It was Beauly who emerged the winners in yesterdays Strathdearn Plate final beating Lovat 3-0 at Castle Leod ,Strathpeffer yesterday before a decent sized crowd . Coach Murph had a good strong squad available with only the injured Ryan Tillman & the unavailable Dougie Blaine missing out. They lined up therefore. Kyle Mcdonald,Roger Cormack, Rory Campbell, Andrew Morrison, Mackay Murray, William Ferguson,Ross Forbes, Neil Brindle, Robbie Brindle, Sandy Elrick, Craig Rankin & Murph. Subs . Beaver, Panda Fraser, Ian Rankin & Finlay Maclennan. Lovat also had a familiar look about them with the two Jimmys (Mackenzie & Whyte ) providing invaluable experience for their young squad. Both teams enjoyed chances early on but Beauly seemed the most likely to score with Murph going close twice. Robbie Brindle then won a free hit & with Lovat unable to clear Sandy Elrick shot low but not on target. Sandy nearly opened the scoring just after that when he got on the end of a Craig Rankin pass . It was 0n 24 minutes that the opener came, the ball was played into the danger area by Willie Ferguson before being laid back to Ross Forbes un unmarked on the right wing who scored with aplomb from all of 25 yards dispatching it high past the Lovat keeper. They went close to doubling their lead a minute later when Robbie Brindle hit the post with the keeper beaten. Sandy then forced the keeper to save a low drive with his feet but Robbie was unable to reach the rebound. Lovat still enjoyed pressure but didnt look as sharp up front , their best effort at an equaliser was a deflection off Roger Cormacks leg that Kyle had to react smartly to deal with, Half time arrived with Beauly enjoying a narrow advantage leading 1-0. It was Beauly who set the tone for the second half as after only 2 minutes into it Murph brought out a decent save from Lovat keeper Chris Maccallum. Beauly then enjoyed a plethora of chances but the score line stayed at 1-0. Lovat fell further behind on 53 minutes when the ball dropped for Murph on the edge of the circle & he got a shot on goal which he didnt make the best of contact with meaning the ball looped towards the goalkeeper catching him off guard He was able to parry this shot but young Sandy showed great awareness following in & buried it with style to make it 2-0. Beauly were relatively comfortable now with Willie Ferguson dominant in the middle driving them on. Lovat almost got a foothold in the game midway through the half after Kyle was drawn off his line the ball landed to the inrushing Kieran Melons with the goal at his mercy but he was unable to keep it on target that would have reduced the deficit to one goal. The game entered the final stages & after a goalmouth scramble Murph scored on 87 minutes to make it 3-0 to the greens & the final score also. It was Beauly captain Neil Brindle who received the trophy from David Macmaster from Caberfeidh. The somewhat muted celebrations were in keeping with the nature of the occasion being a plate final for teams that made an early exit from the Strathdearn cup proper, but their was a lot of talented young shinty players on display from both sides & for many of them this might just be the 1st honour in what will hopefully be long & successful shinty careers. So well done guys this might be the start of something special.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 19:05:03 +0000
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