Shinty: Holders Kingussie through in cup with shootout win, Lochaber & Glenurquhart out
- Published
Kingussie opened their defence of the cottages.com MacTavish Cup with a 6-5 victory in a marathon shootout against Lovat following a 2-2 first-round draw at The Dell.
There were away wins for two second-tier sides over Premiership opponents when Beauly upset Lochaber 4-3 and Kilmallie edged Glenurquhart 2-1. Newtonmore comfortably eliminated Strathglass from two divisions below them 3-0 at The Eilan.
A late surge from Oban Camanachd at Mossfield gave them a 2-1 Mowi Premiership success over Kyles Athletic.
Lewis Tawse got an early breakthrough for Lovat and Savio Genini's second-half equaliser took the tie to extra time, during which Dylan Borthwick edged Kingussie ahead for the first time. A second from Tawse with two minutes remaining sent the tie to the shootout, with Kingussie eventually prevailing.
Early goals from Finlay MacLennan and Jack MacDonald gave Beauly a comfortable cushion at Spean Bridge. Ben Delaney pulled one back for Lochaber just before half-time but there was still long enough for Finlay 'Stork' MacLennan and MacDonald's second to give Beauly a 4-1 interval leader. Delaney completed his hat-trick in the second half but Lochaber fell just short.
Daniel MacLean put Glenurquhart ahead but Shane O'Rua and Calum MacDougall won the tie for Kilmallie before half-time.
A Cameron McNiven double and one from Drew MacDonald, all in the first half, secured Newtonmore's progress.
In the league, it took more than an hour for Innes MacDonald to put Kyles in front but a Malcolm Clark equaliser and Lewis Cameron's penultimate-minute winner secured the points for Camanachd.
The other Oban side, Oban Celtic, succumbed 5-1 to visitors Bute in the preliminary round of the Tulloch Camanachd Cup with Iain MacDonald scoring a hat-trick.
The MacTavish Cup tie between Caberfeidh and Kinlochshiel was abandoned in the first half when referee Steven MacLachlan took ill. Two firefighters in the Kinlochshiel team were able to intervene successfully with a nearby defibrillator.