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.
