Orkney win final two events to seal Junior Inter County title

The Shetland swimming team who broke three Junior Inter County records. Photo: Kevin Jones

Despite winning three of the five events at this year’s Junior Inter County a second day collapse has seen Orkney clinch the title.

Shetland got off to a strong start yesterday when they edged Orkney by 49.5 points to 47.5 in a tense athletics category which saw the team in blue only sealing the victory in the last race – the girls’ 4 x 100 relay.

This was followed by another narrow victory for Shetland later that day when the blues battled for a tense 25 – 23 victory in the netball. This meant that at the end of the first day Shetland led Orkney by four points.

Sunday morning saw Shetland win a third event in a row, coasting past Orkney in the swimming to seal a 57.5 – 39 triumph.

The swimmers also set a number of Junior Inter County records in the process, just as the girl’s 4 x 100 relay team did yesterday.

Kayla Manson was the first to achieve a new Inter County record, swimming the 100 metre backstroke in 1:06:05. She was followed by Jasmin Smith who completed the 100 metre breaststroke in 1:16:56. The third record of the day was set in the 4 x 200 metre girls’ freestyle, where Katie Bain, Ellen Mann and sisters Anne and Emmie Hutchison finished with a time of 1:52:94.

In the fourth event of the day a further Junior Inter County record was set, although it is one the Shetland side will want to soon forget, languishing to a 10 – 0 defeat in the hockey. This allowed Orkney to lead Shetland for the first time during the weekend, giving them a 159.5 to 132 lead.

Going into the football, which was the fifth and final event of the weekend, Shetland had to win by 6 goals clear in order to seal an overall victory.

Shetland’s football players unfortunately suffered from the pressure of having the Inter County title resting on their shoulders, sinking to a 3 – 0 deficit at half-time.

The second half saw the team put in a stronger performance defensively, though the blues were still unable to break down the Orcadian defence, and eventually they succumbed to a 4 – 0 defeat. This gave Orkney a dominant overall score, as they retained the Stuart Cup by 179.5 points to 132.