Ahead of the Tulloch Homes Camanachd Cup Final, the stars of tomorrow took to Mossfield Park, Oban, for the 2026 MacMaster Cup Final. This year’s final was contested by Kilmallie and Kingussie. The former had defeated Kyles Athletic in the semi-final, while Kingussie were victorious against Kinlochshiel/Lochcarron at Braeview Park.

Robert Baxter took charge of the final and got the game under way by throwing the ball up for the sides to contest. Both teams started with the intensity and hard running you would expect from such an occasion, but it was Kingussie who took the lead. A smart ball from the wing centre was picked up by Reid Paterson, who drove inside and shrugged off a challenge before letting fly. His shot was well saved by Olly Garrick, but there was nothing he could do about Kayla Gow’s rebound from the right of the goal.

The young star doubled both her tally and her side’s lead three minutes later when she robbed a Kilmallie defender of possession before cracking a shot beyond the keeper.

Kingussie extended their advantage on the half-hour mark after some good battling from Malki Mainland saw the ball break to Joep Mommetz. He lined up a shot from close to the halfway line which sailed into the top corner.

Gow completed her hat-trick early in the second half, receiving the ball from Sloane Gillfillan before scoring from distance. Paterson then helped himself to a brace, turning his marker wonderfully after a great pass from Mainland before adding another superb long-range goal.

Despite the scoreline, Kilmallie never gave up and continued to chase down every ball and contest every 50/50. That endeavour was rewarded a few minutes from the end when a long ball up the park was taken in by Cian McLean and fired home. It came too late to cause any real nerves among the Kingussie players, but was well deserved for the hard work the Canal Park outfit had put into the game.

With that, the scoring was complete. Kingussie’s Archie Shepherd was presented with the MacMaster Cup by David MacMaster, while Kayla Gow received the Player of the Match award following her superbly taken hat-trick.