The Nights are fair drawing in

As far as the Glen Year is concerned it’s almost a wrap- the Games are over and up at Corrimony & Buntait Farms, Barbara is once again selling tickets for the Pumpkins on the internet. To be fair it would be easier to get tickets for Oasis than for Barbara’s Pumpkins, the demand is so great – but when you’re old and a little bit off the digital pace you have to live with it and hope some younger relative can work the magic buttons. Apparently, they have.

The Games had their uses because Andy and his Fundraisers had a big push to raise some cash: Lovat has the Belladrum Bonanza to raise the shekels – as for the Glen the Games as always have been a useful addition to our sporran. On the day we had our stall with various “skills” on offer as well as the Shinty Bar in the Hall. There, of course, a whole other set of "skills" can come into play before the end of the night-not that one would want to dwell on these.

As well as that we had a tractor push at the Black Isle Show - this is where Rory comes into his own – 

and then again, a week after the Games, Laura Q and her Fundraisers organised a Caber Carry down the Glen. It was sponsored of course otherwise nobody is going to bother carrying a caber when they could put it in the back of Jed’s trailer and run it down to Drum.

On the actual field though things have not been so prosperous. The last game I can vaguely remember was a loss to Kinlochshiel at home by 5-1. A disappointing game for us in which we were outplayed by two guys with a Mum from Drum - the Nixon brothers scored three of the five goals. We did get a goal back - and thereby hangs a tale.

“Who got the goal for us?” the Wing Centre asked the loungers and loafers in front of the pavilion as the game proceeded.

“It was Alfie,” came the reply.

“You sure?” said yours truly. It didn’t look like Alfie but then you can never tell nowadays because they are all wearing these helmets. They all look the same.

So I asked Alfie’s Mam. She agreed it was Alfie - so far so good.

At the end of the match as the boys were leaving the changing rooms I saw Alfie.

“Nice goal today. Alfie “  I said.

“It wasn’t me - it was Charlie who got it.”

“But your Mum said it was you - so I’ll have to give the goal to you. When you read the Camanachd website, you’ll find out it was actually you who scored”

Alfie looked upset. “What a loyal brother he is” I thought to myself, reflecting that my own brother wouldn’t have thought twice about doing me out of a goal but at least my Mum would have known which of her sons was which – but then one was fair and one was dark. That is clearly not the case for Alfie and Charlie-see the pics - but then again helmets muck up the visibility. For those of you not certain who is who, it's Charlie at the top and then Alfie below- or is it? Not sure-over to you, Mum.

Back in the second team we’ve lost 5-1 to Beauly - not surprisingly because the men in Green fired a number of first team lads into their side. But then “they are allowed to play!” as DP says whenever the Wing Centre starts a whinge - and of course he is right and probably we should have done the same thing with our team selection too but we just seem to be in a perfect storm. We do seriously need to get a decent team out for the remaining two fixtures.

However, we do have a positive spin to put on things.

Last Saturday the youngsters went to Newtonmore - only Andrew “Corky “ Corrigan was of mature age - and while Jed Stoddart is in his early twenties all the rest were teenagers. Newtonmore might want to say that too but the presence of Norman Campbell and Glen Mackintosh on the team both with “hunners of winners medals” each made the gig a difficult one.

Despite the venue - and very likely despite what the Strathie will say-The Glen had the majority of the play in the first half. ‘More’s Norman Campbell was the sticking point at full back. Indeed , as they should be, the Glen youngsters were impressed by him. His play - not so much - but particularly in the way that he coaxed and coached his young players on the field. He is also a fair player - but tends to stay on his “D”. At his age that is no surprise.

After the first water break Glen front man Jed Stoddart tried to pull him out wide and this worked well enough to allow Jed to have a couple of shots at the target but unfortunately, he could not find the back of the net. Jed kept plugging away at all times unselfishly bringing into play the rest of the young Glen front line but Alfie Macleod, Charlie Macleod and Daniel Maclean while putting in an excellent shift just could not get strikes in that counted and so the teams went in 0-0 at half time. That this was the score at the break was in no small measure due to the efforts of the equally youthful Glen defence in particular Sam Burnett who handled Glen Mackintosh very effectively in the first half. Sam has not long returned to action following a broken collarbone - and for standing up to and often matching a player of Glen’s experience he deserves the highest praise.

While Andrew Corrigan carried the centreline he had fine support from John Cameron and Louis Montague on the wings - and following that when John Cameron went off Thomas Stebbings played an effective part. In defence Tom Edwards effectively prevented Newtonmore’s young striker James Coyle from hitting the target while remaining defenders Murphy Ross and Doug Brockie dug (sorry Doug) deep and refused to yield.

In the second half Newtonmore finally broke through and Glen Mackintosh picked up a goal but shortly afterwards  Daniel Maclean who'd moved up onto Norman Campbell , brought the match level with an excellent goal when he latched on to ball in from a corner taken by centreman Louis Montague. Maclean sprinted to the back post, giving Campbell the slip, and having gathered the ball took it past ‘More keeper Cammy Mitchell and flicked it into the bottom corner for an excellent finish

Unfortunately as often happens when a goal is scored ,a lack of concentration in the Glen defence allowed Newtonmore to reply almost immediately and unfortunately this was quickly followed by another strike from Glen Mackintosh.

 ‘More continued to press for a spell but Shalom Brown in the Glen goals pulled off some excellent stops to keep Glenurquhart in the game with a real chance of success and finally, in 81 minutes, Glenn Macdonald made the score 3-2 at the culmination of a real team effort. Louis Montague was again involved in the build up sending the ball down the wing to Charlie Macleod who dribbled forward then crossed it into the centre where Alfie Macleod let it roll through to Macdonald who took it away from his marker Rory Gilligan before firing it low into the net. Glenurquhart were then unfortunate not to net an equaliser late in the game when a snap shot from Daniel Maclean on the edge of the  D just failed to find the net.

A positive game then and lots of excellent performances – but sadly the points did not end up on the board.

The future is the way ahead however- and in that context its good to know that the Under-17s have made the semi of the London Shield while the other side-the under17 Development Squad is also through to a semi-in their case the the W.J Cameron. Good luck to them all.

Photos : Thanks to Hugh Montague for those taken on Games Day, to Charlene Macleod for those in the ‘Shiel game -the rest from the Camanachd Association &  GUSC Website and the Wing Centre himself.