Even before news had emerged of the defeat for title rivals Kyles Athletic’s up the road at Lovat, Johnston Gill, the Kinlochshiel manager, was satisfied with having avoided defeat at the hands of the reigning champions following his side’s 2-2 draw at The Eilan yesterday.
For all that it has been repeatedly averred this season that the team that has dominated the sport in winning the Marine Harvest Premiership for each of the past seven season is on the wane, Newtonmore remains as hard a place as there is in the sport to take anything from, so claiming that point which ensured Kinlochshiel’s destiny remained in their own hands could prove significant.
“A win would have been nice but we know going into the last three games that we don’t need Kyles to drop any points apart from two against us,” noted Gill, the teams having gone into the day separated only by goal difference.
Yesterday’s results switched the balance ahead of their potential league decider since, all other results being equal, it is now Kyles who must win when they meet on September 23 on what will be the last match played at Kinlochshiel’s home pitch at Kirkton before they move to a new ground next season.
“It would be fantastic to start the new season on our new park as the new Scottish champions,” said Gill, noting, however, that the meeting with Kyles apart, they face a Glenurquhart side next weekend that has already beaten them this season and is battling to ensure Premiership survival, before ending the season with a treacherous trip to Oban Camanachd who knocked them out of this season’s Camanachd Cup.
On yesterday’s evidence they will be tough to beat, though, given the attitude they showed in taking the game to the champions. They had already spurned a string of chances when, on his side’s first meaningful attack 11 minutes into the game, Newtonmore’s predatorial Glen Mackintosh took the half chance offered to get a shot on target that Kinlochshiel captain and goal-keeper Scott Kennedy will feel he should have kept out. However the scores were level within three minutes when John MacRae forced the ball in from close range and the visitors continued to dominate the opening half.
The pattern changed significantly after the break as a Newtonmore side that had been weakened by injuries stepped things up and they reclaimed the lead when Fraser Mackintosh was given time and room to bring the ball down from a corner before calmly flicking it past Kennedy. This time, though, Kinlochshiel took their turn to defy the overall run of play to level for a second time, Finlay MacRae’s shot rebounding off Campbell and into the path of Keith MacRae who tucked it home.
It was a result that almost certainly killed off Newtonmore’s last realistic chance of holding onto their title, but with the Camanachd Cup final against Lovat just three weeks away they, too, demonstrated a fighting spirit which suggests they remain capable of completing yet another fine season.
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