BEAULY put a decade of misery behind them in the Balliemore Cup on Saturday but were left trying to locate a piper for their triumphant return to the Inverness-shire village.
The green and white-shirted players have suffered three final defeats in this competition in the past 10 years and must have thought the cup was cursed to elude them.
However, they put that all to bed in fine style at the Dell in Kingussie on Saturday, defeating Glasgow Mid Argyll 5-3; all of their goals coming in a virtuoso first-half.
The talented Connor Ross scored four goals in a 25-minute spell but past lessons had taught Roger Cormack’s men not to take anything for granted.
In fact, they had not even booked a traditional piper for the return home, or a celebration, eager not to tempt fate once again.
“In terms of trophies, I think we’ve done our time at the coal face,” said a delighted president David Calder.
“What is really pleasing is that a few of the players who have lost all the previous Balliemore finals finally got their hands on the trophy. Because of the past disappointments, we kept everything low key before the game.
“We didn’t book anything in terms of celebrations or anything as we didn’t want to invite the omens.
“However, the boys richly deserved it. When Jamie MacLennan got injured and we had to regroup a little, GMA came back into the game and they deserve credit for their second half performance.
“They are a very good side. I think it will take a while for this win to sink in.”
Sean Stewart was Beauly’s other scorer while GMA netted through Angus MacKintosh, Jon Don MacKenzie and a last minute penalty from Craig Anderson.
In the Premiership, Newtonmore and Kyles kept up their title momentum against Kinlochshiel and Inveraray respectively.
Lochaber will be delighted with a 3-2 away win over Glen Urquhart.
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