Fort William captain Niall MacPhee kissed the Camanachd Cup so hard he cut his lip, but even the blood could not dampen his delight after he had led his team to their fourth successive triumph in shinty’s showpiece final.
Scottish soldiers in Afghanistan watched Fort’s 3-2 win against Kingussie at Inverness in the game’s first live broadcast via the Forces Network.
They saw MacPhee’s men grab the trophy thanks to a last-minute goal from Gary Innes.
“When I was presented with the cup I managed to gash my lip kissing it, which was embarrassing,” said 24-year-old MacPhee.
“It was just such a relief to get my hands on it as Kingussie had dominated for spells in the second half.
“When we were in front we tried to sit on our lead and that handed Kingussie the momentum. But once they were level, we had to change.
“John Macdonald actually carried out two roles, his midfield one and a defensive one as he sacrificed himself for his team. And Liam MacIntyre did a great job marking Ronald Ross.”
Match-winner Innes was thrilled to win the Albert Smith memorial medal for man of the match for the second time in five years. He wore bright yellow boots in Fort colours and said: “I picked them up in Glasgow for £30 as I fancied wearing them in the final and I’m delighted to score two goals to justify them.
“It was a tactical affair rather than a classic final and I thought it was going to extra time so I was thrilled to see the winner hit the back of the net.”
Paul MacLeod, the 19-year-old goalkeeper in his first final, was another Fort hero and manager Peter MacIntyre said: “Paul’s father and grandfather played for the club and I knew he had the temperament to do well.
“He’ll get better because he’s got a superb attitude.”
MacIntyre’s key tactic was to shackle the Ronald Ross threat by having Liam MacIntyre play behind the Kingussie marksman and Adam Robertson just in front.
It left space on the right, but Kingussie seemed nonplussed and failed to utilise it.
Manager Steve Borthwick was without Ally Macleod and Ian Borthwick through injury and said: “We gambled on Ricky Grant’s fitness and it didn’t come off. We were better when Ricky was substituted and James Hutchinson switched to mark Gary Innes.
“Lee Bain must have come extremely close to the man of the match award for the way he blotted out James Clark. We felt we should have had a first half penalty and if it had gone to extra time we’d have backed ourselves.”
It was a strange final as Fort were in the ascendancy in the first half then played second fiddle in the second.
Innes lashed the opener high into the net then Bryan Simpson flicked the ball neatly past the advancing goalkeeper after a good run by Innes.
But a couple of minutes later Kingussie were back in it when Barry Dallas crossed accurately and Ross found space to scoop it in from close range.
The game went flat in the second half, but Macleod hared off his line to make a crucial stop from Ross. Then 16-year-old Thomas Borthwick became the youngest player to score in a Camanachd final in recent times when he angled home a drive to make it 2-2.
That’s the way it stayed until Innes fired the glory goal to put yellow and black ribbons on the cup for the fifth time in eight years and the sixth time in all.
Kingussie have lost their last two finals, the other being two years ago, and that is the first time that has happened to The Dell club in 42 years.
Earlier, Kinlochshiel under-14s had stormed to a 6-1 win against Fort William in the MacMaster Juvenile Cup final, leaving losing captain Arran MacPhee hoping it would not be a jinx on big brother Niall in the senior final. He need not have worried.