Greg Matheson, the Lovat forward, could only hobble out of Bught Park on Saturday night but he would not have changed a thing after helping his side lift the RBS MacTavish Cup.
The holders repeated their victory of last year by beating Inverness-shire rivals Glen Urquhart in the final, this time 5-1. It was both a glorious day for Alan MacRae's side and an eventful one for Matheson.
The prolific attacker had elected to play despite a hamstring problem and the gamble appeared to pay dividends almost immediately as he put his side on their way with the opener after five minutes. However, a knee injury sustained in a penalty box tangle aggravated his existing problem and, while he managed to return to the fray as one of the rolling substitutions, Matheson had to bow out and leave his team-mates to carry on.
They did so with some aplomb to leave Matheson a sore, but proud, man as he lifted the second senior trophy of his career. "I hurt my hamstring last week and, although it was all right in the warm-up, it was niggling me," he said. "It was great to get the opening goal because it settled us but, when I got the one in the knee, it was pretty much game over. I was desperate to get back on, however, when the fourth goal went in that was it; enough was enough."
Lovat's other scores came from Scotland forward Kevin Bartlett, and Graeme MacMillan, with Lorne MacKay also scoring twice. Glen's only strike came from Lewis MacLennan but they could have no complaints about the final scoreline. "People saw what good players the boys are," added MacRae.
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