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Saturday 28 March 2009

Ladies Triple win National Title

The name "P. Beattie" will appear in the "green book" for the first time next year. Pauline claimed her 11th National Ladies title number in Richhill today, when along with her mum May and aunt Rachel she overcame Gladys Peel from East Antrim to win the Ladies Triples. This means that Pauline has won all 4 Ladies titles. (The Ladies Fours were replaced with triples in 2006-07).

The St. Mark's triple did not get it easy against their East Antrim opponents. In the 12 end final the locals opened with 2 in the first end, but the East Antrim triple took control scoring a 4 and 2 singles over the next 2 ends. Pauline got a single back in end 5 but lost a further 3 in the next end to trail 9-3 the half way stage. However the locals hauled themselves level with a 2 and 4 on the next 2 ends. The East Antrim triple went back in front on the next end scoring a single on end 9, but Beattie counted with a 2 on the 10th end to lead by 1 with 2 ends left. East Antrim put themelves in the driving seat by scoring 3 on the penultimate end, but the local triple squared the match with a 2 in the last end. This led to a nervy tie end. Pauline drew the shot with her first bowl, but failed to consolidate with her second, leaving the East Antrim skip having to draw with 6 inches of the jack to win. However her bowl fell short.

All the results from today's finals at Richhill:

Ladies Triples: P. Beattie (Armagh) 14 G. Peel (East Antrim) 13 (after tie end)
National Triples: C. McHugh (Mid Ulster) 13 D. Walker (North East) 12 (after tie end)
National Fours: G. McCabe (Oriel) 5 A. Corrigan (South Down) 7
National Pairs: U. McKeeman (North East) 14 K. McCullagh (North West)7
Ladies Pairs: I. Duncan (Donegal) 13 L. Carelton (Monaghan) 12
Over 55 Pairs: G. Bell (Donegal) 13 S. Hughes (Monaghan) 12
Open Singles: G. McCabe (Oriel) 16 L. McHugh (Mid Ulster) 4
Junior Singles: T. Crawford (North Belfast) 17 S. Shields (Mid Antrim) 10
Ladies Singles: C. Scott 13 (Western) I. Eldon 7 (South Tyrone)

St Anthony's into Cup Final

St Anthony's are still on course to retain the "double". They booked their place in next Tuesday's final (Mar 31) against St. Saviour's with a 1 shot victory in an epic semi final clash with St. Mark's.

Trailing by 7 shots from the first leg at St Mark's, the league champions looked down and out as at half way stage of the second leg St. Mark's had added 20+ shots to that margin. But the home side dug deep and staged a great comeback to win the second leg by 8 shots and the overall game by 1.

The final will take place in Tandragee Golf Club on Tue 31 March at 7.00pm.

Friday 27 March 2009

Queen Street win HSBC Shield

Queen Street have won the HSBC Shield for the 2nd time in 3 seasons by beating St. Patrick's Blue by 15 shots in the final in St Matthew's Richhill. While the overall winning margin would seem to indicate a reasonably comfortable win for the Lurgan club, it was anything but, with over half that margin being gained in the last 2 ends on both second half mats.

Queen Street led from start to finish, but could not pull away from their Armagh opponents until those final 2 ends. Indeed at one point in the second half the difference was only 3 shots.

Queen Street started the contest as favourites, and gained the upper hand immediately on the first end with Trevor Hampton and Wendy Cassells lifting counts of 5 and 4 respectively. Trevor added another count of 5 on end 4 to lead 11-1 and it looked like Queen Street were going to run away with it. However the Armagh rink, skipped by Iggy Mallon, countered immediately with a 6 to tighten the match up again.

At the break Queen Street led by 7 and for the first few ends of the second half the difference hovered around this mark. However a count of 3 by Armagh's Briege Donnelly against Alan Cassells brought St. Pat's within striking distance, but with Alan Roberts getting the better of his Armagh opponents, this was as close as they got.

In the end Cassells picked up a 4 on the last end, while Roberts picked up a 3 and a 2 on his last 2 ends to leave a scoreline that maybe was a little harsh on St. Patrick's, but overall Queen Street deserved their win.

Wednesday 25 March 2009

Gilford rink wins Jethro tournament

Gilford's Vincey Delaney's rink has won the Thursday afternoon Jethro League rinks competition. Despite losing their final game, Vincey's rink edged out Barney McCormack's Kilmore rink by 1 point. Another Gilford rink skipped by Noel Conlon came third.

This is the third year that George Richardson has run the tournament in the Jethro Centre in Lurgan. The tournament has been sponsored on each occasion by Remax Select Properties (Lurgan), and again it was a great success. With the help of the competitors, £3000 was raised for the Southern Area Hospice. Some photos from the final's day play are below:


Vincey Delaney's winning rink




Barney McCormack's rink - runners up




Noel Conlon's third placed rink




Presentation of cheque to Southern Area Hospice




Maurice Milligan being presented the Jim Wilkin bowl by Mr Tom Pakenham.

The trophy is made from a bowl which belonged to Mr Jim Wilkin who was an Irish International 1934 -1939 & 1946 - 1954. The trophy was given to George Richardson last year by Mr Pakenham who is Mr Wilkin's nephew. It is presented to the person who collected the most for charity during the competition. This year's winner was Mullavilly's Maurice Milligan who collected £400.

St. Anthony's claim Div 1 title

Congratulations to St. Anthony's who have retained the Fane Valley League Division 1 title. They claimed the title by lifting 6 points at Tandragee GC last night. This is the 3rd time St Anthony's have won the title, and they join Markethill, St. Mark's and Armagh GC as clubs who have retained the title. Indeed this is the first time the title has been retained since Armagh GC retained it in the 1997-98 season.

St. Anthony's also won the HSBC Cup last year. Should they retain that trophy this season (they currently trail St. Mark's by 7 shots after the 1st leg of the semi final) it would be the first time in the history of the Zone the a club has won the double 2 years in a row.

Meanwhile at the other end of the table, Kilmore have almost certainly guarenteed themselves 1st division bowls next season with an impressive 6 point haul at Tullysaran. In division 2, Portadown GC's hopes to join Drumgor in the top division next season took a major blow last night after being beaten at St. John's Moira. St Pat's Maralin now need 5½ points from their last 2 games to guarentee promotion.

Tuesday 24 March 2009

Hughes wins Friendship Singles

St Saviour's Andrew Hughes has won the William Hutchinson Frienship Singles competition. In the finals night in the the impressive Milltown Parish Hall he overcame St. Anthony's Danny McDonald in the final.

Results from the latter stages were as follows:

Quarter Finals:
Paul Wilson (St. Mark's) beat Keith McCoy (Waringstown)
Danny McDonald (St. Anthony's) beat J. Cully (Clare Pres)
Andrew Hughes (St. Saviour's) beat Philip Kelly (Redrock)
Kenny Beattie (Annaghmore) beat Alan Cassells (Queen St)

Semi Finals:
McDonald beat Wilson
Hughes beat Beattie

St. Anthony's set to retain title?

St. Anthony's will retain their Fane Valley Div 1 title if they get at least 3 points in their last game tonight at Tandragee Golf Club. Armagh Golf Club's challenge suffered a major if not fatal blow last night when they could only manage 1½ points at Tullysaran. Armagh's only hope is that St. Anthony's fail to get those 3 points tonight which would give Armagh the chance to claim the title in their last game, at home ironically to Tandgragee Golf Club. However the form book would indicate that St. Anthony's are odds on to be crowned 2008-09 league champions.

Meanwhile, Drumgor have already sealed the Division 2 title with 2 games to spare. The second promotion spot is between St Pat's Maralin and Portadown GC. St Pat's are currently in the driving seat holding a 10 point advantage over the GC. However the GC have a game in hand, but time is running out as St. Pat's have 2 games left and the GC have 3. Both clubs have yet to play St. Pat's Gold and St John's Moira, while the GC's extra game is against Drumgor, so St. Pat's look favourites at the moment.

Sunday 22 March 2009

Ladies Triple in National Final

St. Mark's Rachel Cassells, May Cassells and Pauline Beattie are through to the of the National Ladies Triples Championship. They will play a triple from East Antrim zone in the final next Saturday in Richhill Leisure Centre, after disposing of triples from Mid Tyrone, North West, South Belfast and South Tyrone zones in the qualifiers in Ballymoney Stadium yesterday (21 March).

The National Pairs were also played off yesterday, but both Armagh's representatives (Paul Moore and Paul Corvan) wnet down to North West pairs in their first game. In the open triples Pauline Beattie was beat in the second round by eventual finalist Davy Walker (North East Zone). Rachel Cassells got as far as the quarter finals of the Ladies Singles, although her sister Ida Eldon, representing South Tyrone, is in the final. The ladies pair of Leslie Strain and Elizabeth Smith also bowed out in the early rounds.

The singles and fours had been played off on 7 March. The Tullysaran rink skipped by Anthony Rooney was representing Armagh but was beaten in the first game by the South Down rink skipped by Drumgor player Aidan Corrigan. Aidan's rink subsequently made it through to the final.

In the singles, St. Anthony's Paul Corvan was also beaten by the eventual finalist, Oriel's Gerry McCabe. Cyril and Andrew Leckey were Armagh's other representatives. Cyril was beat in the first round by Western's Gary Burke, while Andrew was beat in the second round by Mid Tyrone's P J McCrossan.

In the Junior Singles, Jack Moffett was beaten in the 1st round as was Reggie Collen in the over 55 pairs.

A full list of finalists is as follows:

National Singles: Liam McHugh (Mid Ulster) -v- Gerry McCabe (Oriel)
National Pairs: Tommy Mullan + Uel McKeeman (North Eastern) -v- John Kennedy + Keith McCullagh (North West)
National Triples: Danny Taggart, Ken Shirley, Davy Walker (North Eastern) v Liam McHugh, Damien McElroy, Colum McHugh (Mid Ulster)
National Fours: Gerry Crosby, Fra Dillon Billy Taffe and Gerry McCabe (Oriel) -v- Joe Corrigan, Richard Sproule, Mark Sproule and Aidan Corrigan (South Down)
Ladies Pairs: Maureen Howe + Linda Carleton (Monaghan) -v- Rose Dowds + Isobel Duncan (Donegal)
Ladies Singles: Caroline Scott (Western) -v- Ida Eldon (South Tyrone)
Ladies Triples: Margaret Crawford, Sandra Todd, Gladys Peel (East Antrim) -v- Rachel Cassells, May Cassells & Pauline Beattie (Armagh)
Junior Singles: Crawford T (North Belfast) -v- Shields S (Mid Antrim)
Over 55s: Sean Hughes + Sean Hughes (Monaghan) -v- Willie McGeechan + (Graham Bell Donegal)

Finals take place at Richhill Leisure Centre on Sat 28 March. The action starts at 1.00pm.

Tuesday 17 March 2009

Danny leads Ireland "A" to victory

St. Anthony's Danny McDonald captained the Ireland A team to victory in the recent International "A" series in Shrewsbury. Danny was skipping a rink and won each of his 3 games.

Ireland brushed aside Wales and Scotland in their first 2 games with Danny winning 16-3 and 20-3. This set up a winner takes all clash against the English, but this ended up a draw with Danny being the only victorious Irish skip. However Ireland's vastly superior shot difference saw them claim the title.

St. Mark's Andrew Leckey was leading in the individual rinks competition. Again Ireland swept aside Wales and Scotland in the first 2 games, but succumbed to England in a tense final game.

Photos of the event, supplied by Danny, can be found here.

Sunday 15 March 2009

League goes to the wire

The destiny of Fane Valley Division 1 title could be decided in the next 10 days. Will it stay with St. Anthony's in Craigavon, will it move out the Armagh Road in Portadown to St. Saviour's, or the whole way out the Armagh Road to Armagh Golf Club. St Saviour's top the table at the minute, 4 points ahead of St. Anthony's. St. Saviour's have 1 game left but crucially, the reigning champions have 2. However Armagh GC cannot be ruled out. They are 14 points behind St. Anthony's but have 2 games in hand. It could be virtually over this Thursday night (19th) with both St Saviour's and St. Anthony's having matches. If St. Saviours don't get a positive result at home to St. Matthew's and St. Anthony's pick up all 7 points at home to Waringstown, then the St. Anthony's will look odds on to retain their title. If St. Saviour's win, then St. Anthony's must beat Waringstown to keep their hopes alive and make their last game at Tandragee Golf Club on Tue 24th the title decider. For Armagh GC to win it they must win their last 4 games collecting near maximum points and hope St. Anthnoy's slip up. As recent results have shown, nothing can be taken for granted.

At the bottom Queen Street done themselves no end of good by pulling off the shock result of the season, collecting 6 points at home to St. Anthony's. This was the 3rd league win in a row for the Lurgan club, a run which has dragged them off the bottom of the table and up 3 places above Kilmore, Mullavilly and Tandragee GC. However things will change as these 3 clubs all play each other before the end of the season. So the relegation battle is still too close to call.

In Division 2, Drumgor have run away with it, and it was clear from about Christmas that they would win the division. However who will accompany them into Division 1 next season is less certain. It would appear to be a straight fight between St Pat's Maralin and Portadown GC. St Pat's hold a 3 point advantage at the minute with both sides having 3 games left. However if both sides have a poor run in then St. John's Moira may have an outside chance.

The HSBC Cup Final is on 31 March in Tandragee Golf Club. St Saviours are in the final, while St. Anthony's and St. Mark's face each other in the second semi final.

The Shield final is between Queen Street and St Patrick's Blue and is in St. Matthew's hall on Thur 26 March.

As expected Cranagill have retained the Churches league, finishing well ahead of the pack and only losing 1 game. They also play St. Lukes Loughgall in the semi final of the Sam Irwin trophy. Mullabrack are already in the final.

Sunday 1 March 2009

Locals win St. Anthony's Pairs

Singles title goes to North Down

The popular St. Anthony's pairs and singles tournaments came to a conclusion on Fri 27 Feb. Due to the number of entries an extra night of singles was hastily organised, a welcome change from cutting out nights which is all to common in tourmanents these days.

The local combination of Malachy Grimley (Drumgor) and Paul Moore (St. Anthony's)claimed the pairs title, while Conlig's Gareth Pierpoint emerged victorous in the singles competition.

Historic Double Secured!!

MEN WIN INTERZONE FINAL

Armagh have won both Interzone competitions in the same season for the first time in their history. Last week the Ladies overcame Mid Down in their final, and this week the men followed suit by defeating Donegal by 15 shots in St Joseph's Omagh. Leading by 11 at the break, the locals kept it tight in the second half to secure a famous victory. The men have shown true grit in this year's competition with tough draws all the way through. It started with a titanic battle with Western which went to last end before Armagh won by 1 shot. Then came an easier encounter with South Tyrone followed by a tight tussle with Mid Tyrone, and then possibly Armagh's finest performance in the semi final away to Oriel. The victory in the final against Donegal rounds off a memorable Interzone season. Scores from the final were as follows: (Armagh skips first):

1st Half
Alan Roberts 9 P McGee 5
Danny McDonald 9 D McClintock 8
Andrew Leckey 9 P Walsh 3

Half time: Armagh 27 Donegal 16

2nd Half
Martin Trainor 11 A Steele 10
Joseph Beattie 13 N Alexander 6
Andrew Hughes 6 J Quinn 10

Final Score: Armagh 57 DOnegal 42

THE TEAM:



THE RINKS:


Gary Culbert, Paul Wilson, Alan Roberts, Kieran Trainor


Danny McDonald, Sean Conroy Jnr, Sean Conroy Snr, Pat Garvey


Paul Moore, Andrew Leckey, Nigel Uprichard, George Crothers


Martin Trainor, Ian Irwin, Raymond Hunter, Cyril Leckey


David Beattie, Laurence McCartan, Joseph Beattie, Derek Wright


Andrew Hughes, Jack Moffett, Ian Perry, Chris Mulholland


IIBA President Ronnie McDermott presents the trophy to Armagh Zone Convenor Flo McNally and Zone Chairman Chris Mulholland.


Armagh Zone Convenor Flo McNally with the trophy.