Inveraray Shinty Club celebrated its 2022-23 season with the annual dinner dance and awards night at the Inveraray Inn.
Recently retired broadcaster, author and long-time shinty commentator Hugh Dan MacLennan had the honour of handing out the awards to the players, as well as receiving a framed photo gift himself from Inveraray club chairman Andrew Watt to mark his retirement.
Marion MacKinlay was also singled out and thanked for her fund-raising efforts after a bingo night she organised in September – including a raffle with some amazing prizes from businesses in and around the town – raised more than £2,000 for club funds.
Mr Watt said: “The awards night itself was really an opportunity to thank to everyone involved in making it such a successful year for the club and present the club player awards.
“Whilst the club haven’t won any silverware this season, we still deem it to have been a successful season.
“We’ve seen great progress in terms of achieving the aims set out within our Club Five-Year Plan, particularly the significant steps we’ve taken to implement a player development pathway within the club from primary school shinty and youth shinty through to the second team and the first team.
“This year has also seen the club start a women’s team and we are planning to register them next season to play in the league.
“We were joined on the night by Hugh Dan MacLennan, which gave the club an opportunity to mark his retirement from broadcasting and celebrate his career.
“He has been the voice of shinty over a number of decades and a good friend of the club for many years so we were delighted he was able to attend and accept a gift from the club.
“It takes an incredible collective effort to create the right club environment and successfully run a club, therefore we would like to express our sincere thanks and gratitude to our players and their families, team management and coaches, committee members, sponsors, supporters and community for the outstanding support over the course of the season,” he added.
The recipients of this year’s awards were: First Team Players Player of the Year – Ross Montgomery; First Team Coaches Player of the Year – Fraser Watt; First Team Top Goal Scorer – Fraser Watt; Second Team Players Player of the Year – Ewan Donnan; Second Team Coaches Player of the Year – Neil Campbell; Second Team Top Goal Scorer – Ewan Donnan; Jock McCallum Under 17 Most Improved Player – Alexander MacKinlay.
