Far North Shinty Sixes 2010

 

Last Saturday, Kinlochbervie Camanachd hosted the third annual Far North Shinty Sixes Tournament in Scourie. Teams came from Lewis, Bettyhill and the North as well as the Kinlochbervie sides. The sun was out bringing lots of spectators, who enjoyed watching the matches, eating from the BBQ and whiling away the afternoon. Shinty Shop was in attendance selling all things Shinty and doing a roaring trade. Mark MacDonald piped the first two teams on the pitch to start the proceedings. Refereeing the matches was Graham Cormack from the Camanachd Association assisted by KLB Coach, Duncan Clark. The games were all 10 minutes straight through so the shinty was quick, and urgent as all the teams wanted to score and make the most of their time on the pitch. As the crowd enjoyed the sport on the field, the scores on the boards were increasingly close. KLB Open and Lewis B were vying for first place as when they met towards the end of the day, both teams knew this was the decider. A very determined Lewis side scored early and KLB had to equalise to stay in the running, however despite many opportunities the home side didn’t hit the back of the net. Lewis celebrated as the final whistle blew, the game they still had to play would have no impact on the rankings, they had won the cup and the gold medals. In the younger section, the scores were even closer, KLB A and Farr B played the last game of their age group. KLB had to win to beat Farr A who all through the tournament were neck and neck with the home side. The final whistle blew with a 1-1 score and after the points, goals were added KLB A and Farr A were tied at the top. As their earlier game had been a 0-0 draw, there was no clear winner, it was a play-off. The two teams took to the field knowing what had to be done. There was great excitement as Farr took the first goal. KLB were just as determined and equalised only for Farr to very quickly take the lead with another goal. As the final whistle blew, Farr took first place and the junior cup. Runners –up in both sections were teams from Kinlochbervie Camanachd, both just missing out on the gold. Graham Cormack had been instructed to select a junior and a senior player of the tournament, Iain Allison, KLB was announced as the junior winner and Scott Murray, Lewis as the senior player, both were presented with   shields . It was a fantastic day of Shinty with a great atmosphere. Match scores and goal scorers can be found on the Kinlochbervie Camanachd website. A huge thanks to all the help and assistance given during the day – a real sense of community spirit throughout. Well done to all the organisers and participants.

Big congratulations to Lewis for their first peice of silverware, they were a welcome addition to our day and we hope to welcome them back again next year.