ABERDOUR maintained their unbeaten start to the shinty season by advancing to the Balliemore Cup quarter-finals on Saturday.

Lisa MacColl's team proved too strong for South Division One rivals Col Glen at Silver Sands as a powerful opening half an hour saw them progress comfortably to the last eight.

It was the ideal warm-up for this weekend's Gregor Cameron Consultancy Celtic Society Cup quarter-final tie with National Division outfit Inveraray and 'Dour will be confident after a good performance against Col Glen.

Although the visitors opened well in the first 15 minutes, Aberdour gradually began to assert their authority and took the lead through Angus Thorburn after 20 minutes.

It took the home side just six minutes to double their advantage when Kevin Latimer set up the prolific Roddy MacColl to score and he soon added his second and 'Dour's third with just 32 minutes played.

They continued to dominate and missed a number of good chances to add to their tally, including a penalty from MacColl that prevented him scoring his hat-trick, and although Scott MacVicar pulled a goal back two minutes from time, Aberdour had done enough to book a meeting with Caberfeidh at Castle Leod.

Coach MacColl told Press Sport: "It was a good win for us; the players maybe underestimated Col Glen a wee bit in the first 10-15 minutes but after that we got in to it and started to press them. It took us a little bit of time to get going but we created lots of chances and Angus himself created three or four and was unlucky with some ending maybe an inch or two past the post.

"In the second half, our fitness showed and we dominated the majority of the game but, to be fair to them, they've got a lot of fight and kept going to the end. The Balliemore Cup is one that we should have a chance in and it was good to get the first game out the road. It will be interesting to see how we do."

Three-time Macaulay Cup winners Inveraray, then a Premiership side, were 6-0 winners at Silver Sands at the same stage of the Celtic Society Cup – the oldest trophy in shinty – last year but MacColl believes her team can cause them problems.

She added: "Our team is coming together and their hitting has improved. Inveraray are not the team of two or three years ago; they have got rid of a lot of their older guys and their results this season have been a bit varied. So far we are undefeated this year and, although if we lose in this one I won't judge them, I'm confident we can give them a good run for their money. Our target is to go out and do a bit better than last time."

Silver Sands will host a cup double on Saturday as the seconds take on Kingussie in the Sutherland Cup first round at 12pm, followed by the Inveraray match at 3pm.