Daniel MacCuish will drop out of Oban Camanachd’s final Premiership game of the season, at Kilmallie tomorrow, so that he can play against Kingussie in the under-17 London Shield final, the last trophy of the season.
Six of the Lochside Rovers squad which last month won the Sutherland Cup for the first time in 20 years will line up as Oban bid to retain the Shield in the showdown at Craigard Park, Invergarry.
Kilmallie have agreed to an Oban request to switch the top flight fixture at Canal Park to an 11.30 start to allow officials and players to watch the under-17s clash which begins at 2 pm.
Daniel MacCuish, who scored when Oban beat Skye 3-2 at Newtonmore in last year’s final, is a first team regular but manager Ian Hay revealed:”We’ve agreed to leave him out so that he can play in the London Shield, which is only fair.
“It shows what a good pipeline our youth system has developed, with several of these lads having played for the first team or are knocking on the door.”
David MacCuish and Scott Buchanan, the Under 17 team bosses, are able to field goalkeeper Cammy Sutherland, Craig Easton, Lewis Buchanan, and Daniel Sloss, plus Daniel MacCuish, from the Sutherland Cup triumph.
Three players from that success – Chris Macmillan, Evan Maclennan and Craig Macdougall – are over-age for the London Shield and have been called up for first team duty.
“They will probably all start”, said Hay, who has Gavin Stobbart and Daniel Cameron back but has Aidan MacIntyre and Andrew MacCuish out for work reasons.
Kingussie manager John Gibson has a clean bill of health and will field five players with first team experience who also played in the Sutherland final and are seeking revenge.
Skipper Ruaridh Anderson, Roddy Young, Zander Michie, Kieran Macpherson and Sorley Fraser have all played Premiership shinty while Dylan Borthwick is a prolific marksman.
Sorley’s 15 year old sister, Roma Fraser, is also in The Dell squad.
Gibson said:”It should be a good, fast game of teams with similar styles. We beat Oban 5-1 early in the season but they won the return match 2-0.”
Meanwhile, relegated Kilmallie will be well under strength for the senior match. Martin Stewart, Michael Rodger and Craig McIsaac are suspended while six others are out for various reasons.
“Our pitch is not in great shape but we want the fixture out of the way as the players need a break”, said manager Mark Macpherson.
“We’ve agreed with Oban that the match will be for the BSW Cup, sponsored by the local sawmill, to give it some meaning.”
