Ahead of the senior final on 11th June, Beauly and Kinlochshiel took to the Bught to showcase the best of youth shinty in the north.
Both teams came into the game fresh from midweek wins in the Semi-Final with Shiel beating Inverness 5-0 and Beauly winning 5-1 against Fort William. The teams were piped out onto the pitch and assumed their positions before Ally Paterson threw the ball up to start the game. The swollen crowd were boisterous even then and this was a theme throughout the match. Beauly had the strong wind and their backs to start, however, despite some early pressure it was Kinlochshiel who opened the scoring. A shie from Shiel’s Rory Barclay wasn’t cleared by the Beauly backline, the ball finding its way to Seamus Martin, his low strike was well saved by Lennox Stewart but Archie MacRae (scorer in the 2021 senior final) was the fastest on to the rebound and tucked it neatly in at Stewart’s near post.
Beauly, while a little shaken, still had the wind and it didn’t take them long to get into a kind of rhthym and in the 28th minute they found the equaliser. Finlay “Stork” MacLennan found Torrin Cairns who was initially well marshalled by Shiel’s Arron Jack – however, the ball eventually broke to Callum MacIver whose shot off the defender dropped to Scott Cameron who clipped the ball into the net beyond Calum MacMillan.
A minute later Beauly doubled their lead. Logan Morton picked out Torrin Cairns, grandson of the great Sandy MacKay, who slotted a composed finish inside MacMillan’s right hand post.
The remainder of the half came and went without any major incident and although Beauly led 2-1 at half-time Shiel would have the wind in the second half. At the start of the 2nd half Stewart was brought into action quite a few times including an impressive stop and air clearance from a Shiel shie, just as Archie MacRae was lurking for his second of the match. Soon after, Kieran Martin tried from range and Stewart was forced into another solid stop, this time relying on defenders Ewan More and Charlie MacRae to marshall MacRae away from danger. Not long after that Logan Morton hit a ball from the centre into Scott Cameron – his shot from range apeared to take a richochet off either Callum MacIver for Beauly or a Shiel defender and ending up in the back of the net (time for a Camanachd Association dubious goals panel?)
Shiel almost had one back soon after with MacRae’s shot saved by Stewart and appearing at the feet of Kieran Martin 3 yards out however, despite his best efforts the Beauly backline were able to deal with the threat. Shiel continued to dominate the territory but weren’t able to muster too many shots and those they did create were blocked bravely by the Beauly backline. Perhaps growing frustrated, Kieran Martin tried one from distance that brough out a good save from Stewart high towards the top left corner – the ball eventually being cleared. That was the last major chance in the game and so it ended 3-1 to Beauly who retained the cottages.com MacTavish Juvenile Cup. Beauly Captain and Sandy MacKay Medal recipient (MOTM) Finlay “Stork” MacLennan took to the box to receive the trophy from sponsors cottages.com.