Shinty World Cup  September 2022

On the 8th September 2022 , Bught Park in Inverness was host once again to the ‘Shinty World Cup’ North. This is the second time this competition has been played in 2022 and it will remain in September from now on, hopefully freeing up some time in the busy May/June shinty calendar. As ever 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 26 teams there on the day and 208 young people taking part. Five pitches were set up and were manned by excellent volunteers.

For the P4/5 and P6/7 Establish school groups there were 2 groups with the top 2 teams in each group progressing to the semi final stage. The P6/7 Development section saw the top 2 teams from the group progress to the final.

In the P4/5 section semi-finals Tomnacross who finished top of their group took on Hilton, Alvie who topped their section took on Kingussie.  In the P6/7 Established Section 3 teams tied on 10 points in group 2 so a play off game had to take place, having been pulled out a hat Alvie progressed straight to the semi final stage with BSGP and GlenUrquhart having to play off for the other spot. After a close game GlenUrquhart won through and would face Tomnacross who topped group 1. Alvie then were set up to face Kingussie in the other semi-final. In the P6/7 Emerging group Glengarry and Banavie progressed to the final with the group game between them very close the final was sure to be just as exciting.

Following the semi-finals the finalist teams were;

The Finals were;

Primary 7 Established: Primary 7 Emerging; Primary 5 Super 6’s;
Tomnacross V Kingussie Banavie V Glengarry Hilton V Alvie

 

All of the finals were played 7 minutes each way. Tomnacross took on Kingussie in the final P7 Established Final. It was a very close game with both teams having chances to score.  Some excellent play by the Tomnacross side who worked seamlessly together meant they came away with the victory. A fantastic day for the Tomnacross side, remaining undefeated throughout the whole day.

Banavie 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 Banavie scoring the vital goal to give them a victory and take the trophy back to Banavie Primary for the first time.  Glengarry were runners up in this event is June as well and it was fantastic to see them in the final once again.

Hilton 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. Alvie scored the goals that mattered though, and after finishing runners up in this event before the summer holiday, now took home the trophy.

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 setup of the pitches and the help leading up to the day. To Tina Marshall for taking fabulous photos all day throughout all pitches and to Maria Macleod and Laura Mackay who ran the tea hut for the day, providing the players and spectators with refreshments and raising over £150 for Mikeysline in the process.

Huge thanks have to go to all the volunteers from the day who were involved in refereeing and pitch management; Jim Barr, Graham Cormack, John MacRitchie, Alaina Maclennan, Lewis Boag, Katie MacKinnon, Andrew Van Loon, Ruby Fraser, Archie Laird, Dario Marshall, Ali White. 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.