Shinty
Friday 9th March, 2007
86th Littlejohn and 5th McCue & Porter University Tournaments 2007
On a gloriously sunny day yesterday (7th March) in St Andrews the 86th Littlejohn and the 5th McCue and Porter tournaments were played out at St Andrews Universities Sports Complex.
Strathclyde University overcame Dundee University in the 86th Littlejohn Final winning by three goals to nil in a very entertaining and fast paced match. Dundee University had finished top of their pool in the group stages beating Glasgow and St Andrews and drawing with Robert Gordons and gone on to beat Edinburgh University 2-0 in the first Semi-Final of the day. The Dundee squad contains a number of top quality Irish Hurlers with a couple of shinty players for good measure, they play with a dynamic and pacy approach to the game which the other teams struggled to match.
The Strathclyde team had earlier dispatched city rivals Glasgow University by 4 goals to nil in the second semi-final after finishing top of their group in qualifying by beating both Edinburgh and Aberdeen Universities. The strong Strathclyde forward line which included Grant Irvine (Kyles) and Alan Palmer (Skye) took their chances when they came and were a handful for opposing defences all day. Niall Macphee the Strathclyde captain was delighted to lift the trophy for his team after being beaten in the penalty shoot-out in last years final by Robert Gordons.
In the 5th McCue & Porter Tournament for Ladies Robert Gordon’s successfully retained the trophy they had won last year by beating Strathclyde University 4-2 in a very exciting finale to the Women’s section.
Strathclyde had been the dominant team all the way through the competition winning all of their games in the group stages without conceding a goal and looked odds on certainties to win the final, while Robert Gordon’s had struggled to find top gear in the qualifiers unable to find the scoring form which had taken them to the champions spot in the University league programme.
Robert Gordon’s started the final at a hundred miles an hour and finally found the scoring form which had been missing in the earlier group section by racing into a 3-0 nil lead. Strathclyde were stunned and struggled to find their earlier form of the tournament although they did manage to claw two goals back before RGU killed the game off with a decisive fourth goal.
Yvonne Connaughton the Robert Gordon’s ladies captain was delighted to pick up the trophy for her team which ensured a good run home to Aberdeen on the team bus.
Antony Stone the new Scottish University Sport Photographer was present to record the event and his photographs will be available to view at the new Scottish University Sport website http://www.susphoto.com/ later today.
For further details of the event please contact Andrew Johnston, Camanachd Association, Technical Development Manager on 07795 621361 or e-mail: andrew.johnston@shinty.com