Shinty: Kingussie produce strong showing in strong wind for MacTavish Cup win

The record books state Kingussie claimed the 2022 cottages.com MacTavish Cup with a 5-2 win over Caberfeidh but that doesn’t do justice to the unfolding events at the Bught Park where the wind down the pitch was a strong as many veterans could remember.

The sides are separated by almost an entire division and this was Caberfeidh’s cup final in every sense of the word. A first MacTavish Final in 85 years offered the opportunity to make history and they came out of the blocks with intent. Their enthusiasm, coupled with the significant wind advantaged, allowed them to build a two goal lead through Ally MacLennan and Craig Morrison.

Cabers would have dearly loved to take that advantage into the second half but the loss of two goals just before the interval, both scored by Kingussie skipper Savio Genini, swung the pendulum Kingussie’s way. Kingussie boss John Gibson described these goals as “massive” whilst Caberfeidh boss Jodi Gorski referred to them as “stupid”.

Kingussie launched wave after wave of attack after the restart and although Caberfeidh held on until 12 minutes from time, Roddy Young, Dylan Borthwick and Ruaridh Anderson earned the Kings a first MacTavish success since 2011.

John Gibson said: “The second half goals came later than I’d have liked but we hit the bar before that and Iain McCall made some good saves. We always back ourselves to score though.”

Caberfeidh’s attentions turn to the Mowi Premiership. Saturday’s performance shows they are better than their current placing in one of the division’s relegation spots but points are needed to climb the table starting with Saturday’s home match against, ironically, league leaders Kingussie.