Shinty - The Season begins!
The game of shinty goes back to the roots of Gaelic Scotland and the even earlier heritage of the Celtic race. Its demands of skill, speed, stamina and courage make camanachd, the sport of the curved stick, the perfect exercise of a warrior people.
2008 fixtures have been set and with a couple of games already under their belts (see the results from the Boleskine Challenge Cup below) , the rivalry starts in earnest at the beginning of March.
Visit the Events page on www.visitlochness.com to see where you can see this magnificent game in and around the Loch Ness area from Drumnadrochit to Strathglass, Beauly to Boleskine, and Lovat to Glengarry .
Go to appreciate the skill of the game, or to see some of the best legs in the Glens!
Boleskine Challenge Cup Results
Saturday 23 Feb Boleskine 0 Kinlochshiel 2
Kinlochshiel were the invited club this season to compete for the Boleskine challenge cup . The team from the west won the toss and elected to go with the strong wing which had an strong bearing on the game . Kinlochshiel much as expected, had by far much better territorial advantage, keeping Boleskine pinned back in there own half for long periods and in the 24 minute Criosdan Mackenzie well taken first time low shot found the net from twenty five yards. Boleskine defence held out till the halftime whistle and with the wind now in our favour, the home spectators anticipated a better second period for the team . However, Boleskine never had the same territorial advantage as the visitors enjoyed in the first half and the spells they had in the ascendancy, their forwards lacked cohesion and were unable to penetrate the visitors defence . While the Kinlochshiel centre line were playing better against the wind than the home side managed and in the sixty third minute Alister Mackenzie made it two nil from close in . From then till the end of the game Boleskine had a few openings, but over the piece Kinlochshiel were fully deserving of their victory to win the Challenge Cup