Camanachd Cup final heading for Inverness

INVERNESS has won the race to host this year's Camanachd Cup final, beating off a strong bid by Beauly to stage the blue riband event for the first time.

The Camanachd Association board, which considered five different venue proposals, is understood to have given Bught Park the thumbs up for the September silverware spectacular at a meeting this week.

Serious consideration was given to Beauly, who hosted the Sutherland Cup final several years ago, but Braeview Park lacked the huge Inverness grandstand, which was a deciding factor.

The last two finals were at Oban and Fort William with Dunoon the 2006 hosts, but Inverness was the venue in 2007 when Fort William defeated Inveraray 3-1.

Inverness is also set to be the venue for a shinty-hurling international with outline agreement reached with the GAA to play two games this year, on an aggregate score basis. The first is already arranged for Croke Park, Dublin, and the Camanachd Association is leaning towards the return match being at Bught Park.

This will not be popular with other venues, but the huge crowd at last October's fixture, narrowly won by the Irish, has tipped the balance in favour of a return to the Highland capital.