HAVING dominated shinty in recent seasons, Newtonmore’s players knew that even in victory they were supporting performers on a day that was about much more than sport.

The focus was wholly on opponents Kilmallie and the now well documented deaths of their former players Duncan Rodger and Donald Lamont, however that only tested the capacity of a champion team to focus on the task in hand and let them demonstrate that their resolve remains formidable.

“It was a very difficult to prepare for,” admitted manager PJ MacKintosh, as he reflected on what was ultimately a hard fought 3-2 victory.

“We weren’t sure how the Kilmallie players would react, so we’re delighted to get the day over and done with and hopefully now we can get back to some sort of normality.”

They consequently return to the routine of their on-going bid to get their defence of the Marine Harvest Premiership title and their pursuit of a seventh consecutive success in that competition, properly back on track.

Currently fourth in the league, that they were seen – setting all emotional considerations aside – as potentially vulnerable against a Kilmallie side who are currently second bottom having just been promoted back into the top flight this season, was itself telling and MacKintosh was acutely aware that their start to this season had got tongues wagging.

A draw at Glenurquhart had been followed up even more surprisingly by defeat at Oban Camanachd and, when after a run of five straight wins they then stumbled again at Kinlochshiel, the suggestion was that what had been a huge advantage in terms of the experience in their squad, may just have become a problem because too many key players were growing older together.

Winning the first trophy of the season was that bit more important than usual then. “We lost a couple of league games early doors and there were murmurs going round some of the other clubs that maybe we were past our best or wouldn’t be competing,” MacKintosh acknowledged. “However we’ve got the first one in the bag and we’re still in all the other trophies so there’s everything to play for.”

Saturday’s victory by definition leaves them as the only club that can now win the sport’s grand slam this season, the one thing that has eluded them during this six-year run that has also seen them win shinty’s most famous trophy, the Camanachd Cup, three times and the MacAulay and MacTavish Cups twice apiece.

No team has achieved that since their great rivals Kingussie did so for the sixth time and the only time this century in 2003, and 32 years have elapsed since Newtonmore were the last of the others to do so when winning their third, while their current squad came closest last season when they also won the MacTavish Cup and added both the Premiership and Camanachd Cup to their haul but were knocked out of the MacAulay Cup in the second round.

That three of the four competitions are of the knockout variety obviously makes it difficult enough to achieve and this season there is the added complication of league success already being out of their hands since, for all that they have yet to meet them in this campaign, they already trail unbeaten Kyles Athletic by six Premiership points.

In the manner of the modern sports manager, MacKintosh was, however, adamant that thoughts of sweeping the boards are the furthest thing from his and his players’ minds right now as they look no further ahead than to Saturday’s trip to Lovat.

“They’ve talked about the grand slam for a number of years and it’s never entered our heads,” he insisted.

“We always just go from one to the other. Our next important game is the league next week and that’s the way it is, Saturday to Saturday and if you do things on a Saturday correctly you’ll be all right.”