Brothers Ethan and Owen Cairns were direct rivals last week when Caley Thistle met Elgin City – and offered a ringing endorsement of one another’s talents
Caley Thistle’s attacking midfielder Ethan, 18, and Elgin City’s full-back Owen, 24, faced off as ICT ran out 4-1 winners in Saturday’s friendly at the Caledonian Stadium.
It was their first such head-to-head contest of more than a couple of minutes, and they enjoyed trying to get the better of each other on the field.
Ethan, who last month agreed a new one-year contract with the Caley Jags, was delighted the meeting allowed his family to see both in action at the same time.
He said: “Our mum and dad were in the stand, but we just said to each other beforehand to keep it professional and stick to our jobs.
“We only played against one another before and it was quite a while ago when I was on loan at Strathspey Thistle (and Owen was a Fraserburgh), but it wasn’t for long. I can’t really remember it, so it was good to get a good chunk of the game on Saturday.
“The day before the game, I thought I’d be playing on the wing and Owen’s a full-back, so I expected there was a chance we could be direct opponents.
“We’re often playing at the same time, and my dad would love to be at both games, so it was good for him to get to see us both play.”
Owen possesses the ‘heart of a lion’
Inverness’ Ethan is the taller of the two, but the teenager says his sibling has other qualities which narrow that gap.
He said: “I do have the height advantage, but what he doesn’t have in height, he makes up for in heart. He’s got the heart of a lion.
“Owen has always kept at it. He loves training and working hard.
“I’ve seen it when I watched him in the Highland League play for Turriff United and Fraserburgh.
“He hasn’t really changed his game-style. It’s always full of energy, gung-ho, and he’s doing brilliantly.”
Ethan is knuckling down and keen to win more and more game-time as the new Championship season approaches.
He said: “There is strong competition for places. Everyone is putting in a lot of graft on the training ground and there is good energy around the camp at the moment.
“Pre-season is a big chance to catch the manager and coaches’ eyes, especially as a young player, even the younger lads such as Keith Bray and Matthew Strachan. This is their first whack at (first-team) pre-season.”
Cup progression once more for ICT?
Saturday sees ICT’s season start for real when they host League Two Bonnyrigg Rose in their opening match in the Viaplay Cup.
Group E also contains Dumbarton, Airdrieonians and Dundee. Their next tie is away to Dumbarton next Tuesday as they seek to reach the knockouts for the second year running.
He said: “It is all about progressing from the group, so if you do get minutes, you have to grasp it, make an impact and work as hard as you can.”
Ethan stressed that, if given any minutes, he will be giving his all to make an impression.
Owen Cairns proud as brother Ethan breaks through
Owen, whose career kicked off as a youth at Ross County, also relished the toe-to-toe battle against his brother, who he said has always been up for a footballing tussle.
He said: “I played against Ethan for a couple of minutes when I was at Fraserburgh and he was on loan at Strathspey a few years ago, although we never ended up directly against one another.
“In the second half, he was Caley Thistle’s right midfielder and I was obviously at left-back, so we were directly head-to-head. I quite enjoyed it.
“We had a good feeling we would at some point play against one another on Saturday directly, just with the way the teams were lining up. We were well rehearsed.”
And he said their family footballing rivalry has always driven them on, adding: “There is certainly no lack of competition. We’re still as competitive as we were when we were very young.
“I am six years older, but he was always a big lad for his age – while I was always small for my age. Competition was always fierce in the back garden, that’s for sure.”
Owen is thrilled to see younger brother Ethan more than hold his own amid a batch of talented youngsters pressing for action at ICT.
He said: “Caley Thistle have a good crop of young players coming through and I am glad Ethan is part of that.
“He puts the work in during the off-season and works at his own physique and own game throughout the season. I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Pre-season best time to fix mistakes
Looking back at the weekend’s defeat at Inverness, Elgin’s Owen explained the 90 minutes for their depleted squad will provide valuable lessons on where they must improve as they seek an improved campaign in League Two.
He said: “As the manager has said, pre-season is all about performances and doing the right things.
“Our game plan didn’t come off on Saturday, but the opportunity is there in pre-season to make mistakes and learn from them.
“We tried to execute it as best we can and Caley Thistle had that bit more quality, but we competed well and felt we did ourselves justice.”
📆 Weekends are about to feel normal again
Which #ViaplayCup group will bring the drama in 23/24?@ViaplaySportsUK pic.twitter.com/YlpTCFNDde
— SPFL (@spfl) July 10, 2023
Motherwell clash is a cup cracker
Looking ahead to Elgin’s Viaplay Cup Group C opening tie against Stuart Kettlewell’s Premiership Motherwell on Saturday, Owen insists the Borough Briggs men are not entering the competition to make up the numbers.
He added: “You want to test yourselves against the best teams and Motherwell will be a big test.
“We have them at home, which is a big positive. I am sure they will be there in good numbers, as they always are week in, week out at Elgin.
“Motherwell will be very strong and sharp and we will try to be equal to that when we can. However, we will work on our game plan this week and try to execute it.
“We will look at the Viaplay Cup games as part of pre-season fixtures, but also try to be competitive as we can. We want to make sure we perform the best we can in the competition.”
Elgin’s section also contains Queen’s Park, Queen of the South and East Fife.
Their second fixture is at their League Two rivals East Fife on Tuesday.
