Neil Andrew led the way for the Winterton Park side with four goals, while captain Grant Griffin added two and Garry MacPherson, Euan McMurdo and Lewis MacNicol weighed in with one apiece to earn the Argyll side a crack at Kingussie in the final on August 21.

Bute went into the game without the services of several key players, including Roberto Zavaroni, Iain MacDonald and captain James Craig; but Inveraray too were without a number of first-team regulars, and few were expecting the match to be so one-sided.

But Inveraray made their intentions clear from the throw-up, Andrews firing a rebound just past the post with barely 30 seconds on the clock after Allan MacDonald's shot came off a defender.

And the opening goal wasn't long in coming, Griffin driving the ball home from the edge of the D in the sixth minute after a well-worked move through the midfield.

Number two arrived three minutes later when Andrews snapped up the rebound after Bute keeper Kevin Queen parried MacPherson's shot.

Bute briefly hinted at a potential fightback when Tam McCready's shot was blocked and cleared for a corner on 14 minutes after Robert Walker was fouled 20 yards from goal; two minutes later Inveraray keeper Graham MacPherson made what would turn out to be his only serious save of the afternoon, blocking a powerful Hector Whitelaw drive with his outstretched caman.

But Inveraray, perhaps sensing the need to up their game to maintain their advantage, left Bute's already slim hopes hanging by a threat on 18 minutes when McMurdo's shot was diverted out for a corner, from which Griffin grabbed his second and his team's third goal of the game.

MacPherson passed up a glorious opportunity to extend the lead when he drilled a penalty wide after Queen was penalised for an accidental kick of the ball, but the holders' fourth goal wasn't long in coming, Andrews combining well with Griffin before slipping home his second on 32 minutes.

Andrews completed his hat-trick with number five three minutes later, a sweet strike from MacPherson's lay-off as Inveraray made full use of Mossfield Park's wide open spaces and some alarming gaps in the Bute defence.

There was no further scoring before the interval, but any hopes that the second half might offer Bute some respite were shattered within 30 seconds of the restart, Andrews netting his fourth of the afternoon to make it 6-0 after another MacPherson lay-off.

McMurdo wasted four golden opportunities to add his name to the scoresheet by failing to find the target, and had a fifth effort deflected away by Queen's stick.

Inveraray's seventh came with a quarter of the game still to play, MacPherson finally getting his reward for an unselfish afternoon's hard work when he applied the finishing touch to a slick passing move between Andrews and Griffin.

McMurdo finally found the net nine minutes later with a simple finish from Griffin's pass, and the scoring was completed with six minutes to go when Inveraray substitute Lewis MacNicol took advantage of yet more gaps in the Bute defence to slip the ball past the long-suffering Queen and over the line.

Afterwards Bute coach Barry Martin said: "It was just one of those days - everything just clicked for Inveraray, and everything for us was just a nightmare.

"In a way Inveraray were a delight to watch - everything they tried came off, and if you play like that there's no team who can realistically live with it."

* On a more positive note for Bute, one of the club's most promising young players, Robert Ferguson, travelled to Ireland this week as part of the country's national under-17 district select squad for a tour against their hurling counterparts from Offaly and Dublin.

* This Saturday, July 31, there's a double-header of shinty action in Rothesay: the Bute second team take on Glasgow Mid Argyll in South Division Two at 12 noon, followed by the Bute first team's Premier League fixture against Fort William at 2.30pm.