Sport / Sporting round-up 31 July
BEATRICE Wishart has congratulated Shetland’s Island Games athletes in Holyrood following their 17-medal haul at the 2025 event.
The Liberal Democrat MSP asked the Scottish Parliament to recognise the contribution of all the Shetland athletes who competed, with 146 competitors and 29 officials attending from the isles.
She also congratulated the organisers in Orkney for such a successful event, the Orcadian community for their hospitality towards island athletes from around the world, and to all of the volunteers who made the games a success.
Wishart added she was looking forward to the next Island Games, which will be hosted by Faroe Islands in 2027.
The motion was backed by MSPs Paul Sweeney and Tess White.
CELTIC’S slim hopes of retaining their premier league trophy were all but extinguished on Wednesday night as Spurs seized the advantage in the senior football title race.
A solitary Paul Molloy goal saw Spurs beat Whitedale 1-0 in their top-of-the-table clash, with the milkbags leapfrogging the West Side outfit to move top with four games to play.
Whitedale remain two points off the league leaders, with 12 points still up for grabs over the coming weeks.
Ness United are the third side in contention for the league title, and they moved third in the table after beating champions Celtic 3-0 on Wednesday.
Goals from Stuart Copland, Joe Casey and Reece Black all but ended Celtic’s title hopes, with the Celts five points behind Spurs with only three fixtures left, and put Ness within touching distance of the top two.
Scalloway thrashed Thistle 5-0 in the night’s other action, with John Allan scoring a hat-trick alongside goals from Jack Fitzsimmons and Jamie Leishman.
BRESSAY and Burra will meet in the semi-finals of the Viking Parish Cup on Friday night, with both looking to lift the trophy after long waits.
Burra have not had their hands on the trophy for 44 years, last lifting it in 1981, and were beaten by Whalsay after extra-time in the 2015 final.
Bressay on the other hand have never even made the Parish Cup final before, and would be first-time winners if they could triumph next month.
The two sides meet at Hamnavoe at 6.30pm on Friday, with a place against three-time winners Southend United at stake.
Southend knocked out champions Whitedale in the last four earlier this month, and will look to repeat their 2023 success in the competition.
DELTING and Whitedale B will meet in a repeat of the 2024 Bloomfield Cup final after coming through their semi-final ties on Monday.
Both sides went a goal down, to Championship sides Southside Impact and Bressay Sharks respectively, but recovered to progress to September’s final.
Delting went on to beat Southside 6-1 after James Bell’s opener, with Gary Sutherland (three), Iain Devonald, Liam Sutherland and Robbie Sutherland all on the scoresheet.
Bressay lead back-to-back reserve league champions Whitedale B at the break through a Jack Tulloch goal on Monday, but goals from Kyle Buy (two) and Sean Walterson helped Whitedale to eventually win through.
The two sides also met in the 2024 final, with Delting 2-1 winners on that occasion through a Leighton Flaws brace.
THE ANNUAL bowls competitions for the gentlemen’s and ladies league trophies were held on Saturday, with 16 men and six ladies entering.
The players were divided into groups, who then played in a round-robin format over 10 ends.
Alex Elphinstone beat Colin Bain and Eric Muir beat Bill Christie in the mens’ semi-finals, with Elphinstone going on triumph over Muir in the final.
In the ladies’ section Catherine Robertson met Anne Robertson in the final, and they took a set each before Robertson won the deciding end.
The trophies were presented by ex-president Caroline Smith.
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