For the third year in a row the MacMaster Cup Final for 2024 saw Newtonmore and Skye U14 teams face off at An Aird, Fort William. The weather was fantastic, given the summer we have had, and a large crowd had gathered to watch these two talented youth teams.

Teams were led out by their captains and lined up to meet the dignitaries, in fact David MacMaster, Graeme MacDermid(CA Youth Director) and John MacKenzie (CA Chieftain) all walked out to meet the squads.

Ian Kennedy got the game underway and only two minuteshad passed before Newtonmore had broken the deadlock with a well taken goal by the impressive James Coyle, catching the Skye defence off guard.

The game then began to settle slightly with play back and forth between the two teams, a great skilful battle between Archie Bloor and Leo Templeman was taking place in the centre of midfield showing exactly why both of these young men had call ups for the North team.  It was in the 22nd minute that James Coyle struck again with another superb finish after a nice bit of link up play from his teammates putting Newtonmore 2-0 up.

This goal seemed to rally Skye and it was only a minute later that they struck back with Seth MacDonald turning his man and slotting the ball in the back of the Newtonmore net. With roars of encouragement coming from the side this seemed to spur the Skye side on as they took hold of the game and kept the pressure on the Newtonmore defence. It was on 26 minutes that Skye got their equaliser, a nice ball in from the right found MacDonald once again who left the Newtonmore goalie no chance as he screamed it into the top left corner tying the game up as half time loomed.

It was on the stroke of halftime though that Newtonmore marksman James Coyle once again was free from his marker and thundered the ball into the back of the net to put Newtonmore 3-2 up going into the half time break.

Skye started the second half on fire and immediately put pressure on the Newtonmore defence, Rory Gilliagan and Brodie Campbell both doing well against the impressive Skye forward line but Skye continued to pressure the Newtonmore half and it was on 44minutes that Captain Harry Speed found the equaliser.

The momentum had shifted in the game now with Skye continuing to push forwards and it was on 47 minutes that they struck again, this time through Eoghainn Graham whose work rate throughout the game had been incredible, getting on the end of a rebound and pushing the ball into the back of the net to give Skye the lead for the first time in the game.

Newtonmore then made some positional changes pushing up young  Jaiden McCormack into the middle and moving James Coyle to more of a half forward position to try and get him on the ball more. This worked  with a few long range shots testing Sorley Burrows in the Skye goal. Burrows showed his class dealing with these shots confidently and clearing the ball giving his defenders some respite.

The last 10 minutes of the game Skye continued to push for another goal, Lachlann MacLeod who had been outstanding in defence for 60 minutes, marking the speedy Donald Ross in the first half and then given no reprieve in the second half where his job was to control James Coyle, was then pushed into the forward line for the final 10. This paid off for Skye when on 65 minutes he found the back of the net, sealing victory for Skye and increasing the noise from the crowd.

Ian Kennedy blew his whistle on 70 minutes to bring a close to a very exiting, entertaining and skilful game of youth shinty.

David MacMaster along with Graeme MacDiarmid (CA Youth Director) conducted the presentations, presenting Skye’s Sorley Burrows with the 2024 player of the match and handing over the MacMaster Cup to Skye’s Captain, Harry Speed.