Out of the mouths of babes…….

The Wing Centre had a little chat with Henry Corrigan at the close of the match against Lovat on Saturday past. Henry does not really share very much but he did say “Who’s that?”

“That” was Iain Kennedy the fellow from Fort William who was trying to get the lads from Kiltarlity and the boys from Drum to obey the rules ……. which they didn’t really do.

 Henry moved on. “Who’s that?” he said. It looked to the Wing Centre like Rory Maclean, the plumber from Torr Darrach who, if he is not reading a book, is always blethering. Like most up the Glenners, he likes a ceilidh and he was passing the afternoon in the company of some young ladies who may or may not have been intent in learning about Rory’s specialist subject of plumbing.

 “It’s Rory,” the Wing Centre said- at which point Henry lost interest (who can blame him? ) and he started crying. Which is really what the Wing Centre felt like doing after the Lovat game. In fact he actually did, just like Henry, start crying when he found out about the result of the second team game over at Kinlochshiel. 

The girls of course-typical of them-only went and won their game against Aberdour so at least the feminine side of Glenurquhart could celebrate somewhat -except there is nowhere left for us to celebrate in- unless it is at the chippie with a haddock supper.

Anyway, let’s start with the positives. It was good to see ref Stevie MacLachlan looking good after his close call a fortnight or so back. He was speaking with Mr Kennedy about what one can only imagine was referee’s stuff when the Wing Centre met up with him. Stevie was upbeat and with care and time he will be back. If Christian Eriksen can come back from similar problems to play in the Premier League then……you fill in the blanks.

As for the game v Lovat, at least the weather was dry and the crowd was eventually good-though we need to see as many new faces coming along as possible given that the village is growing. However, we will have to improve somewhat if we are to encourage them to come by providing them with something to cheer about.  Indeed, the first half did provide us with some hope although it did not look great in the first quarter when Lovat’s Greg Matheson did what he does best by smashing an unstoppable shot from an acute angle. In fact, Greg was so far out on the left that he was in danger of being run down on the A82 before he fired in the opener. The match was closely contested at this stage with Lovat getting a little more possession in the midfield and they might have made more use of their dominance though when Calum Cruden fired a shot from distance over the bar without testing the keeper. Other close work by Bailey Mackay looked promising but was thwarted by fine defensive work from Finlay Robertson.

Glen equalised in 19 minutes with an exceptionally well worked goal. For some time winger Alfie Macleod looked to have the edge on his opponent and having got the ball on the right he passed it neatly inside where Andrew Corrigan managed to fire it on to Lovat keeper Stuart Macdonald who was able to keep the ball out. Unfortunately, he was not able to kill the ball and Glen winger Daniel Maclean was on hand to slip the rebound neatly past the Lovat keeper to make it 1-1.

For the rest of the half the game was competitive and reasonably even – though the visitors from over the hill always looked likely to score. They even managed to get some shots on target but Stuart Mackintosh was always on hand to block and clear- and good centreline work from in particular Liam Robertson pushed some pressure on the Lovat backline. However the solid Howie along with Mainland and Dan Grieve- before he came off – were always too strong and sure in their hitting to be really troubled.

Then it all kicked off. Glen defender Fergus Robertson who was playing well had a rush of blood and swung through Greg Matheson not once but twice. The first swing was fair enough- the ball was there and Greg had his foot in front of it- it might have merited a yellow-but the second raised the tariff to red. Then there was a stramash at the end of which Lovat wing forward Lorne Mackay was also red-carded along with Fergus. Meanwhile Greg was left with a sore foot. Mr Kennedy dealt with the furore sensibly - he could have ended the match at that moment by dishing out a blizzard of yellow cards but he resisted that temptation - and the match carried on at 10 a side until the half-time break. To be fair also there were a couple of times later in the match when players went down with head knocks when he could have stopped the game before it went on to turn “ragged” -but that was in the second half and, in one of these ragged spells, the Glen conceded a penalty

However to stick with the plot, the second half followed a similar pattern to the first until a defensive slip by a Glen defender allowed Matheson another angled drive – and at 2-1 the game looked set to finish like that though the Glen youngsters - by that time John Cameron had come on - had their work cut out against tough tackling Lovat defenders who to be fair to them pushed the rules up to the very edge because they could.

Another clash in the Glen backline resulted in a penalty  which was saved by Stuart Mackintosh before Lewis Tawse eventually converted a chance late on to seal the match for Lovat. There was also a  fourth goal in the 95^th minute - how did the match last that long- which Graham Macmillan squeezed home to give a somewhat flattering gloss on the result but by that time the Glen defenders were taking down the advertising boards and getting ready to go home.

Despite all that the match was compelling stuff, competitive and compulsively enjoyable despite the result. The best thing about it though is that we have no pictures of the game to show how it went which is just as well-it will not be featuring in shinty memories in 40 years’ time.

The pictures we do have - from our special photographer on assignment come from Balmacara. They mark the only thing of note from a Glen perspective-the injury to big Calum Smith who had to leave the match in 15 minutes with a hand injury. He ended up in Broadford and was stitched - it would have been quicker than Raigmore.

Oh – and the girls won twice in the past week. The first team defeated Aberdour 7-1 with hat-tricks from Rebecca Van Loon and Zoe Smith and a single from Hazel Hunter while the seconds beat Lovat 9-6 with five goals from Freya Gault and four from Rowan Brockie. Pictures - just one of Hazel with grateful thanks to Neil Paterson.

Here we go again- Happy as can be……..

It’s been a while- and a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then- but the Wing Centre has taken it upon himself after more than two and a half fallow years to pick up the feather quill once more and to mix the metaphors to inject fresh life into the D.

But where on earth to start?  After so long away without an explanation -Covid was only part of it-the Wing Centre who won a Mowi Media Award in 2019 only to find himself and his whole sport cast aside by the National (really the Herald Sports desk which appears to believe the vicissitudes of the Old Firm is the only subject worth dealing with) when the sport returned in 2021.

Bitter? Moi? It would be easy to believe that metropolitan Scotland was engaged in a deliberate attempt to tell rural Scotland its needs and priorities did not count. Apparently, they came for our ferries, then they came for our wood-burning stoves but actually first they came for our Shinty.

But that is a by the by - the irony of which is lost on some folk. However, the real irony is that of Glengarry winning 2-1 at Blairbeg on an April afternoon of wind and rain leavened with a little sunshine at times.They haven't won here for ages. All that was needed was for someone to say “By gosh, . there’s a fair bit of warmth in that sun.”

And there was, for the whole two minutes it was in it. Glengarry of course coming from the bottom part of the Great Glen are not really used to the sun - they play best when the weather is cloudy with midgies but on Saturday they did not seem to be themselves but more of that later.

Indeed, the game opened with Urquhart’s fair Glen in the ascendancy to the extent that they opened the scoring within the first minute. With the direction of travel being towards the old shop end the very first attack yielded a result when Bradley Sneddon swept the ball forward to Neale Reid. His link up play with full forward Jed Stoddart lead to a chance with Jed fired home smartly to put the Glen ahead 1-0. Glen kept pressing and the Jedi Warrior had another strike on target in 10 minutes which the keeper did well to get.  This was followed up shortly afterwards with a snap shot from Charlie Macleod that drew another fine save from the Garry keeper.

For some reason that was it- Glenurquhart began to struggle in the midfield and Glengarry began to look dangerous and if it were not for at least two fine saves from keeper Shalom Brown and stalwart defending from full back Eddie Tembo, helped by James Keating and Ben Mackenzie Garry would surely have gone in ahead at half time. Wasteful shooting from the Garry did not help them though – and in the second half they continued in this manner. Eventually Glenurquhart who had rode their luck eventually ran out of good fortune and quick goals from Steven Cameron and Nick Dalgety in the 64^th and 69^th minute respectively clinched the game-though to be fair the Garry could have scored more. Fortunately for the home side the other two Garry front men Raymond Robertson and Brian Macdonald were not quite at it-and the score remained 2-1 though as the photo will show Garry had 14 men on the park at times which hardly seems fair. But what can you expect-the Garry clansmen spent centuries coming up the Great Glen stealing stuff from Frasers and Grants-they are still at it-only now its League points they steal.

And what else is new?

Well Glen were finally able to play shinty on the park behind the school. The field has been there since 2002 and last week permission was finally given for a shinty match to take place on the hallowed turf thanks to the efforts of Club President Garry Mackintosh and of Glen School Headteacher Mr T.J. Van Loon, himself a shinty player.

The first game on the field was between Glenurquhart Ladies and Strathglass with Strathglass gaining the victory- but the match result was not quite so important (he lied) as the fact that the pitch was in use.

As the village grows then it becomes clearer and clearer that the original sports facilities are simply under too much pressure from shinty alone. Have a look at this which Club Fixtures Secretary Louise Power put out this week

Tuesday 16th April 2024
U17's Kilmallie v Glen Urquhart 6.30pm throw up
Wednesday 17th April 2024
U17's Development Lovat v Glen Urquhart 6.30pm throw up
Thursday 18th April
WCA North 2 Glen Urquhart v Lovat 6.45pm throw up at Glen Urquhart High School pitch
Friday 19th April 2024
U14's Glen Urquhart v Caberfeidh 6 30pm throw up
Saturday 20th April 2024
WCA National Glen Urquhart v Aberdour 12 noon throw up
Men's North Kinlochshiel v Glen Urquhart 2.30pm throw up
Men's Premiership Glen Urquhart  v Lovat 3pm throw up
Sunday 21st April 2024
WCA U14's Tournament @ Lovat 11am start

That emphasises the fact that there is a crying need for more pitches in the Glen for shinty alone, and the way things are going with housebuilding in the area unless we move fast there soon will not be a piece of flat ground in the village on which to place a park. The flat fields between Lewiston and Balmacaan would make a lovely sports venue but the Wing Centre can’t see that happening.

Finally, the Wing Centre was up at Raigmore this past Wednesday- and who should he meet in the carpark but Glen full back Lachie Smith. 

The initial thought was that Lachie must have picked up an injury and was in to get a plaster on some part of his anatomy- but no the reason was a happy one. Lachie and his wife Clara have just had a wee boy Dougal-so congratulations to the pair of them- and wee Dougal who has a Glen shinty pedigree going back to his great grandpa who picked up a Strathdearn cup winners medal with the Glen side of 1977 who beat Ballachulish *. Where else but at the Garry. See how things go round and round…….

*It has been pointed out by Ally Mac (Sen) that wee Dougal's great-grandad was a member of one of the Glen's greatest cup winning teams-the side of '77 which also included Calum Fraser (Shewglie) as captain, Kenny Maclennan (Dixie's dad) , Frostie's father, Ken Fraser (Shewglie), Amanda's dad Ritchie and uncle Andrew (Amanda is the partner of Vincent at Lochletter Lodges), Mr Reid of Lewiston , present Club Chieftain Alan Bell, Alec Shaw (son of Mr Shaw, Divach)  , Donald Macdonald (brother of  Liz, Anne and Shona the Post Office). Also present on the field were the late Len Macrae (who hosted the post match celebrations at his home at Balmacaan)  , the late Davie Morrison (Fort Augustus) and though modesty almost forbids him mentioning it, the Wing Centre himself who actually played at buckshee back, a position which sums up his whole approach to life and which meant he was the Bradley of his day. No higher accolade could he seek.

Thanks to Neil Paterson for permission to use the photograph of Lachie, to T J Van Loon for the pic of the Glen/Strath Teams and to Neil Stoddart for the snap of the Glengarry coaches encroaching!!