Newtonmore veterans Glen Mackintosh and Norman Campbell, with a combined age of 76, are willing to carry on playing next season.
This was indicated by manager Paul John Mackintosh after the Camanachd Cup winners had wrapped up their most disappointing league season in a decade by beating Oban Camanachd 5-0 in the Marine Harvest Premiership at the Eilan on Saturday.
The Blue and White Hoops have finished in third place but could yet be overtaken if Lovat win at Oban on Saturday week.
Mackintosh scored his 11th league goal of the season, his lowest haul in the last five years, but finishes seventh in the Premiership scoring charts. Campbell, who played in goal this season after persistent ankle trouble, missed the final match because of a Florida holiday.
Mackintosh said: “They’ll each be 39 next season but they have indicated they want to carry on. They did a fine job this year and I expect to see both back in pre-season in January.
“We fielded three 18-year-olds against Oban – Iain Richardson, Iain Robinson and Stuart Mitchell – and they’ll be pushing for a starting place next year.
“But to have a chance of doing that they’ll need to work harder than our older players, who have put in a great deal of work to keep themselves sharp.
“Different players have played well in different spells but Michael Russell has been our most consistently excellent performer.”
Neil Stewart got the home side off to a flier with a second-minute strike and Russell added the second before Evan Menzies slammed home just before the interval. An own goal by Matt Rippon in 50 minutes further sunk Oban and Glen Mackintosh completed the nap hand 14 minutes from time.
The five-goal spree was vengeance for having lost 2-1 to Oban at Mossfield in the second game of the season, which sparked off a disappointing early part of the season for Mackintosh’s men and sabotaged their hopes of an eighth successive championship.
After losing only four league games in four seasons, including being undefeated in 2016, the Badenoch men have lost four times this year, their worst run of losses in over a decade.
They won 16 times last year and 17 the year before, but this dropped to 14 this campaign.
Last year More slammed 72 goals and 63 the year before which makes this season’s haul of 43 goals comparatively miserly at more than a goal a game fewer.
They were, however, still a formidable force at the Eilan, going unbeaten, which means it is now three-and-a-half years since Newtonmore lost a home game on their own ground.
