‘Aray take the honours in Mòd shinty competitions
There is more to the Mòd than music and drams and this year’s Royal National Mòd in Dunoon was launched with a festival of sport.
Scotland’s biggest Gaelic cultural festival traditionally features shinty and this year it was Inveraray and Col Glen’s adult teams who contested the Mòd Cup on Saturday October 13.
A close, hard-fought contest at Dunoon Stadium in wet conditions resulted in victory for Inveraray, who overcame Col Glen 6 - 3 after a strong second half performance.
At Dunoon Grammar School’s all-weather pitches there was a nine-a-side women’s shinty match between Oban Lorn and Cowal Ladies, which the Oban team won 4-1.
The Mòd played host to the first Primary Schools’ Mòd Shinty Tournament, introduced to celebrate Scotland’s Year of Young People. Inveraray came out on top again, beating Kyles and Strachur by a goal to nil.
In the Mòd Football Cup, Glasgow Islands triumphed with a 3-0 win over local team Dunoon Amateurs, which even involved the Glasgow goalkeeper getting on the scoresheet.
Chief executive of An Comunn Gàidhealach John Morrison said: ‘We’ve had a great first weekend at the 2018 Royal National Mòd in Dunoon. Already this year, we have witnessed some amazing competitions, performances and sporting events and we’ve got so much more to come.’
Speaking after the match, John Mackenzie, winning captain of the Inveraray men’s shinty team, said: ‘This was a fantastic result today for the boys. We were up against it with the weather and a very good first half by Col Glen who came out pretty fast. The manager made a few tactical changes and we overcome it and it was good to get the win.
‘We’d like to say thanks to the Royal National Mòd for putting the match on and inviting us to come along and play.’