Efficient Magpies snap up incapacitated Kestrels

Montrose Magpies - 440* vs Kenmare Kestrels - 40

	Magpies	Kestrels
Keeper	Wintringham	O’Hare (C)
Chasers	Keitch (C)	Mason
	MacLean	Rosebottom
	MacTavish	MacO’Shaughnessy
Beaters	Moriattis	Winston
	MacGregor	O’Brien
Seeker	Abberley	Denshaw

The two teams’ preparation for this match could not have been more different. The Magpies returned to action refreshed, still undefeated and coming off a consequently happy and relaxing bye. But despite winning so emphatically in the marathon against Wigtown last week, each Kestrels player could still feel his or her physical side-effects.

The contrasting lead-ups were reflected in the line-ups. Montrose had no reason to tinker with their fresh and frightening septet, while the Kestrels astonishingly retained only a single starter from last week’s match, Keeper and Captain Saraid O’Hare.

Considering all fourteen Kestrels played similar hours and suffered through the same pain, such uniform alterations were bemusing. Surely it would be more prudent to stick to the default best seven, if none outside that are any more fresh or pain-free.

It was for this reason that a dissatisfied Bodmin Moor crowd deduced that the Kestrels had given up this contest for dead. Realistically, given the gulf between the two teams’ relative natural strength, not to mention the additionally difficult context for Kenmare, it has to be said that an upset result was most assuredly unlikely.

It is an interesting and thoroughly modern ethical debate to which there is no simple answer.

The purists would cry foul, insisting that a Quidditch team must at all times try their utmost to win. Considering the vagaries of the game, and the possibility that a snitch could be caught inside five minutes, it is a valid point.

But on the other hand, it is the twenty-first century and the British and Irish Quidditch League, for all its eliminating or the kind of archaic violence on display in medieval times, is nevertheless more intense than it has ever been in its history. Any team’s goal should be maximising their League table position, in short, winning the League Cup. If the Kestrels management feel that figuratively sacrificing one realistically almost-unwinnable game in order to ensure the fitness of their critical players, it is not any irate Butterbeer sloshed fan’s place to protest.

As for the game, well predictably, there was little to write home about. Royden Keitch was workmanlike, efficiently putting the Kestrels quickly to bed. Little more than an hour was needed for the Magpies to stretch well clear of the necessary snitch safety. Then, mercifully, the mercurial Alison Abberley gave everyone an early night, catching the snitch and ending a match that was utterly forgettable on the field, but may be long remembered for its off field controversy.

Montrose Magpies - 440: Keitch 11, MacTavish 10, MacLean 8, Abberley Snatch

Kenmare Kestrels - 40: Mason 4

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: ROYDEN KEITCH (MAGPIES)