The first tournament of 2018 was quite a distance from home for the two Cornish Shinty teams who travelled up to Edinburgh on a gruelling 14-hour overnight minibus arriving just in time for the Cornish Men’s team to take to the field.

The blustery Levenhall links field provided the stage for the Three Sisters Tournament hosted by the University of Edinburgh Shinty Team.

Quickly taking the field with the first match of the tournament, the Pasties, held off a determined English Shinty Association side, creating plenty of goal-scoring opportunities from hit-outs but not quite reaching the net.

The following game, despite some spectacular saves from George Wickenden, one of Lochcarron’s dangerous shys found the goal.

Keeping their heads up, Cornwall took their game strongly into the opposition’s half against Aberdour with numerous strikes and were unlucky not to take away three points.

The game against St Andrew's was always going to be a challenge, given the historic rivalry between the two teams with neither prepared to give any quarter.

When St Andrew's playing with the wind slipped a sly goal past Rhys McDonald, swiftly followed by another from distance, our chances seemed to fade.

However, a spectacular revival in the second half saw Jowan Dorrell, score his first goal for Cornwall, finding the gap between several beleaguered St Andrew's defenders.

Another goal from the captain brought the two teams level and only the final whistle saved a retreating St Andrews team from defeat.

The Pasties ended as strongly as they had begun after dominating the game against Caithness, a high ball caught the wind to conclude the match with a draw.

Meanwhile the three Cornish Ladies numbers were doubled with the welcome addition of three women from Inverness before the competition began. The women’s matches started strongly with two goals scored against St Andrew's by Katy Ross and Hannah Johnston.

The goals were continued into the next game against Edinburgh where the win by one goal lead the women into their third game against Aberdour.

However, the winning streak was not to continue, the Cornish battled hard against the Scottish team to reach a final defeated score of 2-0 to the team who were later crowned the tournament winners.

Throughout the match there were some spectacular saves by goalie Caitlin Mutch.

Holding their heads high and powering on they won their next two matches 1-0 against Uddington, and 2-1 against Tayforth, the toughest win of the day with goals again scored by Johnson and Ross. The final few matches showed more startling saves and amazing speed from all players rallied on by their captain Tewinton.

The final match of the day was a draw against Glasgow with the goal scored by Hannah Johnson. A cameo from St Andrews captain Juliet McDavitt allowed Caitlin out into forwards for a final run of the day.

Their hard work paid off and the Cornwall ladies found themselves in third place, just falling short of the final by a few goals.

Given the number of new-players at the tournament, this is a very promising start to the year for Cornwall who are now focusing on the English Shinty Championships this March in Bristol with keen anticipation.

Anyone interested in playing shinty can go along to training every Sunday 2pm till 4pm at the Dracaena Centre, Falmouth. For more information you can find us on Facebook at Cornwall Shinty Club or email cornwallshintyclub@gmail.com

Cornwall men's team: Cornwall women's team:

Jamie Cranston (capt.) Heather Tewinton (capt)

George Wickenden (GK, Vice-Capt.) Vicky Lipscombe

Matthew Russell Katy Ross

Jowan Durrell Hannah Johnson

Rhys McDonald Amber Mackay

Ewan Philip Caitlin Mutch (GK)