Image courtesy of Sinclair Images.

Saturday the 6^th of September saw Winterton Park, Inveraray host the 2025 Caol Cup. Andy Watt remained in charge of the South side who won the tie in 2024, and Peter Ross of Newtonmore took charge of the North.

The game got off to a tense start with both team jostling to put their marker down on the game neither team were really creating clear cut chances. The first shot on target came from Coll Mackay who struck a low drive from 20 yards towards Calum Macmillan’s feet who made a good stop. This seemed to galvanize the South team who continued to create decent opportunities for the next 10 minutes.

It was on 16 minutes the deadlock was broken when Cailean MacLeod did well to escape his marker around 15 yards from goal breaking through a couple challenges from covering defenders to finish off a nice individual goal by tucking the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

From the throw up the South drove on again and this time a cross into the back post from Auryn Kerr found Ewan Donnan in space who made no mistake when firing the ball into the roof of the net giving Macmillan no chance.

The North side bounced back from this and started to create chances of their own with the North centreline marshalled by Seoniadh-Alex Macleod getting a foothold in the game. The pressure paid off when on 33 minutes Matthew Sloss who had been kept quiet up to that point created space for himself and rifled a low effort from 25 yards into the bottom left corner of the goals.

The game went from end to end for the remainder of the half with the best opportunity falling to the South when they strung together a lovely move involving all the forwards which ended with Coll Mackay coming in at the back post from a low pass at the edge of the D. His effort looked destined for the roof of the net but Calum Macmillan pulled off a tremendous save above his head to ensure the scores remained at 2-1 going into the break.

The second half began in the same manner as the first with neither team really creating too many clear opportunities. The clearest of the chances again fell to the South when the ball broke to Mackay who put the ball over the bar from around 15 yards out.

The South’s missed opportunities were punished when on 71 minutes the ball broke centrally to Xander Ross who hit a clean strike from around 15 yards into the roof of the net.

However, the game did not stay on level terms for long as on 73 minutes the South took back their advantage when Cailean MacLeod found the bottom right corner of the net from 18 yards with a strike across the goals giving Macmillan no chance.

The Yoyo style of the game was not finished their however, when on 84 minutes the North pressure after going behind paid off when the ball dropped to Xander Ross at the edge of the D he made no mistake when firing low passed Gordon Currie.

Again, from the throw up the North drove on and this time it was Logan Beaton who drove the ball in from 20 yards across the goals and found the back of the net giving the North the lead in the game for the first time in the match.

The South pushed for an equaliser late on, but the North saw out the remainder of the game well leaving the South ruing their earlier missed chances and pressure.

The game was a good advert for shinty with impressive performances from both sides. Louie Macfarlane was impressive throughout, Auryn Kerr was impressive with his play making in at half forward and Cailean Macleod was causing issues throughout. The north had Seonaidh-Alex Macleod who had a good battle with Marcus Planck and Callum MacMillan who made some excellent saves throughout.