North 14s v South 14s
The U14 Fraser Macphee Memorial cup was once again won by the North by 10 goals to 1, but the game was closely contested in large parts despite the convincing score.
Both teams took to the field on what was a great day in Fort William. The North managed by Glyn Evans and Euan Ferguson, and the South being managed by Colin Anderson. The first 10 minutes were quiet as both sets of players worked their way into the game, with little chances being created.
That all changed when North wing-forward Rocco MacMillan broke the deadlock with a fine finish on the 13th minute. This filled the North players with confidence, firing a second in quick succession thanks to the impressive Freddie Morrison on the 15th minute to give the north a firm grip on the game.
This continued throughout the end of the first half, with north doubling their advantage with two well worked goals from Innes MacDonald on the 23rd minute and Rocco MacMillan grabbing his second on the 26th. The South were trying their best to get something to shout about, and they did just that. Blair McCullough created space for himself and fired a shot past the North keeper to get the South up and running, halftime North 4 South 1.
The second half was all about two players, Joep Mommertz and David Fraser both grabbing second half hattricks for the North. Mommertz fired a 10-minute treble, having just come on for the second half. David Fraser also fired home his hattrick in just over 20 minutes, Fraser who was dangerous throughout the first half found his goal scoring groove bagging on the 46th, 63rd and 68th minute to ultimately give the North a convincing win, Full-time North 10 South 1.
Rosemary MacPhee presented the Trophy to winning captain Fergus Gilligan.
North U17s v South U17s
The 2026 Under-17 Representative Game was highly anticipated. The standard of the players in the age group is terrific, with a lot of the players already consistent names on the team sheets for the first teams at their respective clubs – many of them playing and excelling at the highest level every week.
The North team was managed by Jamie Matheson and Daniel Grieve from Lovat Shinty Club, while Stewart Stirling and John MacIntyre from Bute managed the South. There was a huge amount of quality across the park – players eager to show off what they could do, and in end, the game was mainly a battle between the North forwards and the South defence.
It was a beautiful day in Fort William and Referee Deek Cameron got the game underway and the North were immediately on the attack but ultimately, they weren’t able to break down the defence. The South moved the ball around well when they had it – playing the simple and effective shinty whereas the North were guilty of overplaying it upfront. They had a lot of shots, but not many were on target and then when they were, they were well dealt with by South goalkeeper Alastair MacGillivray with some outstanding saves. In fact the first goal on 17 minutes came following one such brilliant save, the deflection of which was then won back by good work by Ali Taylor out on the right wing before he cut it back from the bye line to around the left side of the penalty area where players queued up to strike it and it fell to Jay MacRae’s feet, and he made no mistake burying it in the net. The rest of the first half was a similar story, lots of north pressure with good hard defending from the south and some goalkeeping heroics. Occasional forays into the north half by the South forwards were fast and effective but closed down and switched back up the park. At half time the score remained 1-0.
After half time the North came out sharper and more effective. The second goal in the 55th minute came from a speculative ball from the South that resulted in a footrace between full forward and goalkeeper that Rory MacIver in the North goal won and cleared up the park well to wing centre where Lachlann MacLeod moved it on well with a tidy touch and turn up to Ali Taylor on the wing who crossed it quickly into Jacob Bain whose mishit strike on the soft ground around the penalty spot landed kindly for Jay MacRae again who struck the ball beautifully across the goal right to left giving the goalkeeper no chance at all. The third goal on 59 minutes came from another simple high ball into the danger area from Lachlann, won by Toby Thain who had come on at half time and used his strength well to win the ball and then run it into the box eventually flicking it passed the keeper. The fourth was a ball well won in the midfield by Logan Mccormack and send long down the left wing, found by a wandering Jay MacRae again who took it well on first time and forced a good save by Alastair who then cleared the ball out of his box under pressure but only to Jay again, who this time took it on his back had from distance and found the back of the net in the 59th minute.
In the 63rd minute, following a couple of fouls (a push on the back and a challenge for the ball above the head beyond 10 and 2) and resulting free hits the South won a corner on the right-hand side. The corner taken long and high to the opposite wing was not dealt with by the North defence and Robert Walker Jnr got his swing away to see the ball looping over the Keeper and high into the net. After this the South had more pressure on the North goal forcing another corner but this time it was much more decisively defended and quickly the north had switch to attack, the ball up near the right corner flag where Jay found it and crossed it in before Jacob Bain won it and struck it well into the middle of the net from just outside the box in the 65th minute.
Following this in the 68th minute Jay scored with a low daisy cutter shot straight down the neck, that again gave Alastair in goals no chance, that was created by some good running from reintroduced Louie MacLellan and good interlinking play from the forwards. The north continued to threaten with some speculative efforts and in the in the 75th minute after a good cross from Jacob Bain, Louie MacLellan controlled the ball with his feet and then got his swing away decisively scoring the north’s 7th and final goal of the day.
Overall, the North deserved their win and were just too strong for the South. However, the southerners never gave up and showed real quality and played well for each other. Captain Iain Graham of Skye lifted the trophy.
