Louis van Gaal has extended the scale of his Manchester United reconstruction to suggest it could be a year before the rewards of his work are witnessed.

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No-one was challenging the former Netherlands coach's assertion after an uninspiring afternoon in Lancashire brought a goalless draw against Premier League newcomers Burnley - who more than merited their point.
United only have two points from what many would regard as kind opening fixtures against Swansea, Sunderland and Burnley, a sharp contrast to the tough hand dealt out to Van Gaal's predecessor David Moyes when he succeeded Sir Alex Ferguson.
The poor start prodded executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward into action as this week saw the British record £59.7m purchase of Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid and a £13.8m deal for Ajax's Daley Blind.
The draw at Turf Moor, however, only highlighted that Van Gaal will surely want more reinforcements before the transfer window closes on Monday - although word from inside Old Trafford is that Blind may be the final arrival.
So what must Van Gaal do to pull United out of this desperately uninspired start to the season?
It would do Van Gaal and United a disservice to ignore the fact that injuries have robbed them of two players who were meant to be of great influence in this new Old Trafford era, England defender Luke Shaw and midfielder Ander Herrera. Even the introduction of new defender Marcos Rojo has been delayed by work permit complications.
The signing of Di Maria has been portrayed as akin to sticking the roof on your house before the foundations have been laid, although few would question the contribution he will make.
There is no doubt, however, that there are clear areas where United need top-class reinforcements.
United's three-man defensive system requires the sort of composure and expertise that appeared beyond Phil Jones and Jonny Evans at Burnley, while Tyler Blackett can be excused as one for the future. Whether Chris Smalling kicks on to fulfil the requirements remains to be seen.
If United cannot find a high-class central defender before Monday night - and Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp scoffed at a reported interest in Germany's World Cup winner Mats Hummels - then this is undoubtedly an area opponents will see as fair game.
Burnley could not quite take advantage, especially in a desperate opening 10 minutes from United, but there would be real relish at the prospect from the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea.
Herrera's absence is a genuine misfortune but there must also be a need for another top-class operator in that area. There has been the long-standing link with Juventus's Arturo Vidal but time is running out.
A more likely option is that Van Gaal will make do and mend until January and see how Roma's Dutch midfielder Kevin Strootman has recovered from a serious knee injury - hoping not too much damage is done to United's season before then.
There was widespread astonishment that Anderson - who clearly has no place in Van Gaal's long-term plans - came on for the tiring Di Maria, although less when Danny Welbeck was sent on for Robin van Persie.
Anderson is one of those surplus to requirements at Old Trafford while Welbeck, as energetic as ever when he appeared, might also leave before the end of the transfer window, as could Shinji Kagawa.
Tom Cleverley could well have played his last game for United as Aston Villa attempt to persuade him to complete an £8m move while Javier Hernandez is attracting interest from Valencia and Juventus.
Van Gaal will not be unhappy to see them go to thin out his squad - but the real push over the next few months will be on incomings.
Van Gaal used Evans, Jones and Blackett as a three-man back line at Turf Moor - and at no time did it look fully secure.
It is unlikely these three players will be his chosen ones in a defensive system he stands by after the successes of his outstanding career - but can he make it work at Old Trafford?
He will certainly need better wing-backs than Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young to make it a success, which is where the versatility of the likes of Di Maria and Adnan Januzaj will be beneficial, although it is questionable whether Juan Mata is suited to the role as he lacks pace.
Van Gaal will also need better central defenders and there are clear signs that the shift in tactical emphasis has been a struggle for some United players.
They had better get used to it because there are few coaches in world football with such complete belief and faith in their own methods as Van Gaal.
It should also be emphasised that it is very early days in what is a tactical work-in-progress, a new manager getting used to new players and new players getting used to a new manager.
Van Gaal has repeatedly stated that his first three months in a job have often been a struggle before the penny drops and success follows.
It might not look easy on the eye so far - but do not bank on Van Gaal changing it one jot.
The Manchester United manager fielded new signing Di Maria alongside Mata, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie - almost £150m worth of attacking talent. Is there really room for all of them in the same team?
On this occasion, Di Maria was tucked in left of centre with Ashley Young wide, while Mata was entrusted with drifting in the spaces behind Rooney and Van Persie and Darren Fletcher as the insurance policy. It was almost a 3-4-1-2.
While there is no questioning the quality of that group, it places a heavy responsibility on Fletcher and there must be question marks over its regular use over the course of a long season.
With Van Persie rated so highly by Van Gaal - although it did not stop him being removed here - and Rooney his captain, it could leave Mata as the most vulnerable, given Di Maria is clearly an integral part of United's future.
And what of Januzaj? He is obviously one for the future but his was the name being chanted regularly and loudly by United supporters as their team struggled at Turf Moor.
Januzaj has the quality of versatility, as does the excellent Di Maria, so there is plenty of solace for Van Gaal in the ability to juggle and shift around his resources.
Rooney, Van Persie and Di Maria will surely be Van Gaal's "go to" men - the others may have to make do with being part of a rotation policy unless they can force the issue with sheer weight of performances.
Van Gaal is not a technical-area stalker. As with his other early United games, the Dutchman did not move from his seat. He stayed in the dug-out clutching his trademark clipboard and consulting his assistant Ryan Giggs.
In contrast, his opposite number Sean Dyche stripped off his jacket and spent the entire 90 minutes in his technical area, encouraging and cajoling.
No manager should ever be judged by his touchline demeanour or time spent in the dug-out - but it was the lack of urgency on the pitch that was surely a concern and brought an angry reaction from United's fans.
Twice in the second half there was a furious reaction from the thousands gathered in Turf Moor's David Fishwick stand - once when United's players stood a long way back as Burnley took a free-kick on the edge of their penalty area and another as Evans dawdled when in a perfect crossing position.
The United of old would have been attempting to press Burnley into submission and even though the Clarets went into something of a retreat late on, there was never the sense of an oncoming siege or late goal you would have expected from previous teams.


Ireland coach Joe Schmidt says Luke Fitzgerald can challenge Robbie Henshaw for the inside centre starting position as the World Cup progresses.

Schmidt hailed Leinster's utility back Fitzgerald for slotting seamlessly into Ireland's number 12 shirt for the 50-7 rout of Canada in Cardiff on Saturday.
Henshaw missed the World Cup opener with a hamstring injury but should be fit to face Romania on 27 September.
However, Schmidt is tipping Fitzgerald to compete for a regular midfield role.
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"Darren Cave plays 12 or 13 and that's a real advantage for us," said the Ireland boss.
"But we always intended giving Luke a chance at 12, because he has played 13 and 11 in the build-up, and we wanted to build our versatility.
"Darren's pretty likely to have an involvement next week, and that will allow us to mix and match a little bit as we have done through the build-up period.
"But at the same time we know we have got to get results and we have got to go after them right from the start."
The decision to select Fitzgerald out of position at 12 ahead of a natural inside centre raised eyebrows, but Schmidt insisted he needed to use all his resources during the pool stages.
"I thought Luke did really well at 12, his distribution to give Dave Kearney space for his try was great," added the winning coach.
"Defensively he was sound and his ball-carrying is a strength."
On the game overall, Schmidt said: "I felt we built our way into the game pretty well. I think we showed a fair bit of respect for Canada.
"Canada showed why they deserved that respect. They are a very combative side.
"For us to build our way into the game and successfully put a few phases together effectively to build that scoreboard pressure on them as well was satisfying."


The BBC says it has left Jeremy Clarkson "in no doubt about how seriously" it takes allegations he used racist language while filming Top Gear.

Clarkson has apologised and asked for forgiveness after a clip of him reciting the nursery rhyme Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe was published by the Mirror.
Although he mumbles the offending word, the presenter clearly begins by saying the letter "n".
Responding to the row, the BBC issued a strongly-worded statement.
"Jeremy Clarkson has set out the background to this regrettable episode. We have made it absolutely clear to him the standards the BBC expects on air and off.
"We have left him in no doubt about how seriously we view this."
Clarkson initially denied using the racist term, telling his 3.3 million Twitter followers: "I did not use the N-word. Never use it. The Mirror has gone way too far this time."
But the newspaper responded by posting a clip of the incident - which was filmed in 2012 and never broadcast.
On Thursday night, Clarkson released a video statement "begging forgiveness" for the error. This time, he admitted he had appeared to "mumble" the offensive word despite attempting not to.
"I was mortified by this, horrified. It was a word I loathe."
"I did everything in my power to ensure that that word did not get in the programme that was transmitted."
Editor of The Voice newspaper George Ruddock said that, if it was clear Clarkson had used the offensive term, "the BBC should take some action".
"If you were in a normal workplace and that was used, it would certainly call for disciplinary action," he told BBC Radio 5 live.
"How often is he going to keep apologising for these things?"
Labour MP Jim Sheridan, who sits on Parliament's culture, media and sport committee, also noted this was not Clarkson's first offence, and called for him to be sacked.
He said: "Already he's insulted nations, he's insulted disabled persons, he's insulted people with mental illness. Every time he apologises, and every time the BBC say that they've told him to cut it out, and he's not doing it."
"His whole career is littered with apologies, and I doubt very much if indeed he is sorry."
Downing Street condemned any use of the word, saying that David Cameron - a friend of Clarkson's - would "certainly not" use it.
The prime minister felt it was "absolutely right that there has been an apology," his spokesman said.
But he refused to comment on whether Clarkson should lose his job, saying: "His view is that in terms of actions and the like, that's for the BBC".
Former BBC chairman Sir Christopher Bland also rebutted calls for Clarkson to be sacked, despite acknowledging "a serious error of judgment".
"He shouldn't be sacked. I tell you who should be sacked, and that's the person who released the clip to the Daily Mirror in order to give the whole thing a wider circulation than it deserved".
"It's a word that wasn't broadcast. He's apologised and, really, that should be the end of the matter".
"Do you think he's a racist? I suspect not. I think he's sloppy in his use of language."
On Friday, Clarkson spoke to The Sun, where he writes a column, and attempted to explain the incident.
"I wish to God my attempts to cover up that word were better," he said.
"I was simply mumbling - saying 'ner ner' or something similar. Anything but the n-word.
"It was my mistake and I apologise for not covering it up. But if you look closely at the footage, you can see what I'm trying to do."
He also showed the newspaper production notes for the Top Gear episode, in which he attempted to have the offensive word removed.
The 54-year-old told producers: "I didn't use the N-word here but I've just listened through my headphones and it sounds like I did.
"Is there another take?"
Although the clip was never broadcast on the BBC Two show, the corporation said it had received more than 300 complaints following recent media coverage.
It is not the first time the Top Gear presenter has been accused of racism.
The BBC apologised in 2011, after an episode in which co-presenter Richard Hammond called Mexicans "feckless [and] flatulent" and Clarkson joked they would not receive complaints because the Mexican ambassador would be asleep.
Apologies were also made for an episode broadcast in March, in which Clarkson used the word "slope" as an Asian man crossed a newly built bridge over the River Kwai in Thailand.
The use of the word - which is a derogatory term for people of Asian descent - led to complaints and the threat of legal action from Equal Justice, a law firm specialising in discrimination cases.


Former Warrenpoint Town boss Barry Gray has been named as the new manager of Irish Premiership club Cliftonville.

Gray, who succeeds Gerard Lyttle in the Solitude hotseat, took Warrenpoint from junior football to the Premiership during a decade in charge.
He said: "Cliftonville fans like good, attractive and entertaining football and I can certainly promise them that's what we'll be working on from day one."
Gray joins the north Belfast side on a rolling contract.
His backroom team will include Harry Fay and Stephen Small.
Cliftonville's search for a new manager began when Lyttle left last month to become Sligo Rovers boss.
Tommy Breslin, who stepped down as Reds manager in 2015, returned to the club in a temporary role for the last league game and the Europa League play-offs.
Cliftonville finished fifth in the Premiership and their season ended with a 5-3 home defeat by Glenavon in Tuesday's play-off semi-final.
Gray operated in the dual role of manager and Director of Football at Warrenpoint until Matthew Tipton took over as boss last November.
The Co Down club was relegated in 2016 but has made an immediate return to the Premiership by winning the Championship title last month.
"I didn't really expect to be back in management quite so quickly because I'd always have been quite pernickety and fussy about what club was right for me and ticked all the boxes," added Gray.
Cliftonville does that, no question about it. There  would have been very few other jobs that I'd have been interested in so, when the opportunity arose, it's not something I had to think about.
"I like my teams to play attractive football at a high tempo and that's what I'll be setting us up to do."


Hospital emergency departments in Wales are "on the edge" with staff shortages and waiting times too long, a leading A&E doctor has warned.

Dr Robin Roop, head of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Wales (RCEM), said some patients were waiting more than 24 hours in A&E.
He warned no A&E department in Wales had enough consultants to meet minimum RCEM staffing levels.
The Welsh government said the pressures were not unique to Wales.
He was speaking as the latest statistics showed around 81% of patients spent less than four hours in A&E - the same as last year.
Although at Morriston Hospital in Swansea, 58.7% spent less than four hours in A&E in December 2015, compared to 69.3% in the same month in the 2014.
Dr Roop said there was also a shortage of senior doctors and emergency unit nurses.
The gaps, which he claims are "notoriously difficult to fill", added to the pressures, mean frontline staff are "working excessively hard", "morale is going down" and more people are quitting emergency medicine.
"In Wales staff turnover in emergency medicine is getting worse. We have not been able to recruit new consultants at the same level here as in other countries," he said.
Dr Roop, who is a consultant in Wrexham, said A&E waits because wards were full were also a "continuous" problem, despite efforts by health boards to open additional hospital beds and postpone non-urgent surgery at times of high demand.
"The health boards have learnt from previous years about winter pressures and what needs to be done - things like expanding bed capacity and changing elective operations - they've worked to a small degree," he said.
"But we still see a reduction in the number of patients being able to be passed on (from emergency units) in a timely fashion. And we still see 'exit-blocks'.
"It means staff aren't doing what they've been trained to do in emergency medicine. They are now doing the additional things of looking after for longer because of the delays.
"There are patients waiting over four hours a lot of the time. So those patients have to be treated as a ward-based type of patient. The statistics show some patients spend over 12 hours in the department and some over 24 hours."
FACTFILE - A&E UNITS IN WALES:
Dr Roop also warned A&E pressures could get worse in coming weeks, partly due to increasing flu cases, which have emerged later than last year.
"Absolutely every emergency department (in Wales) is on the edge - we are ever so close to patients becoming really poorly in our departments and that could have a knock-on effect and having disastrous outcomes," he added.
A Welsh government spokesman said: "There was a 23% reduction in the number of people who spent more than 12 hours in emergency departments in December compared to November but we know there is more work to do.
"We expect all health boards to ensure they have the right mix of staff to ensure services are safe, sustainable, and to ensure patient experience and outcomes are optimised."
Consultants at Morriston say fewer scheduled operations have been cancelled and elderly patients are leaving hospital earlier compared to last winter.


About 500 people have protested in Rhyl against possible changes to hospital maternity services in north Wales.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board is consulting on plans to withdraw consultant-led maternity care at one of three district hospitals.
Earlier plans to downgrade services at Glan Clwyd Hospital in Bodelwyddan, Denbighshire, were sent back to the drawing board after public outcry.
The proposed changes stem from a shortage of doctors.
Health bosses still favour downgrading services at the hospital and earlier this month the board agreed to start a fresh public consultation on those plans and others.
Alternatives include withdrawing doctor-led maternity care at hospitals in Bangor or Wrexham, or they could agree to make no changes meaning consultant-led care would remain at all three hospitals.
Those against the plans say expectant mothers who need care from doctors would be put at greater risk by having to travel further for treatment.
The British Medical Association and politicians have also previously criticised the health board for not seeking the views of staff and the public in drawing up its plans.
A final decision is expected in November.


Italy violates human rights by failing to offer enough legal protection for same-sex couples, a European court has ruled.

Judges said the government had breached the rights of three gay couples by refusing them marriage or any other recognised form of union.
Italy is the only major Western European country with no civil partnerships or gay marriage.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has long promised to pass a law on civil unions.
By failing to introduce new legislation, his government failed to "provide for the core needs relevant to a couple in a stable committed relationship," the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Tuesday.
The court said Italy was in breach of Article 8 - the right to respect for private and family life - of the European Convention on Human Rights.
A small number of municipalities in Italy allow local civil unions, but there is a national ban on same-sex marriage and the benefits of the existing provision are limited.
The court said the existing legal protection was "not sufficiently reliable".
It noted that 24 out of the 47 member states of the Council of Europe had passed laws in favour of legal recognition, and that the Italian constitutional court had repeatedly called for such protection and recognition.
The three couples in the case have been together for years, and all had their requests to be married rejected.
The ECHR ruled that the Italian government should pay the six men â‚¬5,000 (Â£3,500; $5,500) each in compensation, as well as expenses.
The prime minister has said his government would introduce laws on same-sex civil unions this year.
Hundreds of thousands of people marched in Rome in June against the proposed legislation.
But opinion polls show an increase in support for gay marriage.
It follows a pattern seen in Ireland - a strongly Catholic country like Italy - where voters overwhelmingly backed legalising same-sex marriages in May.
Afterwards, a senior Vatican official said Ireland's referendum result was a "defeat for humanity".


Three-time champion Martin Adams and fourth seed Scott Mitchell are through to the BDO World Championship semi-finals at Lakeside.

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Adams, 58, is into the last four at Lakeside for the 10th time after beating Scotland's Ross Montgomery 5-1.
"The one thing I'm pleased about today is that I hit some doubles without mucking about," he told BBC Sport.
Mitchell, 44, hit six ton-plus checkouts in a 5-2 win over fellow Englishman Brian Dawson.
He will play either Robbie Green or Jeff Smith next, while Adams will take on the winner of the last-eight tie between Darryl Fitton and Glen Durrant.
The two remaining men's quarter-finals and both semi-finals in the women's event will be played on Friday evening.
Montgomery was hugely impressive in his 4-0 success over 2013 champion Scott Waites, which took him into his first World Championship quarter-final.
But it was Adams who made the quicker start to their encounter, winning six of the first seven legs to go 2-0 in front and maintaining control to book his spot in Saturday's semi-finals.
Mitchell's exceptional finishing earned him eight of the first nine legs against Dawson and a 3-1 lead in sets at the interval.
Qualifier Dawson came within one leg of levelling the match at 3-3, but Mitchell landed a 132 checkout on the bull to restore his two-set advantage and reached the semi-finals for the first time in his career.
"The finishing was good there but I still don't think I've played my best game - I've not really scored alongside it," said Mitchell, who lives in Bransgore, Hampshire.
"The Lakeside's been part of my life since I was an eight-year-old. I've been here six times as a fan, six times as a player and now I'm in the semi-finals. I can't take it in."


At least 16 US government employees were treated for symptoms after a possible acoustic attack targeting embassy staff in Cuba, the state department says.

US media reports say the symptoms range from hearing loss to "mild traumatic brain injury", which could include concussion or headaches.
A spokeswoman said the attacks seemed to have stopped.
Cuba denied involvement and said it was investigating the reports.
The attacks were first reported earlier this month when the US expelled two Cuban diplomats from Washington. But it was not clear until Thursday how many US employees had been affected.
The Associated Press reports that the sonic devices used may have been emitting inaudible sound waves that can cause deafness.
"We can confirm that at least 16 US government employees, members of our embassy community, have experienced some kind of symptoms," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.
"We take the situation extremely seriously," she added.
Intense sound can cause structural damage to the receptor hair cells in the inner ear which convert sound into brain activity.
There is also evidence that noise exposure can lead to degeneration of the nerve fibres that make contact with the hair cells, which means that even if the hair cells remain intact, the transmission of information to the brain can be disrupted.
However, frequencies that are inaudible to humans do not transmit much mechanical energy to the ear's sensitive parts, and so experts believe that it would be difficult to use them to damage hearing.
There is limited evidence that exposure to ultrasonic sounds above the range of human hearing may be associated with symptoms such as excessive fatigue, headache and irritation.
A German study has also found that the ear may be temporarily more prone to damage after being exposed to low-frequency sounds.
US embassy staff and at least one Canadian began to notice symptoms late last year.
The victims, some of whom have been withdrawn from Cuba, have been treated in the US and by US doctors in Cuba.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has described the incident as a "health attack".
The incidents appeared to continue even after the US staff complained of them and as the Cuban authorities were investigating the cause, the BBC's Will Grant in Havana says.
There are currently investigations under way by the Americans, the Canadians and the Cubans, and security has been stepped up around the diplomats' residences in Havana.
Security analysts believe a third country with hostile relations with the US may be involved but no clear picture has yet been established.
Washington and Havana only re-established ties in 2015, following 50 years of hostilities between the two countries.


Embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford intends to return to work on 30 June after a two-month stay in rehab for treatment of substance abuse.

Mr Ford notified the city clerk of his plans in a letter released on Tuesday, Canadian media report.
The Toronto politician has been stripped of many of his powers after admitting using and purchasing illegal drugs while mayor.
He is currently seeking re-election to the office on 27 October.
"Kindly be advised that I will be returning to work at City Hall on Monday, June 30th, 2014, in the later portion of the afternoon," Mr Ford wrote in a letter to Ulli Watkiss, according to Canadian media.
"Please make the necessary arrangements for my locks to be restored to their state prior to my departure."
He had undergone treatment for substance abuse at a rehabilitation centre in Bala, Ontario, since early May.
Mr Ford was first elected to lead Canada's largest city in 2010 on a pledge to tackle wasteful spending at city hall, drawing much of his support from the suburban areas of Toronto.
He soon privatised rubbish collection across much of the city and did away with a vehicle tax. But he soon became bogged down in disputes with the council, and developed a reputation for public drunkenness.
Following months of denials, Rob Ford admitted last year to smoking crack cocaine in a "drunken stupor" after police said they had obtained a video that appeared to show him taking the illegal drug.
Since the rumours of the crack cocaine video emerged last year, other videos have surfaced showing him ranting obscenely in an apparently intoxicated state.
Allegations have also surfaced in police documents that Mr Ford used racially abusive language, threatened staff, sexually propositioned a female colleague, and snorted cocaine in a restaurant. He has denied these allegations.
In the fallout from the drugs scandal, the city council stripped Mr Ford of most of his mayoral powers and his budget, rendering him effectively mayor in name only.
But Mr Ford has brushed aside pressure to quit, saying voters will decide whether to keep him in office in the October election.
Two main challengers, Conservative businessman and broadcaster John Tory and former New Democratic Party member of parliament Olivia Chow, are vying to replace him as mayor in the 27 October election.


A couple who supplied workers to Sports Direct have appeared in court accused of modern slavery.

Dariusz Parczewski and his wife Bozena Parczewska are accused of forcing a Polish man to work at the retailer's headquarters in Derbyshire then keeping his wages.
The sportswear firm has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
The couple, from Aspley in Nottingham, were released on bail following the hearing at Nottingham Crown Court.
They were arrested as part of a Nottinghamshire Police investigation into human trafficking and were both charged with knowingly causing another to perform forced labour.
Mrs Parczewska and the couple's son, Kristian Parczewski, are also charged with a range of tax and benefit fraud offences.
The defendants are all due to appear at the same court for a plea and case management hearing on 8 January.


Black Country residents have mocked TV presenter Piers Morgan by wearing masks of his face while riding a visitor attraction he publicly criticised.

The Good Morning Britain host had scoffed at the decision to host a Ferris wheel in Dudley.
He told viewers even people in the town thought it had "a horrible view".
However, local businessman Dave Carter launched a campaign to get people riding the attraction wearing the masks to mark April Fools' Day.
About 40 people wearing the masks that were handed out in the town centre was granted a free ride before 10:00 BST.
More on this and other stories from Birmingham and the Black Country
Mr Carter said about 4,000 people have ridden the 115ft (35.05m) high attraction, which has been branded "the worst tourist attraction in the UK", adding the wheel had done the town "a really big favour".
"Most people have come along to see what all the fuss is about, and they're turning up to Dudley, doing a bit of shopping, going on the Eye and finding out that it's actually quite good," he said.
"It was all in good humour - you could see people's tongues in their cheeks through the masks."
Mr Morgan has been invited to Dudley to experience the ride, Mr Carter added, but he has not yet accepted the invitation.


Kyles Athletic chalked up their fifth consecutive success in the GCC Celtic Society Cup, and the 32nd in the club's history, with a 3-1 win over Oban Camanachd at Taynuilt.

BBC Alba Man of the Match Dunky Kerr scored a vital double for the Tighnabruaich side who remain on course for a clean sweep of all of shinty's senior honours.
Meanwhile, Lovat, 3-0 away winners over Lochaber, and Newtonmore who edged visitors Fort William, fought their way through to the North semi-final of the Artemis MacAulay Cup.
Kinlochshiel ended a run of five games without a win when they came back in the second half for a 2-1 success at Kingussie to leapfrog their opponents into second place behind Kyles in the Marine Harvest Premiership.
And Kilmallie consigned local rivals Lochaber to the bottom of the table on goal difference with a 3-2 defeat of Glenurquhart at Drumnadrochit.
In an often uninspiring Celtic Society final, Kerr got an early breakthrough for Kyles on a sometimes rain-lashed Taynuilt pitch which challenged players' ability to keep their feet.
Camanachd squandered a number of chances in an otherwise goalless first half. They regretted their misses when Kerr got Kyles' second just 40 seconds after the restart when the ball broke to him out on the left and he found the net with a deft chip.
Midway through the second half, the game was over as a contest when Roddy MacDonald pounced on a defensive error to make it 3-0 to Kyles.
Camanachd pulled one back when Daniel Cameron evaded his marker to get on to a long free hit and slot the ball home but, despite valiant late efforts, they were unable to advance further.
Greg Matheson scored the only goal of the first half against Lochaber at Spean Bridge and rounded off the scoring the latter stages, after Lewis Tawse had scored Lovat's second.
Meanwhile, Lovat's semi-final opponents Newtonmore, despite home advantage, made heavy weather of their lower league cup opponents. Newtonmore started well with a Glen MacKintosh double in the opening quarter but Alexander MacMillan immediately tightened things up again.
There was no further scoring for the next hour of play before Steven MacDonald got Newtonmore's third. However, Fort William were still not finished and Lachie Shaw scored their second in the penultimate minute to produce a tight finish.
On The Dell, Lee Bain got a breakthrough for Kingussie in the first half. It was then well past the hour mark before Finlay MacRae equalised and the same player followed up with a late winner for Shiel, who recorded their first victory since they vanquished Newtonmore 4-1 on May 6th.
An early own goal from Glenurquhart keeper Gary MacKintosh sent Kilmallie on their way and a well spaced Daniel Stewart double made it 3-0. Within three minutes, Michael Fraser and Lachie Smith pulled it back to 3-2 and there it remained.
Towards the bottom of the National Division, Oban Celtic and Strathglass fought out a 2-2 draw when Daniel Madej twice put the Argyll side ahead, only for Scott Douglas to grab both equalisers for Strathglass, the second with just three minutes remaining.
Four different scorers sent Caberfeidh through to the Balliemore Cup final 4-3 at Beauly.


Mountain rescue teams gathered in Cumbria earlier to practise working with new search and rescue helicopters.

The old RAF Sea King helicopters are being phased out after private company the Bristow Group won the contract to run the service from April.
Services will be provided by 22 new helicopters, operating from 10 Coastguard bases.
Rescue volunteers took part in a training exercise near Keswick with the one of the new Sikorsky S92s.
The aircraft is larger than the Sea King, so those on the ground need to get used to the downdraft while co-ordinating winching operations.


Vietnam's police chief, Tran Dai Quang, has been sworn in as the communist country's president.

Mr Quang, 59, has been head of the ministry of public security, which has been the focus of Western criticism of the nation's human rights record.
He had been nominated for the largely ceremonial role at January's communist party conference.
One of his first tasks will be to welcome visiting US President Barack Obama next month.
Mr Quang won 91.5% of a rubber-stamp vote in parliament on Saturday.
"I sincerely thank the National Assembly for electing me," Mr Quang said as he was sworn in. He is the first police general to fill the post.
The Communist Party in January re-elected Nguyen Phu Trong, 71, in the leading role of general secretary for a second term.
His re-election came after reformist Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung withdrew his candidacy.
The National Assembly will vote next week on a new prime minister - set to be Deputy PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc,
Earlier in the week, the assembly elected its first woman Speaker - Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.
Analysts believe one-party Vietnam will continue with economic reforms, but steer clear of major political changes.


A massive security operation, involving up to 10,000 police and soldiers, is under way along Hungary's southern border with Serbia, to keep out migrants and refugees.

The armed forces have been deployed to reinforce a 175km (110-mile) razor-wire fence erected last year on a border that is also a gateway to the European Union.
Until new regulations came into force on 5 July, an average of 130 people crossed the fence every day.
The new law allows the authorities to push back anyone caught inside Hungary within 8km of the fence, but in practice it seems to be applied to those caught far deeper into Hungary, as far as Budapest.
The push-backs usually happen at night, through gates built into the razor wire fence, or even over the wire.
The measures have caused growing backlogs on the Serbian side in daytime temperatures of up to 37C. More than 1,000 migrants are now waiting to enter Hungary, legally, through one of two "transit zones" at Horgos and Kelebia.
The conditions in the camp at Horgos are appalling. Most of the residents are Afghans, while Syrians and Iraqis are concentrated at Kelebia.
A long queue forms each morning for the two taps of running water which serve 850 people, including many women and children. There are now 12 toilets.
Another queue forms rapidly when a jeep from the Serbian Red Cross arrives with bread rolls. The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, provides tins of tuna. People boil water for tea over small fires dug into the sandy earth. Some bake potatoes or sweet corn on the embers, or heat the tuna.
Shelter from the burning sun is offered by small tents and UNHCR blankets, tied together between poles cut from the undergrowth.
Last week a 10-year-old Afghan boy drowned while trying to wash in a pond nearby. His mother walks aimlessly through the camp with her other children, too sad to speak to anyone.
The UNHCR is mediating with the Serbian and Hungarian authorities about where to bury the dead boy.
The unofficial leader of the camp, 25-year-old Afghan doctor Hamid Joya, is besieged by people trying to find out what number they are on his list.
He negotiates with the Hungarian Office of Immigration and Nationality, which controls the steel turnstile into the transit zone, built right into the border fence. Each day 15 people are admitted - 14 from families, and one single male; and a similar number at the other transit zone at Kelebia.
"When the transit zones were first established we were told they could process 100 people a day," UNHCR spokesman Erno Simon told the BBC on a fact-finding visit to Horgos.
"We have been trying to persuade the Hungarian authorities to increase the number because of the inhumane conditions in which they are forced to camp here," he told the BBC.
But if 100 people were admitted each day, that would render the massive security operation on the far side, and the fence itself, irrelevant.
The Hungarian government has called a referendum for 2 October to oppose refugee redistribution quotas proposed by the European Commission.
To be valid, the referendum will require at least 50% of Hungary's eight million voters to take part.
The government has launched a nationwide publicity campaign to mobilise the public to participate.
Some opposition parties have called for a boycott of the referendum, claiming that it would be a vote against Hungary's continued EU membership.
President announces 2 October vote
Relocation deal explained
Migrant crisis enters new phase
Migrants who have been pushed back to Serbia through the fence have accused police in Hungary of brutality.
Samir, from Afghanistan, says he was punched and kicked by police after he surrendered to them having gone four days in Hungary without water. He was then pepper-sprayed as he was being pushed back through the fence "to teach him a lesson".
"We have witnessed a lot of cases of intentional trauma that can be related to excessive use of force," said Momcilo Djurdjevic, a doctor from MSF (Doctors Without Borders), which has an active presence in both camps.
He lists testimonies from refugees and injuries that MSF has treated including "cuts, dog bites, and police, baton-shaped bruises on their bodies".
There has been no official Hungarian response to these allegations.
Official communiques note only that illegal migrants caught on Hungarian territory are "escorted" back to the border.
Faisal Sarwary from Kandahar has been in the Horgos camp for two weeks, with his father, mother, and four sisters.
Smugglers in Belgrade offered them an illegal trip to Austria, across Hungary, but "my father didn't accept. We just want to be patient and pass these borders legally".
A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.


The driver of an uninsured Lamborghini seized outside a police station could avoid court action by accepting a fine and penalty points, police have said.

The sports car was towed away after it was stopped outside a police station in Cambridge in August.
The Huracan model was pulled over by Cambridgeshire police close to its Parkside base.
Police said the company that hired out of the vehicle was "not at fault" and would not face any penalty.
In a Freedom of Information response on 26 November, Cambridgeshire police said the driver had been reported for a "traffic offence" that had yet to be finalised.
A Cambridgeshire Police spokesman confirmed the driver had now been offered the chance to accept a Â£100 fine for driving without a front number plate, plus a Â£300 fine and six penalty points for having no insurance.
If the driver refuses to accept the penalty, the case could be taken to court.
In a tweet at the time of the offence, Cambridgeshire's roads policing unit said: "Even Lamborghinis need insurance." It added: "He was stopped outside the station!"
The vehicle, which retails from about Â£180,000, was later collected by the hire firm.


Screens are being installed on four rivers to prevent endangered eels from being killed by water pumps.

Northumbrian Water is placing protective screens at six places on the Tees, Tyne, Wear and Coquet in response to new regulations.
The Â£11m project aims to be completed by March 2020. Work has started at the Lumley pumping station on the Wear in Chester-le-Street.
Numbers of European eels have dramatically dropped since the 1980s.
Michael Walsh, Northumbrian Water project manager, said: "It's not known exactly why there's been such a dramatic decline, but this project will help ensure the safe passage of eels in our region and ultimately, I hope, will contribute to restoring populations."
Robbie Stevenson, from the Environment Agency, described the eels as "fascinating creatures".
He added: "They have a complex life cycle, beginning life in the Sargasso sea and undergoing several changes during their life maturing in European waters, before returning to the Sargasso to spawn."


Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague have withdrawn charges of crimes against humanity against Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta.

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5 December 2014 Last updated at 17:06 GMT
He had been indicted in connection with post-election ethnic violence in 2007-08, in which 1,200 people died.
Here is the story - in 15 seconds.


Inverness is to host the UK's most northerly TEDx event.

Technology Entertainment and Design (TED) conferences involve 18 minute-long talks from speakers which have included Stephen Hawking, Bono and JK Rowling.
"X" events are arranged independently, but with the blessing, of the TED programme.
University of Aberdeen graduate and maths teacher Ayliean MacDonald has set up TEDxInverness for 30 July.
It will be held at Bogbain Farm on the outskirts of the city.
The UK's only forensic jeweller, Dundee-based Maria Maclennan, will be among its guest speakers.
Inverness-born Ms MacDonald, 23, said: "I started organising this event around a year ago with a view to promote the great community of Inverness and show all of the excellent ideas it has to offer.
"TEDx talks are a maximum of 18 minutes long and can be anything from a scientific talk to a performance, you never know what you are going to get.
"The Inverness talks will be filmed and put on the TED website."
Further x events are being planned for Scotland.
Ms MacDonald said: "This will be the furthest north talk in the UK so far, but soon we will welcome TEDxShetland and TEDxStromness."
Guest speaker Ms Maclennan, from Ross-shire, is based at University of Dundee's Visual Research Centre.
She has helped police and local authorities to identify human remains from forensic examinations of jewellery found on the bodies.
Part of the inspiration for her line of research was archaeologists who use jewellery as an aide to interpreting ancient human remains.
Other speakers at TEDxInverness will include Emma Wood, author of The Hydro Boys, and Mark Davidson who wrote The Art of Common Sense and The Philosophy Game.
Auditory neuroscientist Dr Michael Dempster will talk about the use of modern Scots language.


Artist Gerald Laing whose latest work included pop art featuring the late singer Amy Winehouse has died.

The 75-year-old was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and had been living on the Black Isle, near Inverness.
He spent much of the 1960s working in pop art in New York and was a close friend of artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.
Laing's most famous works included images of actresses Brigitte Bardot and Anna Karina.
In October this year, he showcased a series of paintings and drawings of Winehouse in London.
Laing was also a sculptor and created a statue of Sherlock Holmes that stands in Edinburgh and also the Exiles, a statue at Helmsdale that recalls the Highland Clearances in Scotland.
Four Rugby Players at Twickenham Stadium, Ten Dragons at London's Bank Underground Station and The Glass Virgins at Standard Life's building in Edinburgh are among his other sculptures.
It was understood Laing had been battling cancer.
The artist's son Farquhar said his father had been a truly talented man.
Speaking at his family home at Kinkell Castle on the Black Isle, he said his father painted, sculpted, drew and rebuilt cars, castles and motorcycles, but added that his outstanding talent was being a great father.
Laing served with the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers following studies at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.
After leaving the Army, he studied at St Martin's School of Art in London and went on live in the US from 1964 until 1969.
He settled in the Scottish Highlands and rebuilt 16th Century Kinkell Castle.


Political leaders have been reacting to the decision by Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson to step aside in a deepening crisis at Stormont.

Arlene Foster has taken over as acting first minister and three other DUP ministers resigned after the party's bid to adjourn the assembly failed.
The crisis was sparked by the murder of ex-IRA man Kevin McGuigan, last month.
The British and Irish governments expressed concern over the DUP's actions and called for further talks.
"I am gravely concerned about the situation in Northern Ireland.
"The government objective is clear: we want to work with political leaders for a Northern Ireland where politics works, the economy grows and which is no longer defined by its divided past but by its shared future.
"The UK government does not believe it would be right to introduce emergency legislation now to suspend the assembly."
"It's a bad day for the Northern Ireland political process.
"But it's worth remembering that there have been a number of such bad days over the 20 years since the leadership of Northern Ireland undertook this great process which led to the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements.
"There is an urgent need to get the parties together, find a way to repair those working relationships and address the two issues."
"Today's events are most regrettable.
"I don't believe the best interest of politics or people is served by such actions. I believe there is time, not very much, to reflect on what happened here.
"What we lack is the political will and leadership to resolve these issues and I believe that over the next four or five weeks they still can be done.
"Today's proceedings don't look good. I am discouraged by most of the ministers resigning. I don't believe the institutions can limp on now indefinitely.
"I would urge everybody to get round the table in Stormont House with myself and representatives of the British government to see if we can chart a way forward.
"Time is not on our side and we don't have too many chances left."
"The United States government strongly supports the cross-party talks led by the UK and Irish governments.
"We again encourage all of Northern Ireland's political parties to engage constructively in these negotiations in order to strengthen the devolved institutions.
"Northern Ireland's achievements are the result of dialogue and responsible leadership; now is the time to re-energise the parties' commitment to implementing the Stormont House Agreement and addressing remnant paramilitary activity.
The United States remains actively engaged and will continue to support political progress."
"I know how difficult it is when you reach a doomsday and you have to start putting it all back together again. It is a very difficult task.
"Every single time that we faced a vacuum, it meant trouble. This will be no exception. There are people there who would only relish that fact, small in number, determined in their project.
"It would be a crying shame to allow us to face that position."
"The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) have upped the ante today. It is a sham fight between themselves and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP).
"Peter Robinson has actually not resigned, even though other ministers have. As that stands, it means there will not be an election and I think that was his intention.
"The DUP is afraid of an election."
"This is incredibly weak leadership.
"Instead of the focus remaining firmly on Sinn Féin, people are now trying to determine exactly what this latest example of DUP manoeuvring actually means.
"Given the financial shambles that the DUP and Sinn Féin have presided over, and which has continued at pace under Arlene Foster, it is obvious that she has only been appointed as presiding first minister for no other reason than to allow the DUP to cling on to the reins of power."
"It's extraordinary; it verges on farce. Here you have the first minister stepping aside, he's not resigning. Arlene Foster holds on to the Finance portfolio, but all the other DUP ministers resign and she is in an acting position as the first minister.
"What is the public to make of that? I mean it's pure farce. The public will be very confused about these tactics. Peter Robinson has called this wrong.
"We know the issues, we simply have to apply our minds collectively and show some degree of co-operation. Let us negotiate through this. We don't have to bring down the assembly because there is a political crisis. Why does this place have to come down?
"Devolution is an integral part of reconciliation but for it to function, people need to step back and calm down.
"Alliance has consistently said cool heads and strong leadership is needed, which is what we are providing.
"However, today's events show others are not as interested and would rather grandstand and threaten power-sharing for short-term gain."
"The parties have to be willing to compromise and commit to begin rebuilding the trust which has all but disappeared.
"For all those who have sacrificed so much for peace and stability in Northern Ireland the stakes couldn't be higher.
"It is time to choose between political strife and division or a renewed commitment to building a better future."


Wakefield Wildcats player Chris Annakin dislocated his hip and team-mate Richard Owen suffered a neck injury when their car hit a tree on Friday.

Captain Danny Kirmond, 30, was also in the car and received cuts to his arms and legs, according to police.
The trio were kept in hospital overnight after the single-vehicle collision happened at 15:46 BST on Black Road in Wakefield.
The club said further information would be released "as and when appropriate".
Wakefield have no fixture this weekend because of the Challenge Cup final and are next in action at Castleford on Friday, 2 September.
Police are appealing for any witnesses to the incident to phone 101.
A club statement said: "Wakefield are aware of a road traffic accident that occurred at approximately 4pm in the Heath Common area yesterday.
"Three players, Chris Annakin, Danny Kirmond and Richard Owen were involved in the accident, and all remained overnight in hospital with various injuries, although none are life-threatening.
"Police and ambulance staff attended the scene, and the club are liaising with them to ascertain exactly what occurred. We hope everyone will wish the players a speedy recovery and respect their privacy at this time.
"There will be further information released as and when appropriate."


Changing the school week to four longer days and a half day could save money, a report has said.

The Public Policy Institute for Wales (PPW) said the move could offer training opportunities for teachers and give children more free time.
But concerns include childcare access and transport availability.
The Welsh Government said it was "not proposing a national policy for a four-and-a-half day school week" but was considering the report's findings.
The report, commissioned by former Education Minister Huw Lewis, said while there was some anecdotal information about the potential advantages and disadvantages there was very little research on the impact.
Those in favour of the system suggest the shorter fifth day would allow for more free time for pupils, which they could spend with family and friends, on after-school activities or attend appointments without missing lessons.
Advocates also suggest it could improve staff well-being and free-up teachers for more training time.
But the report also said school staff with children attending schools which do not use the system might have issues with childcare, and that longer days could make pupils more tired.
Cerian Rolls, a mother-of-three and a part-time teacher from Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taff, told BBC Radio Wales she was not convinced as a working parent by the arguments for longer school days.
"To make the day potentially longer at both ends could put a strain on those working parents who are struggling like myself to get childcare," she told the Good Morning Wales programme.
Ms Rolls added that many parents would be sorry if longer school days meant children had less opportunity to enjoy after-school activities.
NUT Wales policy officer Owen Hathway told the programme he would be "wary" of such changes, and felt there was not yet enough evidence from other countries to show that they worked.
"There's an issue on those longer days that children might become fatigued," he said.
"As you come to the end of those longer afternoons you're not getting as productive a lesson as you could potentially have."
Some schools in Scotland have already adopted an asymmetric school week in response to an anticipated budget cuts, with an earlier finish on Friday.
The report said the move had resulted in the more effective use of teachers' time and a better use of resources, which would help schools respond to further budget cuts if they come.
A Welsh Government spokesman said: "We are not proposing a national policy for a four-and-a-half day school week in Wales.
"The PPIW have been asked to explore how evidence and research can support us to improve policy and practice in Wales and find new and innovative ways of doing so.
"They have presented us with a range of ideas and we should consider them all in detail, as we continue to focus on ways to raise standards in our schools and aspirations for all our pupils and young people."
Plaid Cymru's Shadow Education Secretary Llyr Gruffydd also said that experience in Scotland showed the four-and-a-half day week "can be made to work, creating space in the school timetable for pupils to broaden their extra-curricular experiences and for professional development opportunities for staff".
He added that Plaid would also look at the structure of the school year, saying: "Teachers tell us that introducing shorter terms and more frequent holidays would lead to improved educational outcomes for children."
Darren Millar, education spokesman for the Welsh Conservatives, was against changing school hours.
"Squeezing the school week into four longer school days would create huge challenges in terms of childcare; cause chaos and congestion by adding to peak time traffic; and hinder learning capacity, particularly for younger pupils, as children tire towards the end of the school day," he said.
"Instead of using taxpayers' money to commission reports on changing the school week, the Welsh Government would do better to commission some work on the attainment gap between Wales and other nations in the UK."


The smog that has enveloped Singapore, Malaysia and parts of Indonesia this week has reached dangerous new levels, prompting the Singaporean government to warn that the smoky haze "may be life threatening" to vulnerable people.

The smog is caused by smoke from forest fires in Sumatra, which has blown east over Malaysia and Singapore.
According to Prof Roy Harrison, professor of environmental health at the University of Birmingham, this type of air pollution can be very unpleasant.
"It's quite different to traffic pollution, but equally toxic.
"The particles in the air are mostly made up of carbon compounds and sooty material and there will be nasty acrid gases in the smoke."
The immediate effects of smog can include problems with breathing, wheezing, coughing and watery eyes.
Dr Keith Prowse, from the British Lung Foundation, says the concentration of the current smog means it will probably affect everyone in some way.
"It looks highly irritant to the eyes, nose and chest - and people may then develop a cough or chest symptoms."
In the longer term, prolonged exposure to air pollution of any kind can have an impact on human health and reduce life expectancy.
The World Health Organization says air pollution is a significant risk factor for a number of health conditions including respiratory infection, heart disease, and lung cancer - but there are certain groups who are particularly at risk.
Elderly people and those with respiratory illnesses, such as asthma, are vulnerable when smog hits because their lungs are less able to deal with the pollution.
They are more likely to be admitted to hospital, and for those who are already sick, the smog is an additional stress factor.
People with asthma may find their condition worsens and they need to take more medication.
Children are thought to be susceptible to the dangers of air pollution because they spend more time outdoors and breathe in more air per unit of body weight.
Prof Harrison says younger adults can be affected too.
"We do know that exposure to particles in air pollution affects the rhythm of the heart.
"This could affect people in their forties who are beginning to have heart conditions which they may not be aware of."
Repeated exposure to air pollution caused by car fumes is known to carry risks for the heart, as previous studies show.
Recent research led by Dr Krishnan Bhaskaran, a statistical epidemiologist from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, discovered that high pollution events could trigger heart attacks in people who were already vulnerable.
Another recent study from Edinburgh found that air pollution from diesel exhaust fumes has an impact on the heart and blood vessels, potentially increasing the chance of blood clots forming in the arteries.
Singapore's prime minister said that the smoky haze could remain in place for weeks and possibly until September or October, when the dry season ends in Sumatra.
Prolonged exposure to the smog will mean prolonged health risks for elderly and vulnerable people in an urban area where normal pollution levels are quite high.
In the meantime, the advice is to stay indoors when possible, where pollution levels are lower, and limit unnecessary physical activity to reduce breathing in dirty air.
The face masks which are in high demand in Singapore can protect against the worst of the smog.
But Dr Bhaskaran says they are unlikely to provide total protection.
"The masks may be sufficient to keep out some particles, but other gases would go straight through them."
The British Lung Foundation agrees: "The use of masks is not recommended; they are often ineffective and may make breathing more difficult."


Surgeons in London have used lasers to diagnose abnormal tissue during an operation to remove a brain tumour for the first time in Europe.

The non-invasive technique measures light reflected off tissue to determine whether it is cancerous or healthy.
The patient, Reuben Hill, 22, is making a good recovery after the operation at Charing Cross Hospital.
It is hoped the technique could make this kind of delicate surgery faster and more accurate.
It has only been tried in Montreal, Canada, before now.
Mr Hill, who is from Devon and studying for a PhD in physics at Imperial College London, works with the same laser technology as used in his operation.
Before surgery, he told me: "My inner scientist is fascinated by what they are going to do.
"Understanding the physics involved definitely makes it less frightening."
During the operation, surgeons use a near-infrared laser probe, pointing the beam of light on to the exposed brain.
This causes molecules in the cells to vibrate.
Fibre optics in the probe collect the scattered light that bounces off the tissue.
This is analysed using Raman spectroscopy, which can measure the frequency of vibrations.
Healthy and abnormal tissue have a slightly different "signature".
The whole process takes a couple of seconds, and is entirely non-invasive.
In all cancer surgery, the aim is to remove all abnormal tissue while sparing healthy cells.
This is especially important with brain tumours, as removing healthy tissue can cause permanent damage to cognition, memory and speech.
The Raman probe can tell surgeons whether to cut or spare tissue.
At present, they rely on biopsies sent for analysis during the operation, which can take up to 40 minutes each.
Neurosurgeon Babar Vaqas, the trial chief investigator, said: "Optical technologies like this are the future. They are fast and don't destroy any tissue and could be used during many types of cancer surgery or when dealing with infection like a brain abscess."
Mr Vaqas said the trial at Charing Cross Hospital - part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust - was aiming to recruit between 30 and 40 patients with brain tumours.
During the same operation, surgeons used another innovative technique - an "intelligent" knife that can give a detailed molecular analysis of tissue.
The "iKnife" is an electro-surgical scalpel that produces smoke as it cuts through tissue.
This is sucked into a mass spectrometer next to the operating table, for analysis, telling surgeons what type of abnormality they are dealing with.
Kevin O'Neill,  head of neurosurgery at Imperial, said the combination of new technologies would revolutionise brain surgery.
"This is bringing the laboratory into theatre, giving a real-time molecular fingerprint of tissue," he said.
"The potential is amazing, not just to differentiate between normal brain and tumour, but whether the patient is likely to respond to specific treatments".
The team at Imperial began using the iKnife in September 2014 and are also trialling it in breast, colon and ovarian cancer surgery.
Mr Hill was diagnosed with epilepsy and a brain tumour after he was found collapsed in his bedroom.
He said: "It was a big surprise. I was a fit, healthy person and in the judo team."
The golf-ball-sized tumour was near the area of the brain that deals with language and communication.
Mr Hill is part of the choir at Imperial College, and was concerned that the surgery might affect his speech and ability to sing.
Half way through the operation, he was gently woken up and asked to talk - and sing - so that surgeons could be sure that these would not be affected.
A speech therapist worked with Mr Hill as the surgeons removed the last parts of the tumour.
With the lights dimmed, Mr Hill sang these poignant words from the hymn 10,000 Reasons: "Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, I'll still be singing when the evening comes."
I have witnessed scores of operations over the years, but none like this.
It was a moving culmination to a remarkable piece of surgery.
I met Mr Hill two months after his operation, when he was back at Charing Cross Hospital for a follow-up appointment.
Surgeons were able to confirm that his tumour had not been cancerous.
The operation was a complete success, though Mr Hill will need to be monitored regularly in the coming years.
He said he was now well on the road to recovery and looking forward to getting back to his physics PhD next year.
Mr Hill said being ill had given him a new perspective on life, adding that in the future "I'll be remembering just to be happy".
The research at Imperial College is part-funded by the charity Brain Tumour Research.
Chief executive Sue Farrington Smith said: "Advances in brain tumour surgery such as this are very exciting and give hope to the thousands of patients and their families diagnosed with a brain tumour each year."


The approval of plans for a retail development which will pay for a sports stadium in Cornwall has caused "despair", a planning chairman said.

Councillor Rob Nolan, who voted against the plans, said the Truro development would cause traffic chaos and "deal a major blow" to traders locally.
The move has been welcomed by sports fans and other supporters.
On Thursday, councillors voted 11-8 for the plans which include a supermarket funding a 6,000-seater stadium.
Liberal Democrat Mr Nolan, chairman of Cornwall Council's strategic planning committee, said: "It's despairing. Truro is a vibrant and successful shopping centre. On a dream we've perhaps dealt it a major blow."
He described the decision as a "great day for sport, bad day for traders."
Truro business leader Simon Hendra shares that opinion. He said the vote left him "bemused" that councillors went against planning officers' advice to refuse the plans, and that "the retail reports say it'll do a lot of damage."
However, independent councillor Mark Kaczmarek - who voted for the plans - said this had come after many years of efforts to build a stadium.
"There's no other scheme on the table and as planners we have to take that balance. We came up with the right decision," he said.
The Cornish Pirates rugby club, Inox Group, Truro and Penwith College and Henry Boot Developments were behind the plans for the multi-use stadium.
It is expected to cost £10m with £2m promised by Truro and Penwith College and the other £8m from a deal still to be done with a supermarket and other retailers.
Among conflicting views on BBC Radio Cornwall's Facebook page, Christian Ford said: "Sort your lives out Cornwall!! Come on, I'm Cornish. Move with the times. Cornwall needs a stadium, more interest, jobs, events, future music venue etc.. Wake up!"
Bill Spears commented: "Truro will become a place to avoid like the plague. The traffic is an absolute nightmare."


One in seven of Northern Ireland streets and parks failed to meet the accepted standard for litter last year, despite tens of millions of pounds being spent by councils on clean-ups.

Eleven hundred sites were surveyed with 15% having "widespread" litter.
Worst affected areas were industrial estates with more than a third failing to meet the standard.
Areas of low density housing did best with virtually all rated clean or very clean and some totally free of litter.
Between them the 11 councils spent more than Â£43m on cleansing, according to the survey for Keep Northern Ireland beautiful.
Spokesman Chris Allen said it was clear councils were "struggling to keep pace with people's irresponsible habits".
He said the average cost to every ratepayer in Northern Ireland was Â£58 a year.
There was some good news on dog fouling with the reported incidence falling.
The survey data was collected between August and October 2016.
One hundred areas in each council district were surveyed. They included main roads; rural roads; high density housing; low density housing; recreational areas and industrial estates.
It emerged last year that although the cost of dealing with littering was going up, the number of enforcement cases was going down.
In 2016 it stood at 3,724, down from 4,435 in 2014/15.
Seven of the 11 councils have signed up to the Live Here Love Here anti-litter initiative.
Businesses and government departments also support several clean up campaigns.


Pressure is increasing on Russia over civilian deaths in Syria, with France and the US urging greater caution.

French PM Manuel Valls and US Secretary of State John Kerry said civilians were dying in Russian air strikes.
Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev said there was "no evidence of our bombing civilians, even though everyone is accusing us of this".
One observers' group says at least 1,015 civilians have been killed in Russian air strikes.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said late last month that close to a quarter of those killed were under the age of 18.
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Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has consistently denied hitting civilian targets and insists it is battling terrorists.
Mr Valls said his government "respects Russia and Russia's interests" but "that to re-discover the path to peace, to discussion, the Russian bombing of civilians has to stop".
Mr Kerry again accused Russia of using so-called 'dumb bombs' in Syria that do not hit precise targets. Last week, he said women and children were being killed "in large numbers" by Russian raids.
Mr Medvedev said Russia was "not trying to achieve some secret goals in Syria", adding that "we are trying to protect our national interests".
Their comments were made at a security conference in Munich, days after world powers agreed a deal to push for a cessation of hostilities in Syria within a week.
Agreement to try to bring about a cessation of hostilities and allow more access for humanitarian aid was reached by world powers late on Thursday in Germany, but neither the Syrian government nor the rebels were involved.
Under the plan, efforts will be made to try to make urgent aid deliveries to besieged and hard-to-reach areas in Syria. Steps will also be taken to work towards an eventual ceasefire and implementation of a UN-backed plan for political transition in Syria.
The halt will not apply to the battle against jihadist groups Islamic State (IS) and al-Nusra Front.
The tentative deal reached here in Munich to pause the fighting in Syria was always going to be a tough sell to the warring parties on the ground. Now its chances of success look even slimmer - "Forty-nine per cent," said Russia's foreign minister. "Closer to zero," said his British counterpart.
For much of the day the Russian and Western ministers have been trading accusations and counter-accusations as to who is to blame for the ongoing misery that is the Syrian civil war.
France, Britain and the US all accused Russia of targeting mainstream rebels and civilians with air strikes while leaving so-called Islamic State largely unscathed. Russia flatly denied this, saying most of those civilians were being besieged by rebels rather than by Assad's forces. Again, Western delegates disagreed.
So there are clearly two, diametrically opposed, versions of what is going on in Syria. That leaves little prospect of the concerted effort for peace by all parties that is so desperately needed.
Rebel groups in Syria have told the BBC they would not stop fighting because they do not believe that Russia will end its bombing campaign in support of the government.
They also reiterated their demand that President Assad be removed from power. On Friday, the president said he wanted to retake "the whole country" from rebels.
But US state department spokesman Mark Toner said Mr Assad was "deluded" if he thought there was a military solution to the conflict.
Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air strikes, have almost encircled rebels in parts of the northern city of Aleppo.
More than 250,000 people have been killed and some 11 million displaced in almost five years of fighting in Syria.
In another sign of the complexity of the conflict, reports said that on Saturday Turkish forces had shelled Kurdish militia targets in Aleppo provinces.
The Kurdish fighters had seized territory from Islamists in recent days. Turkey views the Kurdish militia as allied to the PKK group, which has a waged a campaign against Turkish security forces for decades.
On Saturday, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Saudi Arabia would send war planes to the Turkish air base of Incirlik, from where they would attack militants in Syria from the so-called Islamic State.
Saudi Arabia is already part of the international coalition against IS.
Mr Cavusoglu also said it was possible that troops from his country and Saudi Arabia might participate in a ground operation against IS forces. The US has so far ruled out a ground invasion.
Moscow has warned against any new foreign ground intervention in the country, saying such a development could even lead to a world war.
Why is there a war in Syria?
Anti-government protests developed into a civil war that, five years on, has ground to a stalemate, with the Assad government, Islamic State, an array of Syrian rebels and Kurdish fighters all holding territory.
Who is fighting whom?
Government forces concentrated in Damascus and the centre and west of Syria are fighting the jihadists of Islamic State and al-Nusra Front, as well as less numerous so-called "moderate" rebel groups, who are strongest in the north and east. These groups are also battling each other.
How has the world reacted?
Iran, Russia and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement are propping up the Alawite-led Assad government, while Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar back the Sunni-dominated opposition, along with the US, UK and France. Hezbollah and Iran are believed to have troops and officers on the ground, while a Western-led coalition and Russia are carrying out air strikes.


The Communication Workers Union has announced it is backing Jeremy Corbyn in the Labour Party leadership election.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward hailed him as "a leader for the millions, not the millionaires".
Thanking the union for its support, Mr Corbyn said it was "time to end rip-off Britain."
The announcement came as two former advisers declared their support for his rival, Owen Smith.
Academics David Blanchflower and Simon Wren-Lewis, who have both served on Labour's economic advisory committee, expressed doubts about Mr Corbyn's ability to lead.
Mr Blanchflower told The Guardian Mr Smith had been better at consulting businesses and economists in three weeks than the current Labour leader had been over the last nine months, and Mr Wren-Lewis wrote on his blog that "a Corbyn-led party cannot win in 2020".
Endorsing Mr Corbyn, the CWU general secretary said: "We need a fundamental change in Labour politics and Jeremy Corbyn recognises this.
"He is the candidate to drive through the change that ordinary people are crying out for - opposing damaging austerity measures and tackling the housing crisis which is causing misery for so many."
The CWU represents 190,000 people working in the Royal Mail group, mobile companies and in BT Open Reach.
Mr Corbyn has already received the backing of train drivers' union Aslef and construction workers' union Ucatt.
Meanwhile, Labour has announced the dates of five leadership hustings over the next month to be held in Cardiff (4 August), Nottinghamshire (17 August), Birmingham (18 August), Glasgow (25 August) and London (1 September).


US stock markets finished lower on Tuesday as bank and healthcare shares saw some of the biggest falls.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average index shed 58.96 points to 19,826.77, with JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs the two biggest fallers.
Pfizer and Merck also dropped, after comments from Donald Trump that he would target drug pricing.
The S&P 500 fell 6.75 points to 2,267.89 and the Nasdaq was off 35.39 points at 5,538.73.
Analysts said sectors whose shares had risen strongly since Mr Trump's election victory were among the main fallers.
The S&P 500 bank index fell 3.4%, having previously risen about 25% since the 8 November vote on hopes Mr Trump's regulatory and fiscal policies would boost the  sector.
Retail giant Walmart was the biggest riser on the Dow Jones, up 1.9%, after the company said it would create 10,000 US jobs through opening or remodelling 59 stores.
On the currency markets, the dollar was down 0.8% against a basket of major currencies after comments from the president-elect in the Wall Street Journal.
Mr Trump said US firms could not compete with China "because our currency is too strong. And it's killing us".
Oil prices fell back after initial gains, with Brent crude trading 0.6% lower at $55.53 a barrel, and US crude down 0.3% at $52.51 a barrel.


The Scottish Premiership game between Partick Thistle and St Johnstone has been postponed following a morning pitch inspection.

Heavy rain in Glasgow has resulted in a waterlogged pitch at Thistle's Firhill Stadium.
Not date has yet been set for the rearranged fixture.
Thistle, who have won their last four games, also had a top-flight match against Motherwell called off due to rain on 5 December.


Portugal, a country with a rich history of seafaring and discovery, looks out from the Iberian peninsula into the Atlantic Ocean.

When it handed over its last overseas territory, Macau, to Chinese administration in 1999, it brought to an end a long and sometimes turbulent era as a colonial power.
The roots of that era stretch back to the 15th century when Portuguese explorers such as Vasco da Gama put to sea in search of a passage to India. By the 16th century these sailors had helped build a huge empire embracing Brazil as well as swathes of Africa and Asia. There are still some 200 million Portuguese speakers around the world today.
For almost half of the 20th century Portugal was a dictatorship in which for decades Antonio de Oliveira Salazar was the key figure.
This period was brought to an end in 1974 in a bloodless coup, picturesquely known as the Revolution of the Carnations, which ushered in a new democracy.
Population 10.7 million
Area 92,345 sq km (35,655 sq miles)
Major language Portuguese
Major religion Christianity
Life expectancy 77 years (men), 83 years (women)
Currency  euro
President: Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
A veteran of the centre-right Social Democratic Party, Mr Rebelo de Sousa went on to have a high-profile career in journalism and broadcasting before being elected to the largely-ceremonial post of president in March 2016. He stood as an independent, campaigning to heal the divisions caused by Portugal's 2011-2014 debt crisis and austerity measures, and beat the left-wing candidate Antonio Sampaio da Novoa in the first round.
Prime minister: Antonio Costa
Socialist Party leader Antonio Costa formed a centre-left government in November 2015 after a month of political drama, amid expectations of an end to four years of fiscal austerity.
He joined forces with two far-left parties to oust the centre-right coalition of incumbent Pedro Passos Coelho that topped the poll in inconclusive October parliamentary elections.
Born in 1961, Mr Costa is a veteran Socialist Party politician, serving as a government minister twice before being elected mayor of the capital Lisbon in 2007, resigning to become the Socialists' candidate for premier in 2015.
Portugal's commercial TVs have a lion's share of the viewing audience, and provide tough competition for the public broadcaster.
Public TV is operated by RTP. The main private networks are TVI and SIC. Multichannel TV is available via cable, satellite, digital terrestrial and internet protocol TV (IPTV). Cable is the dominant platform.
The switchover to digital TV was completed in 2012.
The public radio, RDP, competes with national commercial networks, Roman Catholic station Radio Renascenca and some 300 local and regional outlets.
Some key dates in Portugal's history:
1908 - King Carlos and eldest son assassinated in Lisbon. Second son Manuel becomes king.
1910 - King Manuel II abdicates amid revolution; Portugal proclaimed a republic.
1911 - New constitution separates church from state. Manuel Jose de Arriaga elected first president of republic.
1916-18 - Portugal fights First World War on Allied side.
1926 - Military coup. General Antonio de Fragoso Carmona becomes president.
1928 - Carmona appoints Antonio de Oliveira Salazar minister of finance.
1932 - Salazar becomes prime minister, a post he will retain for 36 years, establishing authoritarian "Estado Novo" (New State) political system.
1936 - Salazar backs General Franco's nationalists in Spanish Civil War.
1939-45 - Portugal maintains official neutrality during Second World War, but allows UK to use air bases in Azores.
1949 - Portugal becomes founding member of Nato.
1955 - Portugal joins United Nations.
1968 - Antonio Salazar dismissed from premiership after stroke; dies in 1970.
1974 - A near-bloodless military coup sparks a mass movement of civil unrest, paving the way for democracy. The 25 April coup becomes known as the Carnation Revolution.
1974-75 - Independence for Portuguese colonies of Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Cape Verde Islands, Sao Tome and Principe, and Angola.
1982 - Military Council of the Revolution abolished, civilian government formally restored.
1986 - Portugal becomes member of EEC (later EU). Mario Soares elected president.


Cushendall reached the All-Ireland club hurling final for the first time with a convincing 3-12 to 1-6 victory over Sarsfields of Galway in Navan.

The Ruairi Ogs were dominant throughout and Neil McManus's early penalty helped them to a 1-4 to 0-5 half-time lead.
Sean McAfee's outstanding individual effort extended the lead and Joe Cooney's goal proved a consolation.
McManus continued to keep the scores ticking over and substitute Karl McKeegan added a third goal late on.
Cushendall will face Na Piarsaigh of Limerick in the final at Croke Park on St Patrick's Day.
The Antrim champions had reached the last four of the All-Ireland series by beating Slaughtneil in the Ulster decider in October and ran out deserved winners at Pairc Tailteann.
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Sarsfields, twice All-Ireland winners in the 1990s, were taking part in their first semi-final since 1998, but proved no match for the 10-time Ulster champions.
Cushendall got off to the perfect start when McManus scored a fourth-minute penalty after McAfee had been pulled down.
Paddy McGill (2), McManus and Conor Carson knocked over points before the break, while Niall Morrissey contributed four of his side's five first-half points.
McAfee's goal gave his team some breathing space and second-half points from McManus (6), Alex Delargy and McGill emphasised John McKillop's side's superiority.
Cooney's goal and Morrissey's free were the only scores which the Galway men could muster in the second half and McKeegan completed the rout by bundling the ball over the line in injury-time.


Pope Francis has said that the Roman Catholic Church should apologise to gay people for the way it has treated them.

He told reporters that the Church had no right to judge the gay community, and should show them respect.
The pontiff also said the Church should seek forgiveness from other people it had marginalised - women, the poor, and children forced into labour.
The Pope has been hailed by many in the gay community for his positive attitude towards homosexuals.
But some conservative Catholics have criticised him for making comments they say are ambiguous about sexual morality.
Speaking to reporters on his plane returning from Armenia, the Pope said: "I will repeat what the catechism of the Church says, that they [homosexuals] should not be discriminated against, that they should be respected, accompanied pastorally."
Pope Francis said the Church should seek forgiveness from those whom it had marginalised.
"I think that the Church not only should apologise... to a gay person whom it offended but it must also apologise to the poor as well, to the women who have been exploited, to children who have been exploited by [being forced to] work. It must apologise for having blessed so many weapons."
In 2013, Pope Francis reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's position that homosexual acts were sinful, but homosexual orientation was not.
"If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?" he said then.
In other remarks on Sunday, the Pope said he hoped the European Union would be able to recover following the UK's decision to leave.
"There is something that is not working in that bulky union, but let's not throw the baby out with the bath water, let's try to jump-start things, to re-create," he said.
During his visit to the Armenian capital, Yerevan, the Pope described the mass killing of Armenians under Ottoman Turkish rule in World War One as "genocide".
Turkey has always disputed the numbers killed and angrily rejects the term "genocide".
In response, Turkish deputy prime minister Nurettin Canikli said the Pope's comments were "very unfortunate" adding it was "possible to see all the reflections and traces of crusader mentality in the actions of the papacy".
The Pope's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, later told reporters: "The Pope is on no crusade. He is not trying to organise wars or build walls but he wants to build bridges. He has not said a word against the Turkish people."


The "world's largest" historic motor racing festival has been thrilling a sell-out crowd of 150,000 in West Sussex.

Most have been in period dress at the Goodwood Circuit, near Chichester.
The parades and races aim to create a "magical step back in time celebrating the halcyon days of motor racing", said the organisers.
The annual event has run since 1998 when Lord March revived the circuit which closed for racing in 1966.
Goodwood said star drivers this year include Tom Kristensen, the most successful driver in Le Mans history with nine wins, and fellow world champions on four wheels and two Andy Priaulx, Kevin Schwantz and Freddie Spencer.
Celebrities Theo Paphitis, Chris Rea and James Martin are racing while Take That's Howard Donald has also entered a car.
Meanwhile, the life of McLaren founder Bruce McLaren is being celebrated with a parade each day of 30 cars from his career.
The festival will also be marking the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain with Spitfires, Hurricanes and the only flying Bristol Blenheim in the world.


At least five people have been killed and seven wounded after a suicide bomb attack on a restaurant near a local government building in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

The attacker drove a car packed with explosives outside the busy restaurant, a spokesman from the mayor's office told the BBC.
Islamist militant group al-Shabab has said it was behind the attack.
The group, an al-Qaeda affiliate, is waging an armed insurgency in Somalia.
Al-Shabab frequently carries out attacks in the Somali capital.
The government, with the help of African Union forces, is fighting al-Shabab to regain control of the country.
The militants pulled out of Mogadishu in 2011.


A bug in the popular messaging service WhatsApp put up to 200 million of its users at risk, security firm Check Point has warned.

The flaw allows hackers to distribute malware, including ransomware, which demands victims  pay a fee to regain access to their files.
The vulnerability affects only the web-based version of the service.
WhatsApp was alerted to the problem at the end of last month and immediately issued a patch.
Check Point urged users to update their WhatsApp software immediately to take advantage of the fix.
The WhatsApp web app is a mirror version of its mobile app, enabling all messages, images and other content received on a smartphone to be accessed from a web browser.
There are currently over 200 million active users of the web app, according to statistics released by the firm this year. This compares to 900 million users of the smartphone app.
WhatsApp was bought by Facebook in February 2014.
According to Check Point, the vulnerability was caused by the way the service handles contacts sent in the vCard (virtual card) format.
All a hacker needed to do to send a virtual business card that looked legitimate was know their target's mobile number.
Once opened the vCard could distribute malicious code.
One expert said it was relatively easy for hackers to get hold of mobile numbers that have been disclosed via other breaches.
"Bearing in mind that WhatsApp is a cross-platform mobile messaging app, the chances of you opening a vCard sent to you is quite high," commented Mark James, a specialist at security firm ESET.
"Once opened it could attempt to download and infect your system with ransomware."
Check Point alerted WhatsApp about the problem on 21 August and a week later it issued a fix.


Donald Trump has not only normalised American foreign policy, he has arguably made it more effective.

With two high-profile, signal-sending bombing raids and a series of breathtaking policy reversals, President Trump has brought US foreign policy back in line with conventional thinking. But he has added to the equation a measure of force that gives Washington new clout.
When policy shifts so dramatically and with such little explanation, it can obviously shift again.
So we don't know how long the new positions will last. Nato could be back out of favour, Putin back in, simply with a couple of 140-character tweets.
But Donald Trump is a voracious consumer of cable television and the hunch is he will like the near-universal praise he's been getting on US talk shows this week.
There are clearly glaring inconsistencies in his new foreign policies - he bombs a Syrian air base because of the suffering of Syrian babies, but bans Syrian refugees from entering America.
There are pitfalls too. His switch on China appears largely based on a good rapport with Xi Jinping in Mar-a-Lago, but China still has interests which are not in sync with America's - its expansion in the South China Seas is just one.
But, as one Republican put it to me this week, Mr Trump has begun to know what he doesn't know. That's important. He has begun to understand that the world is more complicated than he thought.
You can laugh all you like at the sight of Mr Trump getting so publicly tutored on China, North Korea, the Export-Import bank and currency manipulation. Of course it was foolish to promise simple solutions to complex problems. But it's better to learn now how difficult those things are than never to learn at all.
His recent praise of Nato and rejection of Moscow immediately put this White House more in sync with European allies.
Europe has long believed that the real threat to global security comes from Russia, not China. That's not what millions of Mr Trump's voters believe. He will have to keep them in mind as he backs away from calling China a currency manipulator and slapping it with tariffs, as he had promised he would do in the campaign.
But the shifts do bring America back into the foreign policy mainstream.
The use of force, in Syria and Afghanistan, meanwhile, sends the message to America's adversaries that Mr Trump is not as war-averse as his predecessor.
The White House was delighted that Xi Jinping got to hear the news, over dessert in Mar-a-Lago, that the US had bombed Syria. They wanted him to get the message that there's a new sheriff in town - and ideally to pass that message on to their contacts in Pyongyang.
Those Tomahawks launched against the Shayrat air base didn't really do much to limit Syria's military capability, but they did send several effective signals to Syria and its friends.
First, using chemical weapons against civilians will have consequences. Second, this is a president who is prepared to use force fast and with no warning - Trump isn't paralysed by analysis which was the criticism of Barack Obama.
Third, and perhaps more critical, it gave Secretary of State Rex Tillerson a large stick to pack in his luggage for his trip to Moscow.
Mr Obama's secretary of state, John Kerry, negotiated over Syria for years with no leverage because the Russians knew his boss wouldn't sanction the use of force - not so anymore.
There was similar messaging printed on that massive bomb dropped on suspected Islamic State militants in Afghanistan this week. Dropping a big bomb is one thing, but you get a lot more attention when that bomb is rather gruesomely nicknamed "the mother of all bombs".
It wasn't just a bomb, it was the biggest conventional weapon ever used in combat. It was positively Trumpian.
That MOAB also sent signals. Mr Trump told his supporters during the campaign that his number one foreign policy priority was defeating so-called Islamic State. Some of those voters were not thrilled then that his first military intervention was in response to the suffering of Syrian children.
They are suspicious of America getting dragged into more Middle East conflicts that don't help US interests. Bombing IS was a reminder that Mr Trump is focused on what he calls America's number one national security challenge.
Ahead of the Easter weekend, with North Korea rumbling about a nuclear test, the Afghan strike may also have served as another reminder to Pyongyang that Mr Trump has big, bunker-busting weapons and will use them.
So, in two short weeks, and with a new and more professional team in the White House, Mr Trump has stabilised foreign policy. Allies will wait to see if the change lasts and who really speaks for the president. But for the moment there is a collective sigh of relief that American leadership may be back in more conventional hands.
Very soon, the focus will shift back to domestic policy and there Mr Trump has more of a challenge. He needs a legislative win fast. When Congress returns in a week, he will tackle health care, again, tax reform and he faces a government shutdown over America's debt limit. Failure on those will quickly shift the tone of the TV commentators.
President Trump has no domestic equivalent of the confident, competent General H R McMaster, his new national security adviser.
The Republican party is divided and the conservative wing has already shown it is prepared to say no to the president. Democrats, having been berated on Twitter and on TV by Mr Trump, are now in no mood to abandon their angry liberal base and work with him.
Mr Trump has had a good couple of weeks. He has shown a capacity to learn and adapt as a result. He has begun to understand what he doesn't know and he has marginalised the more populist members of his team.
He wants successes. It is easier for him to get them on the world stage than at home - it would be ironic if America's isolationist president now decided to become a foreign policy president because that's where the wins are.


Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's recent statements have caused "consternation" in the US and other nations, the most senior US diplomat for Asia said during a visit to Manila.

Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel said the comments were creating "a climate of uncertainty" about the Philippines' intentions.
Mr Duterte has announced a "separation from the US", its longstanding ally.
It follows US criticism of the Philippines' brutal war against drugs.
The campaign has caused thousands of extrajudicial killings.
Mr Russel said the US was concerned about the loss of life in Mr Duterte's crackdown on the drugs trade.
"I pointed out to secretary [Foreign Minister Perfecto] Yasay that the succession of controversial statements and comments and a real climate of uncertainty about the Philippines' intentions has created consternation in a number of countries, not only in mine," Mr Russel said.
"This is not a positive trend. And as I candidly shared with the foreign secretary, your friends are also concerned about the loss of life in connection with the counter-narcotics campaign."
The US called for clarification after President Duterte addressed an economic forum in China last week, saying: "I announce my separation from the United States. Both in military, not maybe social, but economics also. America has lost."
He added: "I've realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to [President Vladimir] Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world - China, Philippines, and Russia. It's the only way."
US officials said the remarks were "at odds" with the "close relationship" shared by the countries.
Mr Russel said that although the US welcomed improved ties between the Philippines and China, it should not come at the expense of the US or other nations.
"It's a mistake to think that improved relations between Manila and Beijing somehow come at the expense of the United States. This should be addition and not subtraction," he said.
Mr Duterte has grown increasingly hostile towards the US since taking office in June.
He has said he wants to end joint military exercises with the US and told President Barack Obama he could "go to hell" after criticism over his bloody war against drugs.