Promotion / relegation going to the wire

With the season drawing to a close, there are couple of promotion /
relegation issues to be decided. In Division 1 Portadown Golf Club cannot
avoid the drop but the question is whether Tullysaran can catch
Waringstown or St. John's Moira to avoid joining the Golf Club in Division
2 next year. Tullysaran currently are 18½ points adrift of Waringstown but
have 4 games in hand, so the outcome may not be known until well into
April.

In Division 2, perennial yo-yo team Kilmore are going back up again to
Division 1. It looks to be a straight fight between their neighbours
Mullavilly and Tandragee GC to see who joins them. Mullavilly have the
points on the board, but Tandragee GC have 3 games in hand and are only 8½
points behind Mullavilly. Mathematically any of Queen Street, St. Paul's,
St. Patrick's Blue, or St. Columba's could still go up, but it would take
a dramatic collapse by Tandragee GC in particular for this to happen.

St. Mark's claim runners up spot

St. Mark's have finished runners up to St. Anthony's in this seasons Zone
League Division 1. Needing 10 points from their last 2 games to overtake
St. Saviour's, they got 5 points of Tullysaran last Friday and then 7 of
Waringstown last night.

Great week for St. Anthony's

St. Anthony's will certainly remember the last 7 days for a while. On Mon
21 March their representative in the Friendship Singles, Sean Trainor,
walked away with the title. The next night they clinched the league title.
Then on Thurs 24 March they claimed their 3rd double in 4 years by beating
St. Saviour's in the final of the Zone Cup by 20 odd shots. They then
represented Armagh along with St. Mark's in the Club Championships at
Carrickmacross and made it as far as the semi-finals, losing narrowly in a
tie end to Hillsborough after beating Glastry, Mossley and All Saints
Tullylish.

St. Mark's were beat in the second roung by Wellington after beating
Conlig in the first game.

Sean wins Friendship Singles

Congratulations to St. Anthony's Sean Trainor who lifted this year's Friendship Singles title, beating St. Mark's Andrew Leckey in the final.

St. Anthony's win League

After an impressive campaign, St. Anthony's have won this seasons League
Division 1 title with 2 games to spare. Their closest challengers St.
Saviour's could only manage 2 points at St. John's Moira in their last
match last night which meant they could not finish above St. Anthony's.
St. Anthony's were also due to play Drumgor last night but Drumgor could
not field a team and St. Anthony's were awarded the 7 points. This had no
bearing on the final league positions due to St. Saviour's defeat.

The 2 teams lock horns tomorrow night in the final of the Zone Cup in
Waringstown. A win for St. Anthony's would mean a 3rd league/cup double in
4 years. However St. Saviour's will be keen to get something out of their
season and retain the Zone Cup they won last year.

St. Saviour's defeat in Moira opens the door for St. Mark's to claim
runner's up spot in the league. The outgoing champions have 2 home games
left against Waringstown and Tullysaran and 10 points from those 2 games
would see them pip St. Saviour's for second spot.

The Zone Shield was decided on 15 March when the Golf Clubs of Portadown
and Tandragee met, with the latter emerging victorious.

Mixed fortunes in Nationals

The National Championship have been taking place over the last 2 Saturdays in Ballymoney Indoor Stadium and the Armagh representatives had mixed fortunes. However Armagh will be represented in 2 finals on 2 April at Richhill Leisure Centre with Pauline Beattie aiming to retain the Ladies Singles and Ladies Triples titles she won last year at the same venue. 

 

On Sat 5 March the National Rinks, National Singles, Ladies Pairs and Over 55 Pairs were played. The Armagh rink of Robert Cassells, May Cassells, Pauline Beattie and Alan Roberts started by receiving a walkover when their Cork opponents didn't show. They then played the Mid Tyrone rink skipped by Rodney Cunningham in the 2nd round and won 7-6. They then played the Western rink skipped by Irish International skip Gary Burke in the quarter final, but could not reproduce their form from the previous round and succumbed to an 11-5 defeat. Burke went on to reach the final where he plays D. Morrison from Mid Antrim.

 

In the singles Andrew Leckey lost 11-9 to eventual finalist Dessie Hamilton from Lisburn in the 2nd round after beating D. Campell (South Tyrone) 10-8 in the first round. Pauline Beattie and George Crothers both lost their 1st round games by 2 shots against P. Rooney Jnr (Mid Down) and Uel McKeeman (North Eastern) respectively.

 

The Ladies pair of Leslie Strain and Elizabeth Smyth, and the Over 55 pair of May and Robert Cassells also suffered defeat in the early rounds.

 

The National Triples and Pairs, and the Ladies Singles and Triples were played on Saturday 12 March. In the Triples Eileen & Danny McDonald and Sean Conroy Snr started with a great 10-9 win over the highly fancied Mid Ulster triple skipped by Colm McHugh. However they couldn't reproduce that form in the quarter final against West Down's DJ Wilson and bowed out.

 

In the pairs Tony Bell recorded victories against E. O'Hare (South Down) and D. McRandall (Larne) before going out to P. McGee. Andrew Leckey had a good win against Gary Burke (Western) in the first round before going out to C. Dunwoody in the 2nd round.

 

Armagh's main success came in the Ladies Singles and Triples. Pauline Beattie had a busy day playing and winning 8 games between the 2 competitions. In the singles she saw off E. Boal (S&E Belfast), L. Hamilton and G. Menice (N. Belfast), and will now play Bridget Davidson from Mid Ulster in the final. In the triples with mum May and aunt Rachel she beat J. Sharpe (North Eastern), R. Wylie (Mid Down), A. Polin (West Down) and C. McMahon (Oriel), and will now play L. Carleton from Monaghan in the final.

 

The finals will take place in Richhill Leisure Centre on Saturday 2 April. The line up will be as follows:

 

National Singles: D. Hamilton (Lisburn) -v- J. Wilson (West Down)

National Rinks: G. Burke (Western) -v- D. Morrison (Mid Antrim)

National Triples: J. Wilson (West Down) -v- L. Graham (Foyle)

National Pairs: C. Mackin (Oriel) -v- J. Quinn (Donegal)

Ladies Singles: P. Beattie (Armagh) -v- B. Davidson (Mid Ulster)

Ladies Pairs: M. Tomkins -v- R. Brennan

Ladies Triples: P. Beattie (Armagh) -v- L. Carleton (Monaghan)

Over 55 Pairs: D. Turtle -v- E. Irwin

Junior Singles: N. Hand -v- J. Beattie

Mullabrack Triples

Mullabrack are running their annual triples tournament commencing on Monday 25 April. Contact Victor Houston on 37551088 or 07707694766. Alternatively the entry form can be found here.