The MacBean Cup for S1/2 secondary school pupils took place on Wednesday 26^th April in the Badenoch Area across 3 pitches, Kingussie High School, The Market Stance and the Eilan, Newtonmore. A brilliant response saw 11 schools entering from across Scotland.

The schools were split into two groups for the first round of the competition with the top two teams from each group then progressing through to the semi-finals.

In group one, where the games took place at the Eilan, Glasgow Gaelic School cruised through the group stages, not conceding a goal, playing some excellent shinty on the way. They were joined by Oban High School whos only loss was to the Gaelic School.

In group two it was Kingussie who strode to victory over the 5 other teams in the group, scoring 6 in each game and only conceding one. It was tight for second place with all other 5 teams finishing on the same points. A quick goal difference count meant Dingwall Academy joined them in the semi final stage.

Glasgow Gaelic school then went on to play Dingwall in the first of the semi finals in what was a very close and competitive game with some entertaining shinty being played by both schools. The game was looking like it was heading to extra time with no goals scored, but with pretty much the last hit of the game the Glasgow side managed to find an inch of space in the Dingwall defence and slot a powerful strike into the bottom corner to take them through to the final.

In the second semi-final Kingussie, who had been outstanding all day didn’t let their form slip at all.  The impressive Oban High School defence managed to hold off the Kingussie attack for the first five minutes before Kingussie’s first goal came. Kingussie kept the pressure on and despite some valiant defending by OHS the Kingussie forward line was just too strong, scoring another few goals and progressing to play Glasgow Gaelic School in the final.

The final was an exciting game with Kingussie and Glasgow not having played each other in the group both teams were stepping into unknown territory. Glasgow Gaelic school showed some impressive defending and resilience but Kingussie began to take hold of the game and do what they had been doing the entire day. Some exceptional link up play saw their forward line score some goals that senior teams would be delighted with and they ran out comfortable winners in the end.

Congratulations to Kingussie High School who got to take the MacBean Cup back to their school for 2023, and commiserations too Glasgow Gaelic School who gave a fantastic account of themselves and should be very proud of their runners up medals.

Thanks go to all players/teachers/coaches for attending as well as to Kingussie HS, Kingussie Camanachd Club and Newtonmore Camanachd Club for setting up the days pitches and for the use of the changing facilities for all the teams. Thanks also go to; Kyle Clark, Ross Haig, Iain Fraser and Jamie Buchan who volunteered their time to officiate the days games.