Divine Nine for Newtonmore in Mowi London Shield Final
The 2025 Mowi London Shield final between Glenurquhart and Newtonmore took place on 1st November at The Eilan.
Two familiar foes would cross camans again in the Mowi London Shield Final as Glenurquhart and Newtonmore played out a repeat of the MacTavish Juvenile Cup Final earlier that season. The Badenoch side had set the pace all campaign at under-17 level, and it was not long before they took the lead in this fixture, Jacob Bain slipping a ball in field from the right flank allowing the mercurial Joe Coyle all the time in the world to pick his spot in the bottom right corner. A minute later, there was another name on the scoresheet for ‘More as Josh Fraser picked up on a wonderful slip pass from James Coyle, dribbled into the area and flicked it beyond the onrushing keeper. Ten minutes in and Newtonmore asserted their dominance with a third, a long ball from Logan McCormack eventually breaking to Joe Coyle who made no mistake getting his second of the match with a powerful low drive.
On the 15-minute mark, not to be outdone by his brother, James Coyle would add his name to the scoresheet, picking up the ball from Matthew Sloss 25 yards out in a central position and firing a low shot into the back of the net. It was five inside twenty minutes after a well worked free hit from the left flank allowed the Coyle brothers to combine to create a shooting opportunity for Joe, though his strike was well saved by the Glenurquhart keeper Rory McWhirr, there was little the stopper could have done about the rebound which was volleyed home by Fraser from short distance. James Coyle would then make it 6-0 from distance, ending any faint hopes of a revival from the Glen, and, just to stay ahead in the brotherly battles, Joe would strike again before the half came to a close, pushing the ball into the back of the net after capitalising on the rebound from a Fraser strike.
Credit to Glenurquhart, 7-0 down and it’s easy for tempers to flair or heads to drop, but they continued to battle hard and were soon rewarded, a long ball form Daniel Van Loon dropped to a Newtonmore back however, Rowan Brockie put in a strong block and the ball broke free on the right wing, her pass was inside to the better positioned David Fraser who fired a great strike across the keeper and into the bottom corner. Newtonmore’s eighth was probably the goal of the day, a lofted ball into James Coyle at full forward was flicked on first time into the left flank and the path of Joe, his touch took him to the byline before a fantastic cutback found James Coyle who set his sights before drilling the ball into the back of the net. He would then go on to bag his fourth of the afternoon with a strike from a similar distance which deceived the Glen keeper. The final goal of the game went the way of Kaleb Power who hammered home a half-volley after a Glen free hit to make the final score Glenurquhart 2-9 Newtonmore.
That meant that Newtonmore Captain Arran Ford would receive the Mowi London Shield from Camanachd Association Finance Director, Alister MacKinnon. Four goal hero James Coyle was awarded the Douglas MacKintosh Memorial Man of the Match Award. Congratulations to Newtonmore who have proven that they are the best team at U17 level time and time again this campaign, commiserations to Glenurquhart who put up a spirited fight. Many thanks to the officials and volunteers and to Newtonmore for hosting.
