The MacBean Cup for S1/2 secondary school pupils took place on Wednesday 24^th April at Kingussie High School with 10 school teams in attendance for a day of shinty competition.

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 on the top pitch of KHS, Lochaber High School came through the group stages undefeated , playing some excellent shinty on the way. They were joined by GlenUrquhart High School who took second place over Oban High School through a last second strike in their final group game.

In group two it was Portree topped the group, winning 3 games and drawing their forth. It was tight for second place with it once again coming down to the final game, but with Charleston unable to find a goal against the resilient Portree team, Kingussie were poised to take second place and join Portree in the semi finals.

Lochaber High School school then went on to play Kingussie High School in the first of the semi finals where Kingussie started to get into their stride, some skilful play in the forward line made it impossible for the Lochaber defenders to keep up and after full time it was Kingussie that ran out comfortable winners.

In the second semi-final Portree, who had been outstanding all day didn’t let their form slip at all, even without Lachlan MacLeod who had picked up an injury in the last group game.  The impressive GlenUrquhart High School defence worked hard throughout the game and their forwards looked dangerous on the attack. The continued Portree pressure paid off however and they ran out 2-0 winners booking their spot in the final.

The final was an exciting game with the excellent Portree HS goalkeeper Sorley Burrows, proving the difference between the sides in the first half with an outstanding save down low with his hand stopping Kingussie HS going ahead. The second half saw a reshuffle for Portree with the injured Lachlan MacLeod coming on and even though he was visibly limping his impact was immediate, picking up the ball on the right wing and cutting inside and unleashing a powerful shot into the back of the net putting the Portree side 1-0 up. This lead was short lived however with the skilful James Coyle picking up the ball for Kingussie HS in the centre of the field and veering to the right, a driving shot from just outside the box at a tight angle hitting the roof of the net past the Portree keeper making the game 1-1 and taking it to Extra Time.

Extra Time was another tight affair with both teams having chances to win the game, it was only toward the end of the second period that once again Lachlan MacLeod lost his marker and from 35 years out struck another powerful shot past the Kingussie HS keeper to put the Portree side 2-1 up with only a minute left to play. Kingussie HS had a chance to equalise but couldn’t quite get the shot away and with that the referee blew for full time.

Congratulations to Portree High School who got to take the MacBean Cup back to their school for 2024, and commiserations too Kingussie HS who played some excellent shinty throughout the course of the day.

Thanks go to all players/teachers/coaches for attending as well as to Kingussie HS for setting up the days pitches, to Newtonmore Camanachd Club and the Badenoch Centre for use of their facilities for changing. Thanks also go to Jacob, Joey, Cammy, Toby and Joe who volunteered their time to confidently officiate the days games after completing their officials course the previous week.