This years MacLeod IFA Highland Amateur Cup reaches its climax this Saturday when local Caithness rivals Pentland United and Castletown take to the field to contest the final at Wick Academy’s Harmsworth Park. A bumper sized crowd will be packing itself into the Harmsworth Park to see who comes out on top between two of Caithness’s top sides.

Caithness sides have a strong cup pedigree with a total of 11 winners coming from Caithness and the most successful of all are Pentland United who have lifted the trophy on five previous occasions, with their last triumph coming in 2002. The dominance of Caithness sides was starting to fade over recent years as the competition has been won by teams from Ross-Shire and Lewis, but the re-emergence of a Caithness challenge has given the tournament a refreshing look.

In recent years the village outfits like Castletown have emerged to challenge the traditional top teams like Pentland United in Caithness and the hard work teams like Castletown has put in over the years is paying off with cup and league success coming there way in a very competitive Caithness League. They have now progressed to the level that they would be regarded as worthy Highland Cup winners.

Castletown secretary and player David MacGill said “we are delighted at reaching the final as we felt that our quarter final tie with Carloway was the end of the road for us as we had several players missing for that game, but we got throw that. We have played well since then and with a full squad of players to pick from, we feel confident going into this game.”

Standing in Castletown’s way is the formidable outfit of Pentland United who are always amongst the favourites to lift the silverware. In the last few years Pentland has had to replace some of its aging squad with younger players and it has taken these new players time to settle in and reach the high standards that are required to win this competition.

Pentland United manger Duncan Gray said “we should be at full strength for Saturday and the boys will go into the game on a high after the hard fought semi final victory over Golpsie Stafford and then clinching the league title on Tuesday night. We now have a good mix of experience and youth in our team. I feel we have performed well throughout the competition, as we have come through some difficult games to get to the final. Castletown always give us a tough game and they have some very good players in their side which we will be fully aware off”.

No team ever wants to loose a final, but with the fact that the two village outfits are only separated by the 3.5 miles of Dunnet Bay on the North Coast of Caithness, neither side will want to loose this one. With nothing between the teams the only thing guaranteed is a Caithness winner, but hopefully we will get a worthy game of football to finish off another successful tournament.

The Highland Amateur Cup all prepared for Saturdays Big Final.

Will it be the Maroon and Blue of Pentland United or the Green and White of Castletown that will be staying on the cup!