Under 17s lift Cup!! Saturday seen more silverware to add to the 2013 haul. This time it was the under 17s team that got that winning feeling. Ardnamurchan and Ballachulish combined there player pools and two balanced teams were produced. Ballamurachan wore blue and white sheil buses shirts and were crowned league winners. Ardnachulish wore blue ice factor shirts and finished third. Ardnachulish started the first fixture well and out played a physically big Inverness team. Lewis Bryson tucked away a neat opening goal, only for Inverness to level in the second half, but hopes for a winning start were dashed when Inverness scored twice against the run of play and to take both points. Ballamurachan were on next against a Strathspey team encrusted with a couple of very tidy players. They had to settle with a share of the points after young Ross McLean put the west Lochaber team ahead twice. From those first two games, vital tactical information was learned. Ballamurachan played two games back to back, and played Inverness straight away. A Pat Maclean Goal was chalked off by the referee as the over eager Ross Maclean was offside. Pat eventually scored the winning goal to give Ballamurachan all points. Ardnachulish took on Strathspey and the defence expertly shut out the Strathspey forwards. Cian McPhee dispatched the killer blow from a powerful run from midfield. Inverness used their physical advantage over the young Strathspey team and ran out 2-0 winners. As results stood, Inverness were top with 4 points, Ballamurachan second on 3 points, Ardnachulish third with two points followed by Strathspey who had one point. This meant that Ardnachulish required to win by three goals to win on goal difference. Ballamurachan only had to win the last fixture to lift the cup. Inverness, having played all their games had their fingers crossed for a draw! With the crucial final game being between Ardnachulish and Ballamurachan, the coaches made a couple of changes. Ballamurachan eventually ran out winners after a close half. A brace from young Ross Maclean secured him as top Goalscorer of the competition with 4 out of three games. Both teams and all the players organised themselves superbly. Both goal keepers had a handful of outstanding saves. Both defences performed excellently, responding well to tactical information and done everything necessary. The midfielders were absolute power houses throughout the day, providing bags of energy to track back and power forward. Every forward played their part, and for long spells of the game played fantastic hard tackling, flowing shinty. Well done and Congratulations! Thank you to Peter Gow of Inverness shinty club for organising the day and to both Inverness and Strathspey for the competitive matches.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 12:34:54 +0000