Exciting shinty prospect Joe Coyle announces his arrival on senior stage
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Young talent Joe Coyle has taken the step-up to senior shinty in his stride by bagging four goals on his debut for Newtonmore seconds.
Coyle is the most exciting prospect to come through the ranks in years in Badenoch and has gained a formidable reputation at youth level.
He made his his bow for the colts as they bounced back from their opening day defeat to the Strathglass first team to beat Lovat seconds 8-0 in their Mowi North Division 1 fixture at Balgate on Saturday.
‘More’s Jamie Ross completed his three-match suspension whilst Xander Ross collected a one-game ban for his red card against Strathglass the previous weekend.
Lovat fielded a mixture of youth and experience, led by Raymond Rennie, Euan Ferguson, and Fraser Heath with the latter well-policed by Rasmus Cheyne.
Ronan MacMillan returned in goal after playing for the first team the previous weekend.
Newtonmore started with a breeze in their favour and there was a debut goal for Joe Coyle after just 16 minutes, scoring with a waist-high shot following a hit-in from his brother James.
‘More doubled their lead just four minutes later. Glen Mackintosh’s shot was saved with his feet by Ronan MacMillan who then used his hand to stop James Coyle’s effort from the rebound.
However, James Coyle persisted as he followed up to score.
Joe Coyle got his second on 25 minutes, sending the ball into the top corner of the net from over 25 yards range.
Jacob Bain then got on the end of a good passing move to flick the ball home on the half-hour mark with the Blue and Whites taking a 3-0 lead into the break.
Coyle completed his hat-trick just before the hour, beating his marker before bulleting a backhand strike into the net from in line with the penalty spot.
With 20 minutes remaining, Glen Mackintosh finished from between the penalty spot and the D to make it 6-0 and was immediately substituted.
Fourteen-year-old Josh Stewart added a seventh on 73 minutes. Joe Coyle shot, and Stewart used the weight of the ball to place it into the net. Coyle capped a debut to remember with 15 minutes remaining when he played a one-two before sending a backhand shot to the keeper’s right.
The match marked the return of referee John Angus Gillies following knee surgery.
‘More manager Peter Ross said: “Some of our shinty was sensational. It was quick one-touch shinty, full of energy, and just the way I want us to play.
“We play short games at training so the boys are comfortable on the ball and it was great to see.
“I must say that Lovat were one of the most sporting teams we have played.
“It would have been easy for them to swing the stick when we started building a lea, but they didn’t, and they played shinty the correct way and that is to their credit.”
“Joey Brannan’s hitting out of defence set the tone whilst Ross Haig and Kyle Clark were also very good but there were no failures.
“We finished with three 14-year-olds and a 13-year-old in the forward line, and we are where we want to be.”
Newtonmore play early league leaders Glengarry at the Eilan this weekend.
Ross welcomes back two players: “Both Jamie Ross and Xander Ross will be back, and they will learn from their suspensions.”
