Garry defies "The Garry"

Glenurquhart 3 Glengarry 2
This could have been a scary game given that the Glen took to the field with a somewhat weakened team since three of the lads had to make the trip to Kingussie with the first team to cover for the injuries picked up in the Oban Camanachd game. Garry are a good team and a mature one at that but the Glen also have a Garry of their own- and he it was whose penalty save made the difference at one crucial point in the game. In the end Glen came away with a hard fought but satisfying win and more importantly it was a win which underlined the value of playing youngsters in the side.
The Garry are a club for which the Wing Centre has a lot of respect and happy memories- Why it was at the Garry field as Mr Reid reminds us that the Glen side of ‘77 famously beat Ballachulish to lift the Strathdearn so many years ago. It was at the Garry too that Hendo’s Heroes picked up the League trophy last season – and so when the match started at Blairbeg the Wing Centre was hopeful but not overly confident of a positive result.
Truth was that the Garry side played neat shinty up front in the opening period with Stewart Gregory and Steven Brady looking lively and skilful- and the Glen keeping them out but only just. At that point the Glen centreline worked up a little and with Ewan “Boo Boo” Fraser driving them on helped by youngster Ewan Brady and full centre Ian Macleod the ball began to move more often up towards the Garry goal where young Daniel Mackintosh was presented with a tricky chance but he just failed to hit the net.
Then came a moment of daftness from Garry wing centre Scott Johnstone when he swung a careless club at Glen‘s Ewan Brady earning himself a fortunate yellow card. The word fortunate is well chosen since the offence was so obvious that it may well have merited a red.
The incident took some of the momentum out of the Glen attack and when referee Duncan Kelly allowed the Garry full centre Steven (D D) Cameron to play a ball forward after he appeared to trip the Glen’s Brady, the faithful in the Balmacaan Stand roared their disapproval. Cameron’s ball however was flicked on neatly by Gregory and forward Kenny Henderson made no mistake with a fine finish in 14 minutes that put the visitors into a 1-0 lead. It was certainly a lead which at that stage of the match was merited- but only just.
The next occurrence of note was the booking of Glengarry’s buckshee forward Steven Brady for swinging across Glen defender Donald Fraser. At that point the Wing Centre felt that the writing was on the wall for the Glen - and he went up the wing for a blether with Matthew Clark a former Glen player and all round nice guy who was on the bench for the Garry. In fact if you hunt back in the archives he features in the “D” when he had a standout game for the red and blacks in Beauly. Matthew was in good tune, enjoying his shinty with the Garry and truthfully the Wing Centre was surprised to see him on the bench.
Gradually the Wing Centre became aware of a subtle change in the atmosphere in the Garry camp. They became quieter and more anxious and so it was time for the Wing Centre to pay attention to the game once again. And what he saw heartened him immensely. For one thing Boo Boo Fraser was playing brilliantly and his shies were immense. For another both David Smart and Iain Macleod were beginning to dominate their respective areas of the field and then after a few missed chances the Glen eventually struck goals. In 35 minutes “Boo Boo” Fraser took one of his massive shies ; the ball was knocked on by Stuart Morrison and finally blasted home from close range by Daniel Mackintosh.
Two minutes later the Glen took the lead when Morrison’s drive was blocked well by Garry keeper Gordy Macdonald – he played well throughout the afternoon- but the rebound fell to Gregor MacCormack who steered it home despite some desperate defending by opposition fullback Michael Brady.
Garry threw themselves a lifeline in the second half when in 58 minutes Steven Cameron scored a well taken goal- and the Glenners of old would probably have been happy with a draw though when Garry Mac had a clash with a Garry forward he not only gave away a penalty but was fortunate not to have been sent to the pavilion, though with Dave “Shutout” Emery standing by as sub-keeper matters were not that critical. In the event Garry took his row in good humour and when Steven Brady hammered the penalty goal-wards what did Garry do but stick out his hand and save.
Brave decision and the right one -for the ball was at that awkward height which tempts a keeper to save it with the stick and at the pace Brady hit it there was no way even Hughie Chisholm would have got it with the club.
Then all of a sudden there was a good burst of play at the shop end prompted by young sub Kelvin Mackenzie and Gregor MacCormack was able to seal the game for the Glen with a fine strike which beat Macdonald all ends up .
There was nothing left to do but hang on to the lead for the final few minutes and by that stage Hendo had pulled old heads like Iain Macleod and Stuart Morrison back to the defence and fired his final sub Euan Lloyd on to face a baptism of fire from the Garry backs. The master stroke was to move Ewan Brady to full centre directly against “Dee Dee” Cameron. Cameron is a fine player but at the end of a long game he did not quite have the legs for the contest and Brady was able to nip in on several vital occasions and slip the ball away and fire it upfield. The youngster would not have managed this at the start but in the last ten minutes of a tough match, he was the right man in the right place at the right time. The ploy worked- the few Garry attacks which actually got through were quickly snuffed out – and the points came home to Blairbeg.
The snap shows the youngsters in the dressing room after the match- they are whacked but Boo Boo can at least manage a smile for his mam.
The game at Kingussie – apparently Ronald Ross and assorted Borthwicks got the goals but reports indicate that Andrew Corrigan had an excellent game which bodes well for Saturday’s four pointer against Lovat. The only thing that causes a little concern is the fact that Bute –or rather Hector –keep picking up points in very unexpected places.
There appears to be an interesting few weeks ahead of us in the World of Camanachd- though the suspicion is that the same cannot be said about the AGM which will be upon us this weekend. At least that will be a relief for the Executive!




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On the Ran Dan

Glenurquhart 7 Skye O
Two goals against the Caranachs and now two goals against the Sgiathanachs: young Daniel Mackintosh is proving that he can put goals into the net every bit as well as Uncle Garry can keep them out but he still does not qualify for a snap on the blog. That honour goes to Dave Smart who hit a double hat-trick up in Lochcarron though it has to be said that the rest of the squad dispute the mathematics of that particular achievement.
Whatever the truth of what actually transpired up on the Battery Park, last Saturday’s performance against Skye at Blairbeg was a competent affair and kept up the momentum which had begun the week before.
The game opened with the Glen very much on the offensive and certainly looking for goals but as the minutes ticked by without an early score the fans began to get a little uneasy. After all there was a strongish wind blowing across the pitch favouring the home side slightly and as all in the packed stand at Blairbeg know, the Glen wind can change without warning. If any criticism is to be made of the front men it was that in those early minutes in the eyes of the Wing Centre, they were inclined to overplay the ball in front of goal. However on the 15 minute mark Glen took the lead with a quality strike when Gregor MacCormack flicked a ball through and Daniel Mackintosh neatly first timed the ball past Skye keeper Ross Graham.
Glen went two ahead in 24 minutes thanks to another nice move this time stemming from Ewen Menzies who won the ball in midfield and played it through the centre to Dave Smart. Smart turned his man and his ball forward was well finished off from close range by youngster Ewan Brady.
With Glen two up the Skyemen began to lift their game and there was a lucky escape up at “Sandy Whyte’s” end when Angie “Borve” Macdonald came close but there was no doubt about the next goal which came via the caman of Ewan Menzies after he had been set up for the strike by a smart Ewan Brady pass.
Starting the second half three up it appeared to the Glen faithful that everything was in the bag. Not so and it was not long before Garry Mackintosh in the Glen goal proved his worth with a superb stop from an Angie “Borve” piledriver- and for the next period the Glen were somewhat on the back foot as the Sgiathanachs piled forward. The Glen defence stood firm however and the influence of old heads Gary Smith and Iain Macleod was invaluable in keeping the Islanders at bay. The influence of Ewen Fraser in the centreline too should not be underestimated as he put in a power of work on the far side.
Eventually, the breakout from the beachhead came in 57 minutes, against thanks to an excellent piece of combined play once again starting with young Menzies. He fed the ball through to Brady who pushed it over to Daniel Mackintosh and he played it across the box where Gregor MacCormack squeezed it past the Skye keeper from an acute angle.
Hendo and Mike Cameron put on the subs at this point- and it was not long before one of them, Kelvin Mackenzie, made it 5 for the Glen with a determined finish and then an excellent drive from Ewan Brady in 75 minutes put the Glen further ahead.
Final goal of the day belonged however to Daniel Mackintosh. After watching Uncle Garry pull off yet another fine save at the “Shop” end , he ran on to a through ball from Ewan Brady and made it 7-up for the Red & Blacks with a solid strike which left Graham with no chance.
So there we have it – a fine win by a larger margin that could have been reasonably expected and without Donald Fraser and big Ross MacAulay too, the latter because he had to head to Oban with the top team where he turned in a good defensive performance by all accounts.
Back at Blairbeg apart from those already mentioned it has to be said that the team overall gave a good account of themselves but mention must be made of the other youngsters who played their part in the win - so well done to Drew Maclennan , Ross MacDiarmid, Calum Smith and Euan Lloyd.
The result in Oban was in the end a disappointment though the performance was much better from the Glen than that of the previous week. Three was more commitment and the general consensus in the camp is that the side were unlucky to lose out since the chances were there to get a result. However, the cause was not helped by two injuries to key players at a crucial stage in the match. First Dave “Dixie” Maclennan took a whack on the foot and had to leave the field of play with what was thought at the time to be a broken toe and then forward Neale Reid took a blow on the kneecap which also put him out of the game. The fact that the Referee was unsighted did not help to ease the irritation of the Glen management with the fact that the offender stayed on the field.
Glen did of course hit the net though Calum Miller but Oban’s Iain Macmillan (he certainly has a name that resonates in the history of Oban shinty) hit a hat-trick and must be a forward with some degree of ability to get past both John Barr and Smack.
If there was a highpoint in the match for the Glen it was in the play of Arran Macdonald who put in a first class performance. There was a sending off in the match - that of Oban’s Daniel Macintyre which the Glen sadly were unable to turn to their advantage.
Did Dan deserve to walk? Not really. In the eyes of the Glen camp he got a hard deal being involved in a dispute which amounted to not very much - but then that’s showbiz. Talking of which, when the Wing Centre asked Chips to pose with the car, he told him that he had sold the car three days before and so no car in the pic - just the six goal hero himself.



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Going to the Celtic Game

Sometimes a fortunate decision is made on a whim and it turns out to be the right one on the day. This past week end the Wing Centre was fortunate that because of circumstances he missed out on a trip to Inveraray to take in the Celtic game.
Which is why when he went down to the training on Monday to see a row of dustbins acting the part of the Inveraray defence (it was a training exercise and the dustbins seemed to be having a good game and were even playing in front of their men too) he was greeted with the question.
“Where were you on Saturday?”
“At the Celtic game”
“Don’t suppose that’s too bad a reason. Didn’t Ross County do well?”
“Ross County? It was Beauly that was playing Celtic. I was over at Braeview watching the Beauly game. It is not often you get a wee team like Beauly playing against a side from a big city like Oban so there was no way I could miss that”
“You mean you did not know that Ross County beat Celtic 2-0, Wing Centre?”
The answer was indeed no- for the Wing Centre is not often up with topical events unless they involve shinty. He only became aware of the Gulf War when the Highlanders had to postpone a Strathdearn cup tie.
Of course some past events now began to make sense. He remembered that when he was over the hill partaking of a quiche and quaffing a glass of Chianti in the cafe on the corner of the square a chap at the next table seemed pleased when he received a text telling him that Celtic were two down. It seemed a bit sudden because as far as the Wing Centre knew Astie would have scheduled the match to begin at 2.30 and as far as his watch was concerned it was 2.15. Of course, the text chap must have been talking about the football. No wonder the Wing Centre got a funny look from the folk in the cafe when he asked if Sean or Barry had got the goals.
It seemed strange at the time too because when he went up to Braeview the match had not started but at the time the Wing Centre had simply thought the man in the cafe was a Beauly fan getting a wind-up off one of his mates.
It was a lovely day at Braeview and though the crowd was sparse it was good humoured. They enquired after the Wing Centre’s welfare and gave him some tips for surviving in Beauly. They also asked him if he had come over as a tourist, told him where the Priories were (hotel and historic building) and advised him not to go into Munro the Butchers unless he had at least a tenner in his pocket because otherwise the butcher would laugh at him.
By this time Oban Celtic had gone ahead with a low hard shot from Kenny Wotherspoon which beat Beauly keeper Martin Davidson for pace. However from that point the Beauly defence marshalled by Innes Simpson and Rodger Cormack began to lift their involvement and Celtic were pinned back in their own half. Beauly’s David Neilson equalised with a shot from close range in 23 minutes and Sean Stewart put the Greens (who were actually playing in orange) into the lead soon after. The first half finished with Beauly 4-1 up through further goals from Jamie Maclennan (close in and through the keeper’s legs) and David Neilson (from close range again)
Halfway through the first half however, news had come to the Wing Centre that the Glen were 2-0 up in Inveraray and were also defeating Lochcarron comprehensively in the Sutherland: there was no further need to worry. He could relax and enjoy the rest of the Celtic game. But that sadly went off the boil in the second half. A Celtic player took a head knock at the start of the second half and whether it stemmed from that or not, the match became towsy and went downhill a little. Beauly took two other goals-Neilson completing a hat-trick and Mark Maclachlan finally getting on the score sheet just before the end of the match- but the Beaulacs lost Innes Simpson to a nasty blow on the ankle which may have been simply careless .Whatever the cause it looks as if the big man took a sore one and the Greens will miss him for at least a week or two.
The match ended 6-1 but by that time your reporter had ceased to care because the news had come in from Inveraray that things were not good. After going two up through goals from Eddie Tembo and a stunning strike from Lewis Maclennan the Glen lost a goal via a soft penalty which was converted by Gary Macpherson. By half time the scores were even and in the second half Inveraray ran the show with Russell Mackinlay coming off the bench to hit a hat-trick. It was not a happy performance and while an end result would have been acceptable at 4-2 which it was until the last eight minutes or so, when Inveraray rubbed salt in the wounds with two late strikes.
The reason? The Glen defence could not handle the pace of McMurdo, Macpherson and Griffin while Mackinlay’s finishing is always top class. No wonder they won two cups last season- they have every chance of winning more and they will no doubt target them making sure they have key personnel ready for cup ties.
The Lochcarron result was a boost though no one likes to see a side lose so many goals. Hendo continues with his youth policy though apart from Ewan Brady it was the more mature players who hit the net with a strike from Ross Macaulay, doubles for both Stuart Morrison and Gregor MacCormack and a incredible 6 for Dave Smart who must be worth a blog photo if only he would slow down to pose for a snap beside that fancy car of his.
The snap-an Inveraray landmark- but the guys should not have taken it literally.



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Kings look like they’re commoners once again.

Glenurquhart 2 Kingussie 3
At moments of great change it is always instructive to look back and try to learn the lessons of history. Not that learning the lessons of history is always to everyone’s taste- even although few would attempt to go as far as Henry Ford and claim the whole subject is bunk. For the Wing Centre the enduring truth of the great indigenous sport is to be found between the covers of a very slim pamphlet indeed. First published in 1939 by the Schools Camanachd Association in the guise of a “Handbook of Hints on Playing Shinty “the 56 page paperback contains many truths about the game which bear repeating.
It may have been a co-incidence that the Schools Camanachd Association brought out the work in the year when the safekeeping of the game passed for six years out of the hands of adults and into those of school kids but co-incidence or not, the modern player ignores these simple truths of the game at his peril.
For instance take the following: “You may let the ball past you and you may let the forward past, but be very careful not to let the ball and forward past you” This seeming invitation to a body-check is to be found on page 20 but properly interpreted it is simply good advice for defenders though in the Wing Centre’s youth it used to be interpreted more loosely by Sir Gerry and the rest of the Beauly defenders.
Let’s apply this aphorism to Saturday for instance and the Glen’s opening goal in 6 mins is quickly explained. Dave Maclennan takes the corner on the left and Ally Macleod of Kingussie (who would have believed it?) lets the ball and the player go past him and said player, Billy Urquhart , first times the shot into the net.
The game continued for the next little while with Glen in the driving seat though gradually Kingussie began to pick up more of the play. At buckshee for Kingussie James Hutchison controlled the defence and set the tone for the game and he was helped there by Greg Macrae, Ali Macleod and full back Gary Munro. The same strict control was also evident in the Glen defence where all four defenders- and at times keeper Stuart Mackintosh performed excellently. Drew Maclennan caught the eye with his excellent blocking and good anticipation. If there was a note of caution to be injected into the proceedings it came from the fact that percentage-wise the Glen centreline began to lose out and the ball did not stick there or move up field as often as it was doing on the Kingussie side. That having been said, John Barr at full back had an outstanding game against Ronald Ross and his physical pressure was so much that Ronald was forced at times to hunt for the ball deep into his own half.
The second half was a bit of a similar story but none of the Kingussie pressure ever looked as if it was going to cause the Glen any trouble until in 55 minutes Ronald Ross suddenly scored. The goal came via a set piece-but more interestingly it shows Ronald in two lights-the Villain and the Genius.
As the ball dropped into the Glen defence Ronald the Villain was one on one with John Barr. He barged John aside with a high elbow. A foul? Definitely yes but missed probably because it might be thought that a big powerful lad like John cannot be fouled by being pushed before the ball comes-though the rules actually say otherwise. Then Ronald the Genius-he has a split second free and as the ball is dropping over his shoulder he guides it first time into the net. No big swing –simply wrist and timing and Kingussie are back in a game that no one else looked like saving for them.
Any lessons from history? Not sure that the School’s Camanachd handbook deals with this but certainly John Barr will never get any of these fouls from any ref that the Wing Centre has seen -ever. A season ago Newtonmore’s Danny Macrae barged him aside and battered home a goal and that is simply the way of the shinty world.
Lee Bain put Kingussie into a 2-1 lead with a shot which took a deflection past Stuart Mackintosh though he probably should not have been left free to hit it and then Neale Reid equalised with a well worked goal. Coming in off the left hand side, he twisted and turned before firing a low left handed drive past Kingussie keeper Andrew Borthwick.
At 2-2 the Glen were every bit in the game until Ross stepped up to be counted once again. A high ball comes over , he pulls it down and with an outstretched arm and flick of the wrist he makes it 3-2 showing that he had carefully read the Schools Camanachd Handbook at some point especially page 33 where the words of wisdom given are “....do not try to burst the net with your shot. Strike with a “jab “ or “flick” shot and your opponent cannot hook your stick” The time on the clock was 82 minutes.
Glen had the ball in the Kingussie net one more time via Neale Reid but this was ruled off by the ref because he judged the Reid had his foot off the ground as he stopped it. Whether that could have been disputed or not there is no doubt that the ref blew the whistle right away and certainly before the ball went in the net- and so he could not have let the goal stand.
So there it is – Glen out of the MacTavish but reasonably optimistic. The defence was superb: the other sections of the team less so and whatever else we do, we need to score more goals.
Kingussie? A reasonably good team no doubt –Ronald Ross still gives them a dimension that other sides do not have: no doubt he will continue to do so for the rest of the season. They are no longer Monarchs in their own Glen or anybody else’s for that matter.
How will they fare over the season? They may well win something but if Scott Don was still taking odds in Inverness you would want to bet on Newtonmore and Fort William for the big trophies- and that is without seeing Kyles or Inveraray as yet.
Pictures? Who wants to see another snap of Ronald with his hands in the air?
However a final thought from the Handbook is worth treasuring. “We believe that a boy who has learned to play a good hard clean game of shinty is better prepared to take part in the rough and tumble of life than the boy who has not”
Apart from the rather dated sexism of the language, that sentiment has much to commend it.



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Narrow Balgate win for Glen

Lovat 1 Glenurquhart 2


If any game was a four pointer this had to be it. Make no bones about it the Crofters are a good team when they have all their guys on board as Inveraray found out last weekend and so a Glen Premier League victory over at Balgate was –after the Fort win over Kingussie – the game of the day. Which is why the Wing Centre was bemused to see that The Courier had given top billing to Beauly’s traditional failure to reach the first round of the Camanachd Cup.
To be truthful your humble correspondent put it down to the Courier’s desire to have an April Fool story even though by an accident of the calendar, the bi-weekly Beast did not come out on the first day of the cruellest month. Still one supposes shinty was lucky to get on part of a page at all given that the Courier has gradually turned into a Caley Thistle fanzine what with even the Editorial telling us to forget the misery of future council cuts and support Caley’s bid to win promotion. Given that the Wing Centre first saw the light of day in Dingwall in a time when progressive Ross was proudly tied to Cromarty and Inverness-shire was a backward county full of clan chiefs and tweed shops, there ain’ t no way that is going to happen. As a final thought- if Mr Alston wishes help to balance the budget at the Home of Rest, he could do worse than ask George Fraser to give back the £1,000,000 the Blues got from the Common Good to build down at the dump.
Anyway rant over – credit must be given to the Lovat website for an honest summary of the Glen game. It was balanced and fair and the Wing Centre will quote from it in homage to the unknown and honest scribe who put it together.

“Game of two halves leaves Lovat pointless. Lovat started their home match against Glenurquhart in the Premier League against the strong wind and quickly lost two goals in the opening exchanges, Calum Miller and Neil Reid the scorers. Lovat managed to hold on despite heavy pressure from Glenurquhart and went in at half time trailing by two. The second half was a different story however, with Lovat having the bulk of the pressure. Stuart MacDonald was called on a number of occasions however, and did well to prevent further damage. Unfortunately, Lovat found goals more difficult to come by until Ryan Ferguson managed to slip a shot past Stuart Mackintosh, but it proved to be too little too late for Lovat”
(Thanks to http://www.lovatshintyclub.co.uk/news.html)

When the Glen website gets up and running and the Treasurer tells me he has just been billed for it then there is no way it should be as open and frank as the Lovat web experience has been- or perhaps the D will have to soldier on in its own biased way. Speaking of which, it might be nice to put some flesh on the bare bones of the story as gleaned from the Lovat website.
For this a conversation had to be had with various Glenners over the course of the weekend since the Wing Centre unavoidably missed the match.
The following is a compilation of several interviews premised on the question “How did the first team play?”
“Usual story- a great start then we faded away” said Hendo-but then he was in Beauly and he could have been talking about the 2nd team game.
The Manager indicated that the team certainly had started well and played the ball about up front with some aplomb (he did not actually say “aplomb” but that is what he meant) The first goal which came in 12 minutes was very much a Calum Miller solo effort. The big forward who has incidentally been playing well this season picked up a nice pass, cut back past the full back, took it inside the wing back and pushed it home with control.
The second goal came three minutes later from Neale Reade who collected a ball from EJ Tembo and kept his focus to score with a nice shot from just about the penalty spot. There was a third ball in the net for the Glen too when Lewis Maclennan fired one home only to see it chalked off. Glen continued to push and should have scored more but Lovat held on to half time.
The second half? Glen lost out somewhere in midfield but there were attempts to score which Lovat’s Stuart kept out. Ewan Ferguson dug in and the wind blew strongly “from the houses up to Brockies” and it is always possible that Lovat were fitter than the Glen. That couldn’t be, could it?
In the end it did not matter since the Lovat goal from Ryan Ferguson came late in the day but we have to score when we are in command. Still well done to Neale Reid (pictured) –he has now scored a goal in the last three games.
Meanwhile over at Braeview the Heroes won 3-0 against Beauly thanks to an early goal from Dave “Chips” Smart (“good strike from just inside the penalty spot”) and second half goals from Ian Macleod and youngster Daniel Mackintosh. The game was also noteworthy because Mike and Hendo blooded two more young players –Euan Lloyd and Cameron Maclennan- which is truthfully what playing shinty at this level should be about.
Thanks to Neil Paterson for the pic of Neale Reid ( http://www.neilgpaterson.com)




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