Kilmallie travel to Spean this weekend to face Lochaber in the MOWI National, in preparation for that match, we caught up with Kilmallie top scorer, Lewis Birrell. There will be an interview with Lochaber Captain, Patrick Toal, later this week.

This week’s MOWI Game of the Week sees Kilmallie travel to Spean to take on Lochaber in the National Division. How has preparation gone for this top of the table clash?

We have prepared the same as every game this season, although with the heat we have had the past couple weeks it’s been a bit tougher going.

At the moment you are one point behind Lochaber in 2^nd place, what would it meant to leapfrog your local rivals and go top of the league?

It’s another difficult game and we can’t afford to give Lochaber a bit of breathing space between us, we want to regain top position in the league.

Going into the season, some daft podcast host suggested that Kilmallie might struggle as you try and blend youth into the side. How good have some of the younger boys been this year and how does it feel to serve up some humble pie to those that doubted the club?

It was always going to be hard getting relegated and bouncing back! The boys have been brilliant so far this season. We have a lot of young boys in the squad and they have been excellent, particularly Shane O’Rua, Seamus MacFarlane and Sam MacRae. We haven’t proven anyone wrong yet, just got to keep working hard.

How important is bouncing straight back to the MOWI Premiership for Kilmallie?

Our aim at the start of the season was to go straight back up so to do that we will need to be at our best, every game in the national is a tough game.

On a personal note, you’ve bagged an impressive 8 National Division goals this year, what are your targets for the season?

I am just as surprised as anyone with my goal scoring, i have been getting played in the forward line a lot more this season which I’m enjoying. my aim now is to out score our very own Calum MacDougall 😂 he has been quiet recently but hopefully that changes this weekend, but no I think as long as we hit our targets as a team I’ll be happy.

Finally, what are you expecting from Lochaber in this game?

I expect a fast physical game, they have been in brilliant form all season and have a young squad.