OBAN Camanachd’s successful season remains firmly on track following their 2-1 away victory over Kinlochshiel in the Tulloch Homes Camanachd Cup at Balmacara. This result sees Oban through to the Camanachd Cup semis and with the prospect of a Macaulay Cup semi-final clash with Glasgow Mid Argyll next weekend, things are looking good at this stage as manager Stephen Sloss admitted.
“We are now well-placed but it’s not been an easy passage to get there. Kinlochshiel is a difficult place to go to and win. The pitch requires a different style of play than we are used to and we had to adapt to get through. Still the boys did it, took their chances and now we’ll push on.”
Oban certainly started strongly in this match and exerted sustained pressure on the ‘Shiel defence who dealt competently with everything fired at them in the early minutes. Sooner or later however something had to give and in the 14th minute a ball up from wing centre Scott MacMillan fell for Oban’s top scorer Andrew MacCuish and he nipped in ahead of ‘Shiel’s international defender Mark Macdonald to knock it past home keeper Scott Kennedy for the opener.
Oban had chances to add to their lead with the best of those falling to half-forward Daniel Cameron after Andrew MacCuish had slipped him in one-on-one with the ‘Shiel keeper. The Oban frontman’s shot was saved by Kennedy and though there were claims for a penalty by the visitors referee Calum Girvan waved play on.
At the other end while Kinlochshiel did create one or two opportunities of their own, Oban full-back Daniel Madej kept his fellow defenders focused with the result that keeper Cameron Sutherland had little more to do than tidy up the loose balls that came through on goal.
Oban finally doubled their lead early in the second half when a corner taken by winger-centre Keith MacMillan flew beyond the “D” where it was fired into the roof of the net by the unmarked MacCuish to make it 2-0.
The visitors at that point looked comfortable and indeed ought to have scored further goals first when winger Willie Neilson hit the post with a volley and then again when MacCuish slipped when about to claim his hat-trick. ‘Shiel however, to their credit, began to up their game just when all seemed lost and pulled a goal back with half an hour to go when full centre Donald Nixon who had been lurking just beyond the penalty spot scored with a superb strike when he pounced on a half-hit clearance from Oban defender Malcolm Clark. However that was as good as it got for the home side and though they did have further chances neither Conor Cormack nor Duncan Macrae were able to convert them and Oban saw out the remainder of the game without further loss.
In their Camanachd Cup semi-final, scheduled for August 10, Oban will face fellow Argyllshire side Kyles Athletic after they disposed of north side Kingussie in their replayed tie at Tighnabruaich.
Kingussie suffered an early upset in this game losing veteran defender James Hutchison to injury in the sixth minute. This cost Kings’ dear at the back and they lost two first half goals to strikes from Kyles’s captain Colin MacDonald and Dunky Kerr. Goals from Savio Genini and Ruaraidh Anderson brought up the extra time and penalties with Kyles eventually winning 4-3 in the shootout.
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