Youth shinty stars off to national finals
THURSDAY February 9 saw the Mid Argyll play-off for the nationals indoor finals between Kilmory/ Dunadd Camanachd and Inveraray. First up were the under primary five age group, which turned out to be an exciting, fast-paced affair.
Inveraray opened the scoring early through Euan Donnan, but this was quickly overturned by Jamie Angus who scored twice to give Dunadd a slender 2-1 lead at half-time.
Inveraray came out strongly in the second half, scoring early through Kayden MacKinley and added another through Robertson. During this period Dunadd were struggling to get back into the game. Some strong play by Harry Turner pushed Inveraray onto the back foot and this was eventually finished off by Kyra Robertson with a fine finish.
Extra time was called and again the game flowed from end to end. Robertson scored his third and put Inveraray in front with a strike high into the net.
With the last hit of the ball Angus scored his third and forced the game to penalties.
Inveraray won the shoot-out 2-0 through penalties from Robertson and Douglas Cameron.
In the under primary seven game, Kilmory started strongly, pinning back Inveraray for the first five minutes, only exceptional saves from Inveraray keeper Findlay MacGregor kept the away team in the tie.
The relentless pressure eventually paid off for Kilmory as Murray MacDonald opened the scoring with a low shot into the corner, and this lead was quickly doubled by Nairn Jackson who finished off a nice move.
The second half was of the same theme – long periods of pressure from Kilmory with Inveraray showing great resilience and fight to stay in the game. Kilmory scored a third through Euan Gilmour after good work from Dan Anderson. MacDonald scored his second of the game late on and made the final score 4-0. Both clubs are looking forward to the trek north to Fort William tomorrow (Saturday February 25) and hope to progress as far as possible against the best indoor teams in the country.