Highland Industrial Supplies Sutherland Cup Glory for Newtonmore
On Saturday 16th October Blairbeg, Drumnadrochit played host to a fantastic game of shinty between Lovat Shinty Club and Newtonmore Camanachd. Lovat went into the match on a high after the incredible turnaround in the Strathdearn Final between the two sides the week previous however, it was Newtonmore who struck first – and fast! Somhairle Thomson stole the ball from James Grieve pushed it wide and hammered his shot over the head of Martin Bell to make it 1-0 within the opening 60 seconds.
It didn’t take Lovat long to strike back though as a Mitchell Leslie corner was wonderfully chipped up by Jamie Matheson for Manager Raymond Rennie to volley past the helpless Jason MacDonald – a goal truly befitting of the occasion. With that you could have been forgiven for expecting another end to end battle between the two sides, Glen MacKintosh had other ideas. He put Newtonmore ahead again following a corner which found him all alone on the edge of the D with enough time to take the ball down and put it through the legs of Bell in goals. 4 minutes later he was at it again this time the goal was product of some great battling from Craig MacLeod, he slipped the ball into MacKintosh who rolled his man and fired across the keeper into the bottom corner. The hat-trick was complete on the 28th minute after Fraser MacKintosh looped a ball into his namesake – which was instantly controlled and then driven low into the keeper’s right hand corner.
4-1 down in 28 minutes and some were fearing the worst for Lovat but all credit to them as they dug in and continued to show the fighting spirit that served them so well in the Strathdearn. The first half was brought to a close by referee Martin MacLean with no further scoring.
In the second half Lovat were more composed on the ball and dominated the territory, albeit without any true penetration. Both sides had chances but there was very little clear cut until a Newtonmore free-hit found Scott Chisholm at the back post, his smart cutback left marksman MacKintosh with little to do and he capped off his and Newtonmore’s excellent performance with another goal. Speaking after the match 4 goal hero said: “The larger pitch definitely helped us this week, the younger boys did all the running and set my goals up – all I had to do was put the ball in the back of the net”.
Following the final whistle Newtonmore Captain, Somhairle Thomson was presented with the Highland Industrial Supplies Sutherland Cup by Garry MacKintosh.
