On the 16th June 2022 , Bught Park in Inverness was host once again (for the first time since 2018) to the ‘Shinty World Cup’ North. This competition was for primary schools in the North of Scotland, there was 3 entry categories, these were;

Primary 7 and under competition for established schools

Primary 7 and under competition for emerging schools

Primary 5 and under super 6’s competition

There were 21 teams there on the day and 170 young people taking part. Five pitches were set up and were manned by excellent volunteers.

There was one round robin group for each of the above categories with the top two teams in each progressing to a final.

The Primary 5 section proved to be the closest in the group stages. Inverness Gaelic School (BSGI) progressed straight to the final of the P5 and under section without dropping a point whereas GlenUrqhart and Alvie battled it out in a play off to determine who would meet the Gaelic School once again. A close game saw Alvie edging it 1-0.

The Finals were;

Primary 7 Established:	Primary 7 Emerging;	Primary 5 Super 6’s;
Newtonmore V GlenUrquhart	Aviemore V Glengarry	BSGI V Alvie

 

All of the finals were played 7 minutes each way. Newtonmore took on GlenUrquhart in the final P7 Established Final. It was a very close game with both teams having chances to score.  Some excellent play by the Newtonmore forward line however meant they came away with the victory. The majority of the Newtonmore team competing also won the P5 and under competition last time this was played for in 2018.

Aviemore and Glengarry played out in the emerging schools final with some fantastic skills by both teams on show. Glengarry battled hard but couldn’t stop Aviemore scoring the vital goal to give them a 1-0 victory and take the trophy back to Aviemore Primary once again.

BSGI and Alvie then had a very entertaining game in the P5 and under final. Both teams had chances to score and there was some great teamwork by both squads. BSGI scored the goals that mattered though, and kept their unbeaten run and collected the trophy to add to their indoor final win back in February.

Medals to all finalists were presented by Camanachd Association Shinty Ambassadors.

Lots of thanks have to go out to individuals, as without a vast number of volunteers and staff this day would not have been able to go ahead.

Firstly to Mike MacLeod and his team at the Bught for the set up of the pitches and the help leading up to the day. To Iain Cochrane for taking fabulous photos all day throughout all pitches and to Rosanna Campbell and her tea team for providing the players and spectators with refreshments throughout the day.

Huge thanks have to go to all the volunteers from the day who were involved in refereeing and pitch management; Jim Barr, Robert Morrison, Jamie Maclennan, Andrew Grant MacKenzie, Chloe Mutch, Melissa MacKay, Lewis Boag, Ali Tuckwood, Andrew Van Loon, Alaina Maclennan. Without this group of volunteers this event would not have happened, the support they provided was invaluable and the enthusiasm they came with was a bonus. Thank you all.