Saturday 19th September saw the Tulloch Homes Camanachd Cup Final return to Oban for the first time since 2021. This year’s fixture was once again contested by the two Badenoch giants, holders Newtonmore and Kingussie.

The latter had already won the W M Donald MacTavish Cup against Newtonmore earlier in the season and reached the final having defeated Skye fairly comfortably at Bught Park in the semi-final. Newtonmore sat top of the Mowi Premiership going into the game and had overcome Oban Camanachd on penalties in their semi-final.

Stevie MacLachlan took charge of the final for the first time, just two years after suffering a cardiac arrest during a MacTavish Cup tie, and got proceedings under way by throwing the ball into the air at a blustery Mossfield Park.

It took just four minutes for the crowd to be treated to the opening goal, and it went the way of the holders. Iain Robinson dribbled the ball into the box before cutting it back to Struan Ross, whose strike from the edge of the area flashed across the keeper and into the bottom corner.

It took another twenty minutes for the next meaningful chance. Thomas Borthwick stopped a Newtonmore clearance before letting fly from 30 yards on the left flank. His shot took a cruel deflection that would have bamboozled many keepers, but 56-year-old Kenny Ross was sharp enough to readjust his body and make a great save.

A few minutes later, Kingussie were pushing again. Lee Bain worked the ball inside to Roddy Young, who was well stopped by Steven MacDonald. However, the ball broke to Calum McLay, who took it forward a few paces before cracking an effort from distance and forcing Ross into another great save, this time low at his left-hand post.

The remainder of the first half saw half-chances exchanged, with little for either keeper to do and both sets of forwards being marshalled well by their opposite numbers.

Ten minutes into the second half, Ross was forced into a superb double save as Kingussie looked to apply pressure from a free hit. The first effort came from McLay outside the box before Ruaridh Anderson reacted sharply to the rebound, but Newtonmore survived and diverted the ball behind for a corner.

Anderson tested Ross again from the resulting corner, sending a low drive through a number of players before it was smartly stopped by the feet of the Newtonmore keeper.

Things should have got considerably harder for Ross a few minutes later when Young was adjudged to have been fouled inside the box by Rory Kennedy. However, Savio Genini failed to test Ross from the resulting spot hit.

Twenty minutes from time, Kingussie’s pressure finally paid off. A shy from MacKeachan was pulled out of the air by Anderson, who drifted back towards the taker before letting fly. Ross managed to get a leg to the shot, but it was not enough to prevent the ball settling in the far corner.

Newtonmore then suffered another major blow as the game approached extra-time. An injury sustained in an incidental collision left Ross, arguably the man of the match to that point, unable to continue.

Into extra-time the game went and, just three minutes in, Kingussie took the lead for the first time. A clearance down the line from Zander Michie found Anderson with the freedom of Mossfield Park. He drifted inside before letting fly into the top corner from distance, a strike remarkably similar to the one with which he had won Kingussie the Camanachd Cup in 2024.

Newtonmore tried to work their way back into the game during the second half of extra-time, but against the wind they found chances few and far between and were unable to force penalties.

That meant Kingussie were victorious and, for the second time in three finals, a Ruaridh Anderson wonder strike had settled the contest. The Kingussie captain received the double honour of the Albert Smith Medal, his second after also winning it in 2024, before lifting the Tulloch Homes Camanachd Cup high into the Mossfield air.