Oban Camanachd leave no crumbs as they put eight past GMA in Celtic Final

20^th June saw Glasgow Mid Argyll and Oban Camanachd take to Peterson Park for the Glasgow Celtic Society Cup Final. While GMA could boast home advantage in a sense, they were a division below the holders and went into the game as underdogs despite defeating Premiership side Col Glen 3-2 in their semi-final, for Oban it was a 6-1 defeat of Inveraray in the previous round with the west coasters looking to make it four cup wins in a row.

The sweat had barely begun to form on the player’s brows when spectators were treated to the first goal of the game, a GMA corner from Brian Slattery dropped into the D, Callum Morrison’s attempt was blocked but Ross Brown was on hand to sweep it home from close range to put the National Division side a goal to the good. However, that lead would last just three minutes, Louie MacFarlane with a good interception on the left flank, twisting and turning in an attempt to create an angle for the infield pass, it was worth the effort though as the ball inside found Daniel MacVicar who used some great close control to get a shot away and into the bottom corner.

Five minutes later Oban Camanachd turned the score on its head, the ball worked well out wide to Lewis Cameron, his shot was well dealt with by the GMA defence, however, there was nothing they or goalkeeper Jonathan Oates could do to stop Ross Campbell moving the ball into space and firing home from close range. Oban doubled their lead soon after, Cameron proving too strong for his marker on the left wing, his ball drifted all the way to Clark on the opposite side, but, his pass back across was picked up by Cameron – the man who started the move – and slotted into the bottom left hand corner.

Three became four in the twentieth minute as Andy MacDonald’s clearance (he will say shot!) from full centre took flight and slipped in underneath the goalkeeper. Three minutes later and Oban had the chance to further increase their advantage as they were awarded a penalty for a foul on Connor Howe after a smart free hit from Daniel MacVicar, that very man made it 5-1, blasting the penalty hard and to the right beyond the goalkeeper. Arguably the goal of the game came ten minutes later, MacVicar playing a ball towards the penalty spot which was taken nicely out of the air by Campbell, the Oban hitman taking it further away from goal to create the space for a shot before firing into the top left-hand corner. Steven MacLachlan brought the first half to an end at 6-1, sadly, that seemed to be the end of the game as a contest but there could be no arguing with the clinical edge that Oban were showing in the final third.

There would be no let up from the black and reds in the second half and within a minute they had made it 7-1, Louie MacFarlane doing some incredible ball carrying and while he wasn’t able to get a shot away at the end of it, the ball broke to Cameron who cracked a sister strike to the Campbell goal, this time nestling into the top right corner. Credit to GMA, they showed the determination and grit that they have become known for over the past five years and continued to battle away despite the score line, putting in some good challenges and going toe to toe with their premiership counterparts. It would take until the final ten before Camanachd would get the final goal of the game, Cameron putting in a great block on the last Glasgow Mid Argyll defender before slipping the ball into the back of the net to complete the scoring.

At the conclusion of the match, regular captain Daniel MacVicar would be awarded the Donald MacNiven Memorial Medal for Man of the Match, but the trophy would be lifted high into the air by the day’s captain goalkeeper Cameron Sutherland. Congratulations to Oban Camanachd on a comprehensive victory and commiserations to Glasgow Mid Argyll who fought hard but were ultimately undone on the day.