The Donella Crawford 6’s is a key fixture for school teams in the shinty calendar. Last played in November 2019 it was fantastic to be able to go ahead with this event again this year after missing out in 2020 due to COVID19.

The Donella Crawford 6s’ provides a platform for high school girls to come together and take part in shinty, while remembering Donella, who was a huge advocate of the girl’s game. Ardnamurchan High School, once again, offered to host the event which saw 12 teams sign up.

This year we welcomed 2 new teams to the competition and it was great to see Dunoon Grammar and Inverness Royal Academy there on the day, we hope they will continue to be champions for girls shinty and attended future school festivals.

COVID restrictions and an upsurge of the virus in some schools caused a few teams to cancel their entries in the days leading up to the event but it was still great to see all 12 teams participating. Squads were split into 2 groups, fixtures were handed out and we got underway, only a few minutes late, which wasn’t too bad.

In the group stages each team played each other once allowing for the top 2 school teams from each league to progress to the semi-finals. Culloden Academy and Ardnamurchan A both finished their respective groups unbeaten with Plockton A coming second to Culloden and Kingussie following Ardnamurchan A closely take the last semi-final spot.

The semi-finals were played in unison, 5 minutes each way. The Culloden squad showed their experience and despite an injury to forward Chloe Mutch were able to capitalise on chances in the last third and come away with a 2-0 victory against a fast and furious Kingussie team who battled well. The second semi final saw chances at both ends of the park, it wasn’t until the final two minutes of the game where Ardnamurchan managed to squeeze a goal past the Plockton keeper after a passage of nice play, setting them up with a spot in the final against Culloden.

The final showcased some fantastic shinty played by both teams. It was a tight game throughout with both teams battling hard and showing their skills and finesse on the park. Again it was left late but a well struck goal by Culloden Academy in the final two minutes proved to be the winner.

Donella Crawford’s cousin, Alistair McMillan was on hand to conduct presentations, direct the medals and the trophy to the winning Culloden Captain, Melissa MacKay, congratulations to everyone at Culloden Academy for their victory.

Alistair also took the time to comment, as did many of the coaches, on the rising standard of girl’s shinty and how it was fantastic to see many girls back playing after what has been a challenging 18months.

The Camanachd Association would like to thank Alistair for agreeing to conduct the presentations on the day as well as Herbie, Calum and Rebeka for taking the time out their day to referee the event, Colm O’Rua and Ardnamurchan High School for hosting and the young volunteers who set up and provided a sanitising station for everyone involved in the event. Already looking forward to next year.