Junior Interzone

Report by George Richardson

Congrulations to the West Down Zone Juniors the winners of the competition played today (Saturday 27th. December) at The Jethro Centre Lurgan. They will now go on to play in the Finals which will be played in February. Only four zones took part ( Armagh - Oriel - South Down & West Down as Monaghan had to withdraw )

RESULTS OF ALL THE GAMES.

Armagh 31 ( 1 ) West Down 38 ( 4 )
South Down 26 ( 4 ) Oriel 25 ( 1 )

Armagh 27 ( 2 ) South Down 31 ( 3 )
West Down 34 ( 3 ) Oriel 34 ( 2 )

Armagh 16 ( 0 ) Oriel 43 ( 5 )
South Down 24 ( 1 ) West Down 25 ( 4 )

FINAL POSITIONS
1st. West Down 11 Pts. ( +8 )
2nd. Oriel 8 Pts. ( +26 )
3rd. South Down 8 Pts. ( +4 )
4th. Armagh 3 Pts. ( -38 )

Christmas Round Up

With all results now in before the Christmas break, things are taking shape in the leagues. In Fane Valley Div 1 Armagh GC occupy top spot holding a 2½ point advantage over St. Anthony's. Both have played 9 games, but St. Saviour's are lurking in 3rd spot only ½ point behind St. Anthony's and 3 behind Armagh GC with a game in hand. There's then a large gap of 9 points to 4th placed Markethill, so at the minute it looks like the title will be fought out between the top 3.

St Matthew's end 2008 in a very uncustomary bottom place in the table. They trail Mullavilly and Queen Street by 4 and 5 points respectively, but have a game in hand on both. It's hard to imagine St Matthew's not pulling away from the relegation zone given the players they have, but it's point's that matter. January will be an important month for them as they host both Mullavilly and Queen Street. Queen Street will be hoping for better fortunes in 2009 as they have not won a league match since their opening fixture against St. Matthew's in September.

Division 2 seems to be a 2 horse race between unbeaten Drumgor and Portadown GC, and it's hard to see any other team getting promoted. The only question is who will win the division. By virtue of their unbeaten record Drumgor currently occupy top spot, 2½ points clear of Portadown GC who have lost 1 game. However, these sides have to play each other twice before the end of the season.

The Churches League appears to be done and dusted with Cranagill unsurprisingly running away it.

Interzone wise the year has ended on a high with both the Ladies and Mens teams still going strong in the main competition. The next games are on 3 Jan for the Ladies against Oriel and 10 Jan for the men against Mid Tyrone. The Junior Zone team are also in action in a round robin event in the Jethro Centre, Lurgan on Sat 27 December.

The Zone Championships come to a conclusion in St. Matthew's hall on Monday 29 December while the National Championships finals are in Waringstown on Fri 2 January.

Happy Christmas to bowlers everywhere and a prosperous 2009.

Men ease into Interzone quarter finals

Armagh men eased into the quarter finals of this years Interzone competition with a surprisingly comfortable 20 ahot victory over neighbours South Tyrone. Rink scores were as follows (Armagh skips first):

1. A. Roberts 14 K. Wright 10
2. D. McDonald 11 K. Campbell 8
3. A. Leckey 14 A. Rafferty 3

Half time score: Armagh 39 South Tyrone 21

4. M. Trainor 7 P. McKiver 8
5. T. Mulholland 10 T. Wallace 7
6. A. Hughes 9 E. Hamilton 9

Final score: Armagh 65 South Tyrone 45

The men will have another home tie in the quarter finals against Mid Tyrone.

Ladies march on!

Armagh ladies coasted into the quarter finals of this season's Interzone competition with a 42 shot victory over South Belfast. Rink scores were as follows (Armagh skips first):

D Marshall 15 v 6 L McFadden
C McMillen 14 v 14 M Wilson
M Cassells 14 v 3 E Spratt
B Malone 17 v 1 A Witsitt
P Beattie 12 v 8 M Gilmore
F McNally 8 v 6 E Bruce

Total Score Armagh 80 v 38 South Belfast

Other scores
Oriel 57 v 44 Foyle
South Tyrone 63 v 49 East Antrim
Mid Ulster 53 v 43 Monaghan
West Down 48 v 46 Northern
Western 72 v 35 Lisburn

Armagh will now face Oriel at home

Congratulations Pauline and Joe

Many congratulations to Pauline and Joe who finally "tied the knot" today. As can be seen below the happy couple couldn't leave the bowls behind! All the best to Pauline and Joe and may you have many happy years (and tournament wins) together.

Irish Club Championship update

Cranagill have reached the semi final of the Irish Club Championships. The first stage of the Championships took place in Ballymoney Stadium on Sat 22 Nov. Armagh Zone were represented by St. Anthony's and Cranagill. The format was 8 groups of 4 teams with the group winners progressing to the quarter finals. Semi Finals and Final will be played next week. In the round robin group stages, St Anthony's were drawn with Spa GC from Mid Down zone, Monaghan club Clontibret and Oriel zone's Carrickmacross. The Craigavon club started well beating Spa GC by 5 shots, but then went down by 15 against Clontibret who had beaten Carrickmacross by 5 shots in their first game. In the last games of the group Spa GC beat Clontibret by 3 and St Anthony's beat Carrickmacross by 7, meaning St. Anthony's finished level on points with Clontibret but agonisingly missed out on a place in the quarter final on shot difference.

Cranagill were drawn with Conlig from North Down, St. Joseph's from Western zone and Rosslea. The locals started off with a 7 shot win against Conlig, and then followed this up with a narrow 1 shot win against St Josephs. A 3 shot win in their final game against Rosslea saw them top the group unbeaten and qualify for the quarter finals where they faced All Saints Tullylish. It was Ian Perry's rink that done the damage in this game beating Richard Martin's four 13-3. Andrew Hughes' four went down 9-6 to Johnny Wilson's rink and Terry Mulholland was beaten 9-5 by Tullylish's Andrew Leckey, but overall Cranagill had done enough for a 3 shot win and a place in the semi finals.

The other 3 semi finalists are St. Mary's Newcastle, Cookstown Pariochial and Clontibret.

Ireland win British Isles Championship... but only just!

Ireland, with the help of Pauline Cassells and Marty Trainor, have retained the British Isles Championship, but it took a last bowl victory over Wales in the final match to secure the overall win. It's obvious that the other home nations, Wales in particular, are starting to bridge the gap between themselves and Ireland. Indeed Ireland only won 2 of the 4 individual competitions (pairs and singles), with Wales winning the triples and fours.

Saturday's team game scores will follow in due course.

St Matthew's lose valued member

St Matthew's Richhill have suffered a sad loss with the passing of Pauline Leeman on Wed 12 November. Pauline was a familiar friendly face around the zone and played for a number of years on the ladies zone team.

Our condolences go to Richhill club and Pauline's family circle at this sad time.

Men win thriller

Armagh 53 v Western 52

Report from IIBA Website

A game that promised so much between two teams who have genuine hopes of lifting the Boomer cup come March certainly didn’t disappoint. Armagh had strengthened their line-up from last year’s semi final defeat against West Down. Western had much to prove after suffering two demoralising defeats to unheralded Foyle and Monaghan last season. What transpired proved to be a game that would have graced the final itself, with both sides going full tilt for the early supremacy and a place in the next round.

Armagh started brightly with the rinks skipped by Alan Roberts & Danny McDonalds racing into 3-1 & 4-0 leads respectively. International Skip Gary Burke reaffirmed his status within the game with four perfect deliveries in the opening two ends for a 4-0 advantage to stem the tide. Andy Leckey in his debut at skip for Armagh fought back in the next end to half the deficit but it was very much a baptism of fire for the St Marks player as the visiting rink continued to expose the Armagh front three, leaving Andy with the thankless task of trying to contain the rampant Western four. Gary continued to impress and removed Andy’s bowl for a count of 5 to extend his lead to 9-2 (4 ends). Western were visibly lifted and Paul Wilson & Trevor Morrison raised their performance levels to help the visitors to a 4 shot lead after 5 ends. The Morrison rink sustained the onslaught and stole the initiative from the ever impressive Armagh rink to lead 9-6 (9 ends) a feat few have achieved in the past 3 seasons. Armagh were beginning to rock after Gary Burke added another count of 4 to extend his lead to 13-4 and in turn a 9 shot lead for Western. Armagh could see the game slipping away from them and responded with the character that has been lacking from their games in previous seasons. Sean Conroy (Snr) was in superb form for Armagh, bursting into life in ends 7,8,9 running the jack to the ditch twice, turning a toucher onto the face of the jack, followed up with a fine draw around the head finishing millimetres from the ditch to help his colleges to scores of 2,3,&1 and a 10-3 lead.

The final end of the first period started with the sides locked together on 25 shots each. Armagh looked set for a half time lead with Roberts gaining two shots, Leckey lying 3 and McDonald looking good for second. Wilson & Burke had other ideas and conspired to leave Armagh reeling at the interval, Wilson decided he could find a path to Danny’s second shot and removed it for a count of 5. Not to be outdone Gary Burke capped a marvellous performance by delivering his last delivery down the edge of the mat with perfect weight to finish inches from the ditch line and give Western a four shot lead at the break.

Armagh 27 v 31 Western (Half Time)

After the interval Western continued to put the home side under intense pressure and with 2 ends played the visitors had once again extended their lead to 9 shots and seemed to be turning the screw on Armagh. Joe Beattie’s rink which included D. Wright returning to the fold led the revival with a run of 3,3,2&1 to lead 10-3. Andrew Hughes and his rink also brought their ‘A’ game to the table and always looked in control of the game against D Graham and cruised into a 5-1 lead at the half way point. Western however still had the overall lead by two shots as Marty Trainor came up against a very powerful Western rink which included 2007 International Norman Noble at second who was inflicting most of the damage as Marty found himself on the wrong end of a 9-0 scoreline after 6 ends.

With 5 individual ends remaining the game was to take a dramatic twist. Western were in front overall by two shots and had built a match winning position with each Armagh skip having one bowl to play. Joe Beattie found himself 2 down with little hope of converting the head, to his credit he hit the head perfectly and lady luck smiled as Armagh claimed the shot for a deserved 12-5 victory. It seemed to be in vain with the Western supporters in full voice as victory seemed certain. A Hughes had 3 against, Marty Trainor had 4 against and John McVitty had played the perfect blocking shot 18 inches short of the head to leave the International Skip with no shot. Marty disagreed and decided to drive the short bowl onto the jack for two shots to Armagh, the normally cool headed St Anthony’s player responded with a ferocious roar to the heaven’s and it was ‘game on’ once again. With Beattie & Trainor both converting their respective heads the pressure was put firmly on Hughes shoulders to keep the match alive and he did just that in some style running the bare jack into the ditch for the shot giving Armagh a slender 1 shot lead. These 3 bowls produced a 13 shot swing in Armagh’s favour and clearly had Western rattled. Jack Moffett & Chris Mulholland did little to lift the opposition’s gloom running the jack to the ditch to ensure the home side had a 3 shot lead to defend with one end left to play.

Victory should have been secured at this point but Ivor Armstrong & Norman Noble had outplayed their counterparts for the previous 9 ends and the last was to be no different as they continued to decorate the jack. Trainor went to the head with the match against, another accurate drive sent the home support into raptures after claiming the shot however John McVitty ensured the drama continued with an excellent drive to burn the end. The replayed end proved to be just as dramatic as Western once again played the better bowls to hold 4 shots. Paul Moore was unlucky to get a poor result from a drive to leave only one Armagh bowl in the head as Western looked set to steal the victory. To the delight of the home support Trainor made both bowls count to contain McVitty to two shots and Armagh fell over the line for a 53-52 victory and a place in the next round of the inter-zone.

Armagh showed the type of character that will be needed if they are to lift the Boomer cup this season, but the manner of defeat for the Leckey & Trainor rinks will be a worry for the selectors. More attacking power is needed in the front ends of modern day inter-zone games especially in the second half. The Armagh back-end of Moore and Trainor were constantly put under pressure by the excellent Western duo of Armstrong and Noble. On another day the scoreline could have been significantly in favour of the Western four.

However on a day of high drama Armagh sneaked through but it is the game of bowls that was the real winner.

Mat 1; P Garvey, S Conroy (Snr), S Conroy (Jnr), D McDonald 10-8 J Brennan, I McElroy, T Cathcart, P Wilson

Mat 2 ; P Wilson, K Trainor, G Culbert, A Roberts 8-9 R Graham, B Collins, K Bradshaw, T Morrison

Mat 3; I Irwin, N Uprichard, C Leckey, A Leckey 9-14 A Brown, D Gilliland, W Knox, G Burke

Mat 4; J Moffett, C Mulholland, I Perry, A Hughes 10-4 H Nixon, R Nixon, A Graham, D Graham

Mat 5; C Donaldson, K McConville, P Moore, M Trainor 4-12 I Armstrong, N Noble, H Gawley, J McVitty

Mat 6; L McCarten, C Beattie, D Wright, J Beattie 12-5 D Ferguson, N Cox, J McCaffrey, J Morris

British Isles Championships

Just a reminder that Pauline Cassells and Martin Trainor will be playing for Ireland in the British Isles Championships in Coleraine Leisure Centre on Fri 14th and Sat 15th November. Martin is skipping a rink, while Pauline is playing third to Western player Gary Burke.

So if you're doing nothing at the weekend, I'm sure they'd welcome your support!

Click here for the full team.

St John's Moira tournament result

Pauline Cassells and Joe Beattie have won this years St John's Moira pairs tournament. Results from the Finals night are as follows:

Prelim

M Trainor (St Anthonys) v J Moffett (Crannagill)
G Doherty (Coalisland) v R Hoy (Killbride)

Quarter Final

M Trainor (St Anthonys)v R Hoy (Killbride)
J Beattie (St Marks)v L Murray (St Michael's Dundrum)
A Corrigan (St Marys Newcastle) v B Martin (St John's Moira)
D Malcolmson (Ballydougan)v J McCandless (Eglintine)

Semi Final

M Trainor 8 v 9 J Beattie
A Corrigan 7 v 6 J McCandless

Final

J Beattie 12 v 5 A Corrigan

Armagh GC back on top

There's been a lull in Fane Valley league games over the last week due to the National Championships, but as a result of the few games that were played, Armagh GC have gone to the top of Division 1 and Tandragee GC hauled themselves of the bottom of the league by beating Queen St at home.

Armagh GC destroyed former leaders Markethill restricting the visitors to a total of 14 shots across the 4 rinks. The 7 points collected brought their tally to 30 points from 6 games, 1 more than Markethill who have a game extra played. St Anthony's are in third with 28 points, but St. Saviours and Tullysaran are also well placed with 27 and 26½ points respectively and a game in hand on the leaders.

At the other end of the table, Tandragee GC got their second win of the season and condemned Queen St to their fifth sucessive league defeat. The 4½ points they got sees Tandragee leapfrog 4 teams and leave Mulavilly in bottom spot.

Division 2 is shaping up to be a 2 way fight between unbeated Drumgor and Portadown GC. Both teams have 6 games played and Drumgor hold a 1 point advantage. St Pat's Maralin are a distant third, 7 points adrift. St Paul's challenge has faded badly, now having lost 3 on the trot after winning their first 3 games.

Ladies cruise into round 2 of Interzone

Armagh ladies had a convincing 93-39 win over North Belfast in the first round on this seasons Interzone competition. All six rinks won. The match was over as a contest at half time with the locals 39 shots up and they didn't let up in the second half either adding an extra 13 shots to the winning margin. The ladies now play North Eastern zone in the next round.

For a full match report and details of a "hot shot" click here.

Aghavilly to hold fun tournament

Aghavilly Parish is planning to run a fun pairs tournament on 10th, 11th and 13th November 2008. Everyone is welcome. More details can be found here.

Champion of Champions Update

Armagh Zone were represented in the finals of 2 of the 4 Champion of Champions Events held in Ballymoney Indoor Stadium, but it was so near and yet so far on both occasions.

In the singles final Andrew Leckey was beaten by Foyle Zone's Eddie Curran while in a great triples final, Robert Cassells, Joe Beattie and Pauline Cassells were beaten in the last end by a single shot by Mid Ulster's Colm McHugh's triple.

Meanwhile the rinks event was won by Raymond Stubb's four from Ballinderry, while Alan Johnston and Dessie Hamilton from Dromore won the pairs event.

Weekly Update

It's still very tight at the top of the Fane Valley League Division 1, with 3½ points covering the top 5 teams. The latest round of matches have seen Armagh Golf Club pick up an easy 7 points at home to Kilmore and St. Mark's get back to winning ways at home to Tandragee G.C. However Markethill are back on top on shot difference after collecting 6 points at home to Queen Street. Armagh GC are in second place with St. Anthony's in third 2 points behind. St. Saviour's, in 4th place, could leapfrog the top 3 with a victory in their next game at home to Waringstown. Tullysaran are also up there with 4 sucessive wins and occupy 5th spot, 3½ points behind the leaders with a game in hand.

In Division 2, Drumgor kept their unbeaten record intact picking up 6 points at St. John's Moira, and return to the top of the table, 1 point clear of Portadown Golf Club and 3 clear of St. Pat's Maralin. Early front runners St. Paul's have lost their last 2 games and are now in 4th place.

The spotlight now turns to Tandragee Recreation Centre for the National Championships. Updates on these will be posted when they become availabe.

Title race wide open

This week has saw a few more twists and turns in the Fane Valley Division 1 title race. St. Anthony's followed their 7-0 whitewash of St. Saviour's with another impressive victory at Markethill. The Craigavon side collected 6 points in a 7 shot win to replace their hosts at the top of the table.

Armagh GC then travelled to St. Saviour's hoping to inflict more damage to the home side's title challenge and maintain their own unbeaten run. Instead, however they felt the full force of a St. Saviour's backlash as the home side erased memories of that St. Anthony's defeat with a very impressive 28 shot victory, earning them all 7 points.

Portadown Golf Club have leapt the top of Division 2 after claiming 20 points from their last 3 games, their latest win over Shankill earning them 6½ points. Drumgor are in second place and are now the only unbeaten side in the Fane Valley league.

Zone Teams Selected

The Ladies and Mens zone teams have both been selected for their respective 1st round Interzone matches. The Ladies are first up with their match against North Belfast on Saturday 1 November. The game will be played at St. Bridget's C. of I., Ballyclare Road, Glengormley at 2.00pm. Click here for the team.

The men are action the following week (8 November) and have a tough assignment at home to Western. This game will take place in St. Saviours. Click here for the team.

Ladies Runners up in Charity Interzone Event

Armagh Ladies came 2nd in the Charity Inter Zone event in Arboe on Sat 11 Oct. The Ladies were trying to emulate the men’s performance of the previous week but unfortunately this was not to be.
A few late changes in the Armagh team meant there had to be some ‘re-shuffling’ of players and even an Armagh spectator got a chance to perform.

In the opening game Armagh took on North West. North West proved to be too strong for the Armagh Ladies and ran away with an easy victory of 59-33.

ARMAGH v NORTH WEST
1. V Leckey, L Milligan, C Breen, P Cassells 2 v 15 I Douglas
2. M Wright, M Hobson, D Agnew, M Cassells 6 v 10 M Lucy
3. E Hunter, E Trainor, B Wilson, S Garvey 7 v 7 F McDermott
4. J Thompson, D Pearson, J Hawthorne, F McNally 10 v 8 M Grieve
5. Ann Crozier, H Agnew, A Patton, D Marshall 2 v 14 M Douglas
6. G Garvey, M Trainor, R Cassells, C McMillan 6 v 5 M Tommons

In the 2nd game of the day Armagh faced Mid Ulster. The Armagh Ladies were determined to go out fighting and a good performance saw them beat Mid Ulster 54-47.

ARMAGH v MID ULSTER
1. G Garvey, M Trainor, R Cassells, C McMillan 11 v 5 R McKeine
2. V Leckey, L Milligan, S Garvey, P Cassells 14 v 4 T Dartus
3. M Wright, M Hobson, D Agnew, M Cassells 8 v 8 E Brown
4. E Hunter, B Wilson, L Strain, E Smyth 1 v 18 B Davidson
5. J Thompson, D Pearson, J Hawthorne, F McNally 8 v 4 M Rocks
6. A Crozier, H Agnew, A Patton, D Marshall 12 v 8 M B Higgins

In the final game of the day North West were able to beat Mid Ulster and retain the Charity Inter Zone title.

Although Armagh came 2nd on the day, they can take some good out of their performance, with 5 new faces on show and the returning E McDonald, B Malone, S White and S Whittle, it will give the selectors some headaches when picking the Zone Team proper.

Armagh received £250 for 1st in the Men’s event and £150 for 2nd in the Ladies event.

All games were played in good spirit, with no team taking it too seriously and remembering the reason that everyone was there for, to raise as much money as possible for two worthwhile charities.
At the end of the two week events all teams, both men and women, had raised £2900 which was split equally between Macmillan Nurses (£1450) and Belfast Hospital for Sick Children (£1450).

Markethill edge in front

Markethill have leapt to the top of Fane Valley Div 1 on shot difference despite only having won 2 out of their first 3 games. A 6 point haul at Kilmore combined with 7 points at home to Tandgragee GC and 3 at Waringstown have seen them sneak past Armagh GC at the top.

Meanwhile in Division 2 St. Paul's have lost their unbeaten record only getting half a point at home to Portadown GC. Also Moira Pres have finally got off the mark at the 4th attempt collecting 5 points at home to St. Malachy's.

Fane Valley Leagues taking shape

There have been several twists and turns in Fane Valley Division 1 over the last few days. First St. Mark's beat St. Anthony's by 24 shots collecting 6 points, but were then narrowly beaten 3 nights later at Armagh GC with the home side collecting 5 points in a very tight game. St. Anthony's then faced St. Saviours knowing they needed a win to kickstart their league title defence - and they won in style by 21 shots collecting all 7 points. All this leaves Armagh GC as early front-runners with 16 points from 3 games. St. Anthony's are 1 point behind but have played 4 games.

Elsewhere Queen Street has had a bad week collecting only 2½ points from away fixtures at Mullavilly and Tullysaran on consecutive nights. In the latter game the Lurgan club won at least 5 ends on each rink but still only came away with 1½ points and a 11 shot defeat.

Meanwhile in Division 2, Drumgor are the early pacesetters winning all of their 4 games so far. St. Paul's however are also unbeaten after 3 games and even at this early stage it's looking likely that these 2 will fight it out for the Division 2 title.

St. Mark's bounce back!

St. Mark's recovered from their shock defeat in Kilmore to record a convincing 24 shot victory against reigning champions St. Anthony's. The win will give St. Mark's confindence for their trip to Armagh on Mon 6th Oct, whereas St. Anthony's home game on Tue 7th against St. Saviour's is a "must win" if their bid to retain their bid to retain their title is to get off the ground.

St Saviour's themselves have started well with 13½ points from their opening 2 games, the latest being a 7 point haul against Kilmore. Reports on this game and on the St. Marks / St. Anthony's game can be found on the fixtures pages.

Men Win Charity Interzone Event

Report by Pauline Cassells

Armagh Men put on an excellent display to retain the Charity Inter Zone title that they won last year in Ardboe. A few late withdrawals meant the team had to be changed slightly, but these changes did not affect the teams performance with some players playing very well in their new positions.

In the 1St game of the day, Armagh took on the current Men’s Inter Zone Champions North West. Armagh raced out to an early lead and at one point of the match they had a 22 shot lead. But to their credit North West fought back in the closing ends and got the deficit down to 2 shots. Armagh however were able to hang on and secured a further 3 shots to win by 5 shots overall.

Rink 1:-G Crothers, P Whittle, I Perry, A Hughes 10 J McKay 5
Rink 2:-L McCartan, D Beattie, A Leckey, J Beattie 9 N Logue 6
Rink 3:-M Catney, J Richardson, C Leckey, R Hunter 6 v I Watson 9
Rink 4:-C Donaldson, C Trainor, P Moore, M Trainor 12 v R O’Neill 10
Rink 5:-I Irwin, N Uprichard, C Mulholland, T Mulholland 8 v T McIntyre 9
Rink 6:-J Moffett, P Garvey, P Wilson, A Roberts 7 v Lee Harrison 8

OVERALL SCORE: ARMAGH 52 NORTH WEST 47

In the 2nd game of the day Mid Ulster faced North West. Mid Ulster took early control of this match and never looked like loosing wining 68-36.

In the final game of the day Armagh took on Mid Ulster both teams knowing that whoever won this game would be the Inter Zone Charity Champions.

Rink 1:- M Catney, J Richardson, P Wilson & A Roberts of Armagh played M Wilson’s rink. This game was hard fought with both sides playing well and finished up all square at 8-8.
Rink 2:- A Hughes’s rink took on Mid Ulster’s D McIlroy. Andrew’s rink played very well and with some excellent shots from the Armagh skip they were able to come out 11-8 winners.
Rink 3:- Another good display from Joe Beattie’s rink in the final game of the day enabled them to come out victors over L Conway of Mid Ulster winning 11-5.
Rink 4:- J Moffett, R Hunter, S Conroy & D McDonald of Armagh played Mid Ulster’s S Quinn. This was another close encounter. After 9 ends it was 5-5 but unfortunately for ‘Danny Boy’ Mid Ulster got 4 shots in the final end to win 9-5.
Rink 5:- M Trainor’s rink with new 3rd C Leckey played the experienced L McHugh of Mid Ulster. After Liam winning his 1st game 20-2 we new this game would be interesting!! Marty’s rink came out of the blocks on fire storming out to a 11-1 lead the highlight being a score of 7 on the fourth end. Liam however was not going to give up easily and fought back to tie the game 13-13 after 10 ends.
Rink 6:- T Mulholland’s Armagh rink played C McHugh of Mid Ulster on the final mat. This game was very tight throughout, but Colm’s rink were able to come out winners at 8-5.

After the dust had settled Armagh had retained their Inter Zone Charity title by beating Mid Ulster by 2 shots (53-51).

All money raised by Armagh on the day and will be added with the ladies competition next Saturday 11 Oct and the proceeds will be going to Macmillan Cancer.

Click here for photos!

Crunch games in the pipeline

The Fane Valley Division 1 title race will take shape over the coming 7 days with 3 crunch games involving the main title contenders. On Friday 3 October St. Mark's play host to St. Anthony's, and then travel on Mon 6th to face Armagh Golf Club. St. Anthony's then play host to St. Saviour's the following night. A lot of important bowls will be played over the next 7 days!

HSBC Cup Round Up

"First legs" have been played in all 3 of the preliminary matches. St Mark's have more or less guarenteed their spot in the next round with a resounding 56-19 home win over St Patrick's Gold. The second leg in Armagh on Thur 9 Oct should be a formality.
Kilmore travel to St. Paul's for the second leg of their tie on 15 October with a 20 shot advantage, and look well placed for a crack at St. Mark's in the next round, which would be very interesting following their surprise victory over them in the league
However it's a different story in the Lakeside / St Pat's Maralin tie. The first leg in Lakeside ended even 44-44, which would make St. Pat's slight favourites for the return leg in their hall on Monday 6 October, but it's all to play for.

St. Mark's slip up at Kilmore

St. Mark's did not get the start they wanted to their league campaign. They were beaten by one shot (30-29) and collected only 1 point away to Kilmore. Next up is a vital home game against St. Anthony's. The loser of that game will be playing catch-up in the league title race.

Latest Round Up

Co Armagh Golf Club have edged out reigning Div 1 Champions St. Anthony's by 7 shots, collecting 5 points away from home in the first meeting of the season between 2 of the "big 4". Click here for Sean Trainor's report on the game. Meanwhile St. Saviours also got off to a winning start collecting 6.5 points in Tandragee GC. Click here for Jack Moffett's report on the game.

St. Paul's have made an excellent start to Div 2 collecting 12 points from their first 2 games - 7 at home to Moira Pres and 5 away to St Patrick's Blue.

Locals win Tullylish Pairs

Pauline Cassells (St. Mark's) and Joe Beattie (Drumgor) have won the inaugural Tullylish Pairs tournament. They beat T. McCartan from St. Coleman's Laurencetown in the quarter finals, before beating Richard Martin from Tullylish in the semi-final and Jean and Dessie Hamilton (Dromore NS) in the final.

The Finals Night draw was as follows:-

J Beattie (St Marks) v T McCartan (St Coleman's Laurancetown)
N Hare (Hillsborough) v R Martin (Tullylish)
I Perry (Waringstown) v R Flemming (Ballymena)
D Hamilton (Dromore NS) v Bye

SEMI FINAL

J Beattie (11) v R Martin (3)
R Flemming (9) v D Hamilton (10)

FINAL

J Beattie (10) v D Hamilton (2)

Two Armagh players on Irish Team

Congratulations to Pauline Cassells and Martin Trainor who have been selected to play for Ireland in the British Isles Championships in Coleraine on 14th and 15th November. Martin is skipping a rink, while Pauline is playing third to Western player Gary Burke.

Click here for the full team.

League up and running

The first few fixtures have been played in the league. Reigning Div 1 champions St. Anthony's got an early scare before claiming 5 points at home to newly promoted Mullavilly. Click here for Sean Trainor's report on the game. Meanwhile St Matthew's won by a shot in their first game against Tullysaran, also collecting 5 points.

Drumgor's quest to regain their division 1 status got off to a good start with a 16 shot away win in St Patrick's Maralin in the first Division 2 match of the season. They came away with 5½ points - a good return against one of their main rivals for promotion.

Armagh to play in Charity Zone Event

Armagh have selected teams to play in a triangular Charity Interzone Event with North West and Mid Ulster Zones in Ardboe Community Hall. The men's event will take place on Sat 4 October with a 2.00pm start, while the ladies event starts at 1.00pm the following Saturday (11th October). Each zone has nominated it's own charity. All proceeds raised by Armagh will go to Macmillan Cancer.

Click here for the teams.

Mullabrack to run Fun Tournament

Mullabrack are running a fun tournament starting Saturday 13 September. The following details have been provided by Jal Richardson

It will be a pairs tournament, but the person you play with will be picked out of a hat, therefore you don't need to bring a partner. Expect to play two runs of ten ends, but number of ends will depend on crowd that turns up. Price will be £2 per person. Tea and biscuits will be served. Will run for the months of September and October for definite and depending on the crowds we might continue it on up to Christmas.

2008-09 Fane Valley League Fixtures Released

The fixtures for the 2008-09 Fane Valley League have been released. St Matthew's and Tullysaran kick Division 1 off on Monday 15 September. The first Division 2 fixture is also on Sep 15 with St Patrick's Maralin playing host to Drumgor. Reigning Division 1 champions St Anthony's are also in action early, taking on Mullavilly at home the following night.

Division 1 fixtures can be found here while Division 2 fixtures can be found here. Individual club fixtures can be accessed via the appropriate League menu.

HSBC Cup draw made

The draw has been made for the 2008-09 HSBC Cup. Last year's winners, St Anthony's, have been drawn against Markethill.

Any teams beaten in their first game in the cup are eligible to enter the HSBC Shield. 2007-08 Shield winners Tullysaran will hope that they can rule themselves out of this seasons Shield competition by beating Moira Pres. in the cup.

The full draw can be found here.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Armagh Zone news blog. I hope to post news items here throughout the season.

AL