Newtonmore lifted the Camanachd Cup for the 33rd time after a 3-0 victory over Lovat at Oban’s Mossfield Park.
The Cup holders dominated the match from start to finish with a team which had no weaknesses. The Badenoch outfit are sometimes considered to favour strength over subtlety but yesterday they proved that beyond the strength and a sometimes ruthless approach, there lies a cleverness and an ability to fashion attacks which left Lovat floundering.
For Lovat, the problem of finding a way through the Newtonmore defence remains and in 2018 they have scored just one goal against Newtonmore in four matches.
In Greg Matheson, Lovat have the Premiership’s top scorer but yesterday he struggled to create one viable opening and by the end cut a dejected figure.
Evan Menzies, winner of the Albert Smith Man of the Match Award, modestly brushed aside praise for his contribution of two goals and instead spoke of the team work which underpinned his side’s third successive Camanachd Cup triumph.
“I’m very pleased to get the award, it means a lot to me to get this and to stand alongside some shinty legends of the past,” he said. “But the team is the thing and I honestly think there were other deserving candidates, like Mike Russell, Steve MacDonald and Craig Ritchie.
“Also you have to think of our defence. They were superb today and if you look at Greg Matheson, he scores goals for fun every other Saturday but he has never scored against Rory [Kennedy]. Rory is probably the best defender in shinty. I would hate to play against him.”
Menzies and his strike partner Glen MacKintosh took some time to get the measure of the Lovat defence but in the 30th minute Menzies scored the opener with a low drive which caught Lovat keeper Stuart MacDonald off balance as he appeared to slip on the greasy surface.
The goal stirred Lovat into action and a minute later they had the ball in the net when Matheson and Marc MacLachlan combined but Matheson’s finish was ruled off-side.
Two uncharacteristic errors from the Lovat keeper in the lead up to half time gifted further goals to ’More with MacKintosh and Menzies the beneficiaries.
In the second half Lovat’s game began to disintegrate further and even the basics of striking a hit-in from the sideline appeared beyond them.
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