Hugh Dan McLennan, BBC Alba’s voice of Gaelic sport was my principal guide but frequently critical co-commentary was provided throughout by a former Glasgow Mid Argyll player who had brought colour to proceedings in the middle of a Yoker housing estate before he uttered a word.

Very much a modern successor to the highland dandies of lore, resplendent as he was in flat cap, trendy duffle coat and tan brogues, Aulay Macaulay’s analysis was extremely helpful, if laced with the odd unbroadcastable adjective, but best summed up by his second half observation that: “The game should be played with grace and finesse… and just occasionally a mighty blooter.”

Even to the untrained eye it was evident that the playing surface was better suited to the latter.

It is a shameful admission that this visit to Peterson Park to watch Glasgow Mid Argyll take on the mighty Kingussie on their return to the Marine Harvest Premiership as it got underway on Saturday, was a first live experience of a sport that is as uniquely Scottish as whisky, as shortbread, as cranachan, as clooty dumpling, as Irn Bru and just as ruinous to dentistry.

Not just for players either, on this evidence, since it is all very well feeling you are getting up close and personal with the combatants, but with attempts to get a view of proceedings frequently inducing encroachment onto the pitch, the proximity and pace at which that little white bullet of a ball passed us at regular intervals added an extra dynamic to the thrill of spectating.

That apart it was excellent entertainment, the physiques of the respective players generally reaffirming the notion that the men from the highland village are very much giants of this sport, while those from the big city conform are its minnows and for the most part Kingussie’s superior power dictated the shape of the game.

Not that GMA were without their chances to apply a different sort of pressure and Craig Dawson, in the visitors’ goal, had to be sharp on a couple of occasions, particularly in the period just after the opening goal was registered by Ruaridh Anderson, whose father David was part of the team which dominated the sport for 20 years from the mid-eighties, while his grand-father Andy had been among those who were on the receiving end on GMA’s greatest day in 1973 when they won the Camanachd Cup in Fort William.

A second goal, late in the half, from captain Ryan Borthwick, registered just before half-time, allowed the captain to withdraw from the fray soon thereafter in as much comfort as the troublesome back problem which forced his departure, would permit and the game was wrapped up just short of the hour mark when Eric Hollysong, his replacement, scored their third.

After many years in which it was a given that all 12 players representing Kingussie would be past Camanachd Cup winners it is telling that this team contained just three, according to the redoubtable Hugh Dan, Dawson, James Hutchison and Lee Bain.

A change in fortunes has been such that they came close to suffering the indignity of relegation from the top flight for the first time ever and they have turned to a man who has been a familiar face to far more than shinty fans, to revive their fortunes.

“We all know if you’re part of Kingussie shinty club there’s a standard that comes with it as a player and if we set these standards we’ll not be far off,” Dallas Young, their newly appointed manager, observed afterwards.

“We know the people that have gone before us, we just have to keep on matching that and we’ll get ourselves back to where we want to be. It’s only hard work that’ll do that.”

He was first to admit that will be a case of do as I say rather than what he did in terms of his approach at times in the course of the career but he is well known not just because he featured, alongside Trainspotting star Robert Carlyle, in the television programme ‘Hamish MacBeth’ but because of his flowing locks held back by a head band bearing the legend ‘Wild Thing,’ the nickname that recognised both his recklessly brave playing style – he missed a string of Camanachd Cup wins as a result of suffering three broken legs – and his off-field reputation.

His willingness to acknowledge that he may not be the best man for the job in terms of coaching credentials, but with his son Roddy now in his former slot at full forward, he and former team-mate Barry Dallas are ready to give all they have to help the club return to former glories.

“There are a couple of people who might be better placed to be in this job, but there are reasons they’re not involved,” he observed.

“However myself and Barry are here and we’ll give 110 per cent and back the players to the hilt and hopefully at the end of the year we’ll have done a job that will be acceptable to everyone in Kingussie.”

For GMA’s part there was consolation to be had denying Kingussie a clean sheet, when Callum MacLay lashed the ball unstoppably past Dawson, leading to a firmly polite enquiry to referee David Mitchell regarding just how much injury time he intended to play, but most particularly from their overall competitiveness.

“I can see a lot to work on there, they never gave up and we could have had a goal in the first half when we had the pressure,” said the home team’s coach George Hay, who had admitted beforehand that finishing eighth, one spot above relegation, is the season’s main objective.

“I’m quite optimistic. They’ll learn and they need to up the tempo. But when we last played these guys here they beat us 14 nil so the gap’s narrowing for us and we really need to up our game now.”