The 2025 Harper Macleod CA Cup Final took place on Saturday 1st November at The Eilan,  Newtonmore. This was the second game of the day,  following on from the London Shield Final and there was a decent crowd in attendance to watch the youngsters in what was set to be a very close and competitive game. Oban Youth were back in the final for the second year in a row and they were joined by Skye Shinty Academy for the first time.

Both teams were piped onto the field and introduced to Calum MacLeod from Harper Macleod before the game got underway. James Munro was the man in charge supported by Graeme Irvine and Billy MacLeod who were the days goal judges.

Both teams started strongly with some excellent hitting but it was Skye Shinty Academy who struck first, an excellent shie on the nearside touchline was played expertly into the path of captain Hector Porteous who went on a driving run though the middle of the park and unleashed a rocket high into the back of the net putting the islanders 1-0 up 6 minutes in.

On 12 minutes it was Skye that struck again, some good work this time down the far side by Porteous meant he was able to play the ball across to the middle, a lovely first touch by Lila Schuman to control the ball, she then touched it inside, losing her defender, creating space and fired the ball into the back of the net, leaving the keeper with no chance.

Oban Youth did not let their heads drop and after some positional changes started to come into the game. The game ebbed for flowed for the next 10 minutes with both teams playing some nice shinty and creating chances.

Oban Youth, just as the sun began to come out, then took their chance to get a goal back. A lovely ball from the nearside across the pitch opened up the Skye defence, Ollie Carroll made a fantastic run to the back post and with his first touch slotted the ball past the keeper into the back bottom corner making the score going into half time Oban Youth 1 – Skye Shinty Academy 2.

The second half started with pressure from Oban Youth, some lovely play from the Oban youngsters meant the Skye defending had to be top notch. Josh Campbell was playing excellently for the Oban side taking control of the midfield for the first 15 minutes of the second half and playing plenty of first class balls into the forward line. Ellis Crawford however for Skye wasn’t letting anything past him and put in tackle after tackle denying the Oban forwards.

The next 10 minutes saw Skye come back into it with some great clearances into the forward line by Alasdair Tindall allowing Schuman to run onto the ball and hold it up. The game was back and forth with both teams having pressure and the adults on the sidelines being more nervous than the players heading into the final 5.

Oban’s Arthur Handley, who had had a fantastic game so far was pushed up for the final 5 minutes, his long ball right on top of the Skye keeper nearly pushed Oban level but a goal line clearance from the Skye defenders kept them in front. It was only a few minutes after this when a long clearance from Skye found Reece MacLeod who played the ball down the line to Calum Graham, Graham beat his defender and cut the ball back to a waiting Frankie Moore who turned the keeper and scooped the ball into the back of the net.

James Munro brought the game to a close on 60 minutes with both sets of players exhausted from their efforts. This final was close, competitive and skilful and credit goes to all players involved as well as their coaches for an entertaining spectacle.

Calum MacLeod from sponsors Harper Macleod was on hand to conduct the presentations, handing out the medals to first of all Oban Youth as runners up and then to Skye Shinty Academy as the days winners. He then handed over the Harper Macleod CA Cup to a delighted Skye Captain, Hector Porteous ,to round off the days proceedings.

Our thanks go to Harper Macleod for sponsoring the CA Cup once again for 2025 as well as to all the excellent volunteers at Newtonmore Camanachd for hosting the days events and having the pitch in excellent condition. Thanks also go to James for refereeing as well as to Graeme and Billy for being the days goal judges. The day would not have been a success without you all.

Photo by Neil G Paterson