Shinty: Late Innes winner caps thrilling final triumph for Fort William

Published on Sunday 19 September 2010 18:45

Fort William 3 Kingussie 2

It went one way, then the other and finally no one knew which way it was going to go at all. However, in the end, Fort William were clutching the 103rd Scottish Hydro Camanachd Cup on Saturday evening and, in sporting terms, everything else is immaterial.

That said, there was a whole lot more to this final in the Inverness drizzle than the final outcome and the 3,000 or so that were there could count themselves fortunate to have witnessed it.

Maybe it was because they haven't met in a Camanachd Cup final for two years but there was a freshness about both Fort William and Kingussie. A few years ago, the pair had met in so many major showcases that the encounters became chess matches only Garry Kasparov could win.

Indeed, the 2008 Camanachd Cup final (won 2-1 by Fort) descended into farce when the tactics deployed to halt Kingussie's Ronald Ross verged on martial arts.

It worked but it was ugly and shinty didn't emerge from the aftermath looking too clean, either. Even the president made mention of it with distaste in his speech at the after-match dinner, choking slightly on his salmon.

Saturday was different, though, in oh so many ways, and refreshing for it.

Under Stephen Borthwick, Kingussie are a vibrant looking side full of vim - a marked contrast to the one paced-ness of recent years.

Their forwards ghost into space and few passes are hopeful. Everything is cultured at speed and their movement is a joy. In fact, their play is a modern take on an old Kingussie tradition of fluent, passing shinty. Thomas Borthwick, for example, has everything for a teenager and, as far as Camanachd Cup debuts go, this was a very good one for a young man who, judging by his looks, would stand little chance of getting served in a bar. Boy, can he play shinty, though.

He maybe never got a medal but he got a goal and was denied a stone-wall penalty to boot. In many ways he deserved more, as did Lee Bain, who did the best job ever seen in a Camanachd Cup final of nullifying James Clark - so often a giant on these occasions. When Clark was finally replaced by Victor Smith, he looked like a man denied his annual diet of Camanachd Cup adoration. In the absence of Clark's customary influence, though, Fort did have a match winner in a player reaching the peak of his game. Gary Innes has been a superb wing centre for Scotland and Fort for some time. Moved into the forward line, he is a revelation. Lithe, agile, fast and with excellent stick skill, he has it all in the locker.Right from the beginning he looked in hungry mood and it wasn't a huge surprise that he ended up donning the coveted Albert Smith medal for man of the match at the end, just as he did in 2005.

It was Innes who smacked Fort into the lead after 15 minutes with a shot which tore into the bottom of the net, abetted by the greasy surface.

Bryan Simpson, who broke a hand in the semi final and only had a cast removed ten days ago, added to the lead in 40 minutes.

Innes played him in with a nonchalant pass and the youngster calmly slotted past Andrew Borthwick.

As mentioned, though, this final was different. One of the obvious differences was the giant screen mounted opposite the grandstand and, while the fans loved it, it did little for Oban ref Billy Wotherspoon. At 1-0, Thomas Borthwick was felled in the box with a tackle by Neil Robertson which almost halved him.

Wotherspoon and his goal judge had a quick chat about it and there was much head shaking before Borthwick was booked for his protestations. The fans, meanwhile, were watching the re-runs on the screen in disbelief and, if only Wotherspoon had had a minute to take a look, he would have realised his gaff. It may not have made much of a difference but Simpson scored minutes later which suggests Kings might be right in harbouring a grievance.

Ronald Ross got them back into it, though, with a rudimentary 42nd-minute goal and the second half was basically all Kingussie bar the final Innes masterstroke.

Borthwick got his goal, taking a Ross pass and shooting across Paul MacKay and it looked like an extra 30 minutes would be needed to crown a winner.

It wasn't the way Innes saw it, though. He came short to take a John MacDonald corner to feet and hooked the ball high into the net for the winner and a fourth successive final triumph for Fort.

"It looked as if the final was slipping away so I was glad I hit the sweet spot," he said. It was sweet for sure, as was the final.