Shetland’s junior sports stars prepare to face old foes in junior inter-county

SHETLAND’S young guns will travel to Orkney this weekend ready to wrestle the junior inter-county trophy back from their rivals’ grasp.

The blues sail south on Friday night to face their old foes for the 77th time, looking to avenge the defeat they suffered on home soil 12 months ago.

In fact Orkney have won the overall Stuart Cup trophy three times in succession, giving Shetland a target of stopping four-in-a-row this weekend.

The junior inter-county starts on Saturday 6 June with the swimming at 10am, which this year is being held in Stromness instead of Kirkwall.

Orkney’s junior inter-county committee said that poolside viewing in Stromness would be “limited”, with equal amounts of seats set aside for both teams.

Instead spectators are being asked to watch a livestream of the event at the cinema in the Pickaquoy Centre in Kirkwall, which the organisers said was the “next best solution” in the circumstances.

Attention will then turn to the netball at 3pm on Saturday, which is being held at the Pickaquoy Centre.

The football, also on the Picky grounds in Kirkwall, will then round off Saturday’s action at 7pm.

On Sunday, the destination of the Stuart Cup trophy will likely be decided by the outcomes of either the hockey at 11am, or finally the athletics at 1.30pm.

As well as the overall trophy for the junior inter-county winner, the teams will vie for individual team trophies in each sport – as well as the John Nicolson memorial cup, awarded to the athlete who makes the best contribution across the weekend.

Swimmer Finlay Geddes and netball player Erin Spence are Shetland’s overall captains for the junior inter-county this year, with individual captains selected for each sport too.

Geddes and Caitlin Galbraith will lead team Shetland in the swimming pool, while Spence is Shetland’s captain on the netball court.

Jake Crossan and Abby Harcus are leading the blues at the athletics track, Jake Ramsay is skipper for the football and Ashley Hunter will captain Shetland on the hockey pitch.

Orkney retained the Stuart Cup after winning the junior inter-county 154.5 to 140.5 in Shetland last year.

The blues started the final day with an emphatic win in the netball 47 to 31, narrowing the gap between both teams to just eight points.

However, Orkney went on to win the swimming 51.5 to 45.5 to ensure the Stuart Cup went home with them.

The junior inter-county takes place on 6 and 7 June, with Shetland News providing updates through the weekend.

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