into Patrick MacLean who took it down on his chest, shifted it to the left and got one back for the Jubilee outfit. Innes Jackson restored Oban’s three goal lead eight minutes later after some hard work from Alex Dunnings in the centre of the park released the ball out wide. Jackson running with the ball before lifting it over Rankin in goal.

Ross MacLean got a goal back for Ballachulish in the 85^th minute, but despite both keepers having a few great saves in the embers of the match, it was too little too late for a heroic comeback, so it was Celtic who saw out the match and got their hands on the Chieftain’s Cup, Captain Davy Hill receiving the trophy from John MacKenzie at the final whistle.