The Longest Day
It might have been the midsummer solstice but for Glen supporters it certainly felt like it was the longest day ever. In any event, it was a day that took a very long time to come to an end. However there was no real sense of what was to come in the first minute or two when Lovat full-back Drew Howie had to come off the field. He had aggravated an old injury and was replaced by Fraser Gallagher. In truth that Howie injury turned out to be lucky for Lovat because Gallagher went on to have an excellent match at the back and was rarely troubled until very late on when he found the physical strength of Glen sub Callum Smith a bit more of a test for him. But that is to jump ahead of matters.
The reality of what they were up against did
not strike the Glenners, who actually had a little bit of pressure early on themselves,
until the fifth minute when an error in midfield allowed Greg Matheson to run
forward unchallenged and he fired home the opener from a narrow angle. Glen fought back and Lewis Maclennan forced a
save out of Stuart Macdonald but Glen were too slow on the follow up allowing
Cruden to hack the ball away to safety. Next Lovat’s Lorne Mackay at the other
end first timed a shot over the bar when he might have done better. Lewis
Maclennan then just missed the target with a drive that flew just wide of the
post. It seemed to be end to end stuff but the knowledgeable ones amongst the
fans could sense that Lovat were actually the more direct and threatening of
the two teams.
By the 17 th
minute when Glen attacks had petered out on the rock of a sound Lovat defence
or shots were having to be taken from too long a range to be effective, the
truth became clear. Lovat were too focused, too fit and too quick to allow the
Glen to get back into the game at this stage. It’s not that the Glen players
were all playing poorly – youngster James Hurwood in the centreline had as much
off his man as could be expected; the Glen shies consistently were longer and
more reliable but the Lovat hitting was quicker and crisper out of defence and
they also had players fit enough to pack the back line and deny Glen space.
Glen’s Neale
Reid then made some space and fired a shot in on target which was stopped by
Stuart Macdonald but once again the Lovat keeper was not put under
sufficient pressure at the second ball
and he was able to clear it comfortably out for a shy. Glen were under pressure
after this but though they dealt with most attempts reasonably well they were
undone when a ball broke kindly in front of goal for Lovat’s Graham MacMillan
and he rammed it past Stuart Mackintosh to make it three nil.
Lovat, now
high on adrenalin and confidence continued to play with fluency and speed for
the rest of the half but the Glen defence managed to hold together sufficiently
well to deny them further goals before the half time whistle.
Credit is
due to Lovat for the fact that they forced the pace of the match and for large
parts of the half the Glen front players and midfield were pushed back too deep
for any attempted breakout to carry much threat. Lovat kept a high line and their
pace up front allowed them to create chances which they cashed in in the shape
of three goals: one from a tight angle, the second via a well taken rebound
from a save and the third from a break of the ball which was finished off
smartly. The point was that the Lovat front men were on hand to take the chances: at the other end, rebounds were not chased down, and the shots on target were just not accurate enough. It was clear that the holes left by the absence of Glen first choice defenders Mike Brady and Ally Mackintosh were just too big to close.
The second
half from a Glen perspective was not quite as bleak though Lovat continued to
look the more dangerous side whenever they broke forward while the Glen did not
really ask questions of the Lovat defence on the occasions they attacked. Lovat
too came close when the excellent Graham Macmillan was allowed to burst through
and carry the ball forward for twenty yards before hitting a shot which came back
off the post. It was a strike created by vision but executed by speed and fitness
and showed that the Glen were going to be on a knife edge all afternoon if they
did not manage to get to the ball first.
Almost
immediately the Glen did manage to mount some pressure when Neale Reid cut a
ball across from the right to David Smart in the centre but he was eased off
the ball with the cutest of back pushes and the chance was lost. Kevin Bartlett
was mysteriously booked next but a careless swing from Calum Cruden which
caught David Smart on the top of the head also received a card which, on a
different day, might have been red.
Still, the Glen
continued to try to push forward and Lovat keeper Stuart Macdonald managed to
hack away a shot from Lewis Maclennan which had squirmed past him, a save which
tended to confirm the Glen support in the belief that this was never going to
be their day. Indeed Glenurquhart attacks lacked the fluency of interpassing
which characterised more or less each Lovat incursion into the Glen half – and the
pace of the Lovat front men really meant that the Glen defenders really could
not get any real depth or consistency to their clearances under pressure.
Glenurquhart did to be fair, spend more time in the Lovat half in this period
of play and this yielded a snap shot from close in from Neale Reid which was
saved by Macdonald and cleared away.
To underline
the fact that it was simply not Glenurquhart’s day Lovat’s Lorne Mackay scored
a fourth from another Glen mistake when a rebound from goalkeeper Mackintosh
was not cleared by Glen full-back John Barr.
Lovat then
enjoyed a further spell of pressure before a snap shot from distance by Eddie
Tembo brought another fine reaction save out of Macdonald.
The strike was to mark Tembo’s last involvement in the game and he was replaced by Callum Smith who moved to take up position at full forward while Dave Maclennan moved to his more natural centreline berth. This switch allowed Glen to mount some more sustained attacks but again the shooting was wayward, except for another powerful drive from Reid which Macdonald kept out. Always though, the pacy Lovat front men were liable to cause damage when they moved forward but it was actually Lewis Maclennan who was on the target at this stage when he picked up a little knockback from Callum Smith who was beginning to get some change out of Lovat fullback Gallagher.
The strike was to mark Tembo’s last involvement in the game and he was replaced by Callum Smith who moved to take up position at full forward while Dave Maclennan moved to his more natural centreline berth. This switch allowed Glen to mount some more sustained attacks but again the shooting was wayward, except for another powerful drive from Reid which Macdonald kept out. Always though, the pacy Lovat front men were liable to cause damage when they moved forward but it was actually Lewis Maclennan who was on the target at this stage when he picked up a little knockback from Callum Smith who was beginning to get some change out of Lovat fullback Gallagher.
Lovat took a
fifth goal in the 90th minute when yet again another of their fast
breaks won them a free hit when Andrew Corrigan threw the club to put Kevin Bartlett
off his strike. The free hit was rolled across the face of the goal and Lorne
Mackay was not marked closely enough at the back post and was able to finish
from an acute angle. The only thing left to add to Glenurquhart woes was the bizarre
end that came to the match when a Callum Smith strike in injury time flew into
the net and came back out off the stanchion and the goal was not given much to
the justified anger of Neale Reid who was booked for protesting. One would like
to think this card would be rescinded given the circumstances once the
officials have had time to think about it but given the way the Glen’s luck
turned out on the day one would not bet on it.
In the end
then Lovat ran out justified winners of the MacTavish. Somewhat flattered by
the score perhaps but not much. They were certainly in parts too quick and clearly
too fit for the Glen. While they weren’t first to every ball, as the post-match
narrative would have it, they were first to more than their share and while the
pace of Mackay, Macmillan and Bartlett was killer and helped them make their
own luck they were also helped by Glen errors, which to be fair, the red and
blacks were forced into. Superb goalkeeping from Stuart Macdonald also played
its part in the Glen defeat as did the fact that until late in the game the
Glen defence and centreline were really unable to take the game forward to the opposition.
One might have thought that with injuries causing the loss of big players like Howie
and Matheson that the Glen might have had a chance to get back into the game but
the Lovat squad had clearly enough strength in depth to be able to cope.Lovat now will want to push on and their next big test will be in the MacAulay against Newtonmore. They ought to win but you never know; they will certainly face more focused opposition from Newtonmore than they met at the Bught on Saturday.
As for the Camanachd Association, they need to cut the grass, do something about the stanchions and get someone to dust the seats at the Bught before the next final. On the other hand it was probably just as well for the Glen that the grass was not bowling green short since that might have helped the quick Lovat forwards to even more goals. On reflection, that long grass may well have been appropriate for the longest day. Perhaps even if the game had been played at Balgate, the Glen might have had a better chance!!
The action pictures are from Sheena Lloyd: the rest from the Wing Centre. The pictures of Mary Ann were provided by Neil Paterson.
Last week the “D” made a pledge to get a decent picture of Mary Ann because the one we had was not very good- so here we have two. Obviously one is a lovely portrait but the other one is the real Mary Ann who is a legend in North shinty circles and received a well-deserved honour in the Queen’s Birthday List.
Behave yourselves-of course the other pictures have a Glenurquhart focus but if all else fails , read the text.
Why the
band? The last man on the right- and this is the first time the Wing Centre has been able
to use this line- is a genuine “Drum drummer.” Take a bow John Goodfellow of
Druimlon, the only Glenner who had a successful day.
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