Wednesday 14th June 2023 saw the Tulloch Homes Primary Cup Finals Day take place at An Aird, Fort William. Eight schools qualified for this finals event from across the country. Unfortunately only six were able to attend but it was still a very high class field of shinty featuring; Newtonmore Primary, Tomnacross Primary, GlenUrquhart Primary, Lundavra Primary, Caol Primary and Bun-Sgoil Ghaidhlig Port Righ.
The six teams involved in the finals day all won through after local area competitions were completed throughout May and June.
The teams arrived to An Aird to blistering sunshine and played some fantastic shinty in the heat. All teams played each other once each in the group stages with the top two teams set to play each other in the final.
It was no surprise that given their recent MacKay cup victory that Tomnacross were the first team to seal a place in the final with 4 wins and a draw in the group stages. GlenUrquhart primary were just behind them with 3 wins and 2 draws in the group stages. Both of these teams played some entertaining shinty over the course of the group stages with high quality passages of play and some passing and finishing that senior teams would be envious of.
There has been some very close games between these two schools over the course of the year across all competitions and this final didn’t disappoint with parents, players and coaches treated to close and competitive display of shinty in extremely hot conditions.
A well worked first half goal by Dougal Strang after some nice link up play by Tomnacross proved to be the difference between the sides. Tomnacross had opportunities to score again and GlenUrquhart looked dangerous on the break but at the final whistle it was the one first half goal that was enough to seal victory for the Kiltarlity school.
Congratulations on a very successful school season to the Tomnacross players and coaches who have lifted the North Shinty World Cup, the MacKay Cup and the Tulloch Cup. A fantastic achievement.
Thanks go to Fort William Shinty Club for their use of the facilities, to Rosemary MacPhee who kindly came down to An Aird and conducted the days presentations and also to James Munro and Ben MacKinnon who very kindly gave up their time to officiate the days proceedings.
