MacDonald saves day for Lovat and seals trophy

Lovat's Stuart MacDonald starts the celebrations after the MacTavish Cup final win over Glen Urquhart. Picture: SNS

How prescient that was as the stopper, a plumber by trade, formed a human shield in the penalty shoot-out that helped seal a famous victory for the Kiltarlity side on Saturday.

After 120 minutes of shinty, the latter part of it a war of attrition, nothing could separate Lovat or Glen Urquhart at 1-1 and it was going to take something out of the ordinary to crown a winner at Bught Park.

MacDonald proved to be that out-of-the-ordinary element as he flung himself and his stick around the goal, keeping out three Glen penalties.

It was the tiny fraction extra that was required to make the difference and, suddenly, Lovat were cradling their first piece of major silverware for 60 years.

In all truth, they were not at their best in the first half as Glen managed to cut off the supply to the ebullient Greg Matheson and Scotland wide man Kevin Bartlett.

The wind also had a hand in the fare, with Glen taking the lead in 17 minutes through Fraser Heath, with the gust at their backs.

A neat side-flick by Neale Reid played in Heath for a crack at goal. It was a gift gratefully received by the player who ran all day for Glen and he finished the move off nicely.

Lovat’s first-half efforts were confined to a neat shot on the turn by 20-year-old top scorer Matheson which MacDonald tipped over with his stick.

However, Lovat did gain uplift in the second period and Graeme MacMillan, who had not long taken the field, equalised just after the hour when a loose ball trickled into his path, just begging to be dispatched.

Thereafter, a kind of chess match ensued with both sides achieving more in nullifying the other than providing the spark that would ignite the final.

That spark came at the very end in the unlikely shape of a goalkeeper.

“Stuart does that in training every week,” said team mate Bartlett afterwards. “We hit penalties at him and he will save far more than he concedes. The ones he doesn’t get, he is really angry about.

“You know, if Stuart is there and it is a penalty shoot-out, you have a chance.”

Only Ewan Brady managed to get the ball past MacDonald and, even then, it was hair-raisingly close.

Stuart MacKintosh, Heath and finally Lewis MacLennan all came a cropper when facing the stoic Lovat stopper.

By contrast, Matheson, Bartlett and MacMillan all found the net for Lovat.

Their 60-year-wait for a trophy was over and, amid the outpouring of joy, there was almost a sense of disbelief that it was happening.

In front of three surviving members of their last trophy-winning team from 1953, captain Callum Cruden lifted the ornate silver bowl.

The black-and-white portion of the 2,500-strong crowd cheered like they had never done and it may just be – given the age profile of this team – that more days like Saturday could be theirs in future.

This is a side that took a decision about seven years ago to build a new team from the youngsters they had. This team is the fruit of that forethought and, boy, have they grown well.

“There is no reason why we can’t go on,” said their Scottish internationalist Bartlett afterwards.

“This team can stay together for a long time. Winning this is a great achievement for a small village. We have the Macaulay Cup semi-finals to look forward to and we have a big game against Newtonmore coming up in the league.

“We need to win that. If we can, we have a chance.”

Glen Urquhart lost in this competition back in 2008 but this defeat will take on a different perspective this morning.

In no way did they disgrace themselves and it is doubtful whether anyone could have given any more in red and black.

They had some excellent performers on the day with Heath and Eddie Tembo particularly strong.

Quite simply, they lost only because one team had to. The margin was the size of paper.