Iain Hay reflects on Oban Camanachd’s season
OBAN Camanachd first team manager Ian Hay took time out to reflect on his side’s highs and lows during the 2017 shinty season.
Ian Hay took over as Oban Camanachd first team manager from Gussie Campbell in July 2015 and an immediate upturn in fortunes saw the side move out of the Marine Harvest Premiership relegation zone to finish the season in sixth position.
Further improvements followed in 2016 with Oban Camanachd only trailing league runners-up Kyles Athletic on goal difference whilst also losing 1-0 to Newtonmore in the Camanachd Cup Final.
Many expected the side to kick on this season but it didn’t quite work out that way. Speaking just ahead of a short golfing break in Malaga with assistant manager Chris Eccleston, former Oban boss Gussie Campbell and former referee Billy Wotherspoon, Hay said: ‘It’s been a long season. We started training in early January and we were set to play Kilmallie on the first Saturday of November so everyone needs a break to recharge the batteries.
‘The margins are small in top flight shinty and we started the season losing 3-2 to eventual champions Kinlochshiel with Keith MacRae getting the winner in the last minute. We then beat Lochaber and reigning champions Newtonmore before losing 4-3 to Kyles Athletic, with the winner again coming late in the game, and then beating Glenurquhart. So after our first five league matches, we had narrowly lost against the sides who would take the title race to the last day of the season.
‘We then lost two silly games; 2-1 to Lovat with Greg Matheson scoring twice in a couple of minutes in a match we should have won, followed by Roddy Young’s last minute goal which gave Kingussie a 1-0 victory against us at The Dell. These defeats were hard to take and they cost us dear.
‘We progressed to the Celtic Society Cup Final and through to the Camanachd Cup semi-finals, beating Kinlochshiel along the way, and also to the Macaulay semis. However we just never turned up in the first half of the Celtic Society Final or against Kyles in the Macaulay whilst the Camanachd semi against Lovat was another huge disappointment. The manner of the defeat was tough. We were ahead in the game but both the sending off and the last minute winner were hard to take. No disrespect to Newtonmore but we would have had a real chance in the final had we got through. We’re not far away but we’ve just not been killing teams off when we’ve had the chance.
‘I think the boys subconsciously dropped down a gear after losing the semi-final to Newtonmore. We just couldn’t pick it up and we went on to lose a number of games towards the end of the season. The 2-1 league defeat to Lovat was a typical example. It was a game in which we were all over them but still lost the game.’
Oban Camanachd eventually finished sixth in the league, a drop of three places from the season before and Hay notes training and player availability as being two key factors which hampered their progress.
‘Training has been fragmented this year and we haven’t been able to do the things we’ve wanted to. Several of our players have been working away and at training, we’d look for Alec MacVicar to do a bit with the defenders, I’d work with the midfield and Fraser Inglis and Chris Eccleston would work the forwards. But you just can’t do that if half a dozen guys are missing each week. It just becomes disjointed.
‘Every team has injuries and suspensions but we seem to have been particularly badly hit this year. Garry Lord broke his leg pre-season, Scott MacKillop, who has been an important player since he joined us, has been out since the Camanachd Cup semi and Daniel MacVicar, with a shoulder injury, have all missed chunks of the season whilst we also lost our 2016 captain James MacMillan at the start of the season when he moved abroad.
‘Add in Ross MacMillan, Robert Alexander and Connor Howe moving on and it’s been quite a turnover of players. We started the season with a small squad and we were never able to field the same team twice and ended up raiding the Lochside squad most weeks.’
However, this created opportunities for some of the club’s youngsters as Hay explained: ‘Our injuries and suspensions meant we have relied on several of the Lochside boys in games but the positive from that is that these youngsters did well and they have gained experience which will stand them in good stead for next year.
‘When you look at the squad, Daniel MacVicar came in previously and he is now an established first team player. Daniel MacCuish followed that path during last season and he is now a senior player. There are others knocking on the door. The likes of Lewis Buchanan, Evan MacLellan, Craig Easton and Daniel Sloss have all got a taste of first team shinty this year and we’ll look for them to kick on next season.’
Hay is clear to what is required for the club to reach the next level. ‘Oban Camanachd need to win some silverware. That would be the next step for the club and it might just be that we need a break which would help us get there but we need to establish a winning mentality.
‘We’ve not performed in semi-finals so we need to break that duck. You can see how Kinlochshiel kicked on from winning the Macaulay in 2016. They are big strong lads and, like us, they don’t have a big squad but they stepped up after their Macaulay success and look at them now. We need to progress in the same way as they did.’
Hay is very clear about what needs to happen next. ‘We have an AGM coming up and we’ll then have a meeting, as we always do, where we’ll speak to the boys and see if we are all on the same page. The players need to want the same things as we do.
‘The break will do everyone good though and we’ll then make a fresh start. New players coming on board is also something that we are open to. If new players come along, and they are good enough, then they will come into the squad.
‘Looking further ahead, I think we need to get a settled forward line next season as we ended up mixing up positions this year. We have a young squad. Aidan MacIntyre and Andrew MacCuish are older but most of the squad are in their early to mid-twenties so there is so much more to come from them and there are some cracking younger players just waiting for a run in the team.
‘We need to get the younger ones into the seniors’ way of training and the seniors’ way of playing. The message is this; we will recharge our batteries, make a fresh start, commence training in early January, introduce more youngsters into the squad and make a good start to the new season.’
If the players adopt the manager’s undoubted desire then, with a wee bit more luck on their side, 2018 could be a big season for Oban Camanachd.