Remarkable shinty stalwart Dougie Rankin, who had a cardiac issue last year, is determined to carry on playing in goal for Inverness and is showing his great eye for the ball is still an asset.
The valiant veteran saved a penalty and pulled off superb saves as the city side went down 2-1 to Camanachd Cup holders Kinlochshiel on Saturday.
Rankin, who played for Ballachulish until returning for a second spell at Inverness in 2020, has also seen service with Skye and Ardnamurchan.
Kinlochshiel manager Johnston Gill said:”Dougie turned the clock back with a terrific display in goal.
“He made light of his health problems with a string of super stops. He even saved an Ally Nixon penalty, although Duncan Matheson pounced to net the rebound.
“Dougie has been an excellent servant to several clubs, playing in just about every position. He’s an admirable character and a great credit to the game.”
Inverness manager Drew MacNeil said: “Dougie felt unwell last year after a game at Strathglass and a check-up revealed a heart problem. He had surgery to insert a couple of stents to widen the arteries and he’s felt fine since.
“Dougie opted to end his outfield career and play in goal, for either our first or second team depending on Craig Nicolson’s availability.
“He’s still got a great eye and is a tremendous long ball hitter and is a very handy man to have around.”
Inverness used five under-17 team players in Wester Ross and MacNeil said: “Steven Campbell and I run the under-17s and Steven runs the second team, so we’re able to make sure the lads coming through get a game.”
Inverness were praised for their commitment by Gill, who said: “Their pitch was unplayable but they volunteered at short notice to come up to Balmacara and I was really impressed by how competitive they were. They look to have good potential going forward.
“Reraig Park, our new pitch opened last year, is having some resurfacing so we played at our old pitch, Kirkton.
“It was muddy, as we’ve used it for training, but it turned out a really decent 90 minutes and we’re delighted to get our players valuable game time.”
Ally Nixon, whose hamstring issue saw him miss both Camanachd and MacTavish Cup triumphs last season, played for 70 minutes and the big attacker’s performance delighted manager Gill and assistant Doe MacRae.
“In gruelling conditions, Ally worked hard and it was very encouraging,” said Gill, who now sees Nixon making his competitive comeback in their opening Mowi Premiership game at home to Newtonmore on March 5.
“Our young players are coming through well and we gave an airing to brothers Seamus and Martin MacRae, who showed their promise.
“Seamus is 17 and Martin is 15 and they are cousins of our three MacRae brothers in the first team, so the family pipeline of talent is running strongly.”
This was the only fixture to beat the weather and teams like Newtonmore and Kingussie are desperate to play this weekend, their last chance before the season starts.
