Published: Thursday, 12th October, 2006 12:00pm

Shinty stars shock Highlanders

by Sportsdesk

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WEST FIFE"S well and truly on Scotland"s shinty map after pupils from Inverkeithing High School finished runners-up in the recent schools" Camanachd Association Wade Cup.

The bulk of the team was made up of youngsters from Aberdour, who have taken Scottish shinty by storm since Aberdour Shinty Club was formed in May 2001.

The village has proved the sport isn"t just a Highland stronghold, providing three players for the Scotland squad who competed against Ireland in the summer.

Club coach Lisa Norman is a former pupil of Inverkeithing High and it was she who suggested the school entered a team.

In the Wade Cup, Inverkeithing won all three qualifying matches without conceding a goal before finishing runners-up to a strong Lochaber High School team, who were hosting the competition.

'It was a one-off, we"ve never had a shinty team before,' delighted depute rector Joy Stephen admitted. 'It was mostly made up of Aberdour boys and it was suggested we enter them in the schools Camanachd cup.

'I think it quite shocked the shinty community. They were just expecting them to be useless.

'We were very pleased that they achieved so much on their first outing and the pupils were very proud of themselves.

'Their coach, Fred Mathisen, said it was amazing how many plaudits they received from the locals and they were just a credit to themselves, the school and their parents.'

And this could be the start of something as Mrs Stephen admitted, 'We discussed it at a meeting on Monday night and there are plans to keep shinty going in the school.'