Results for all league fixtures are now online. (St. Anthony’s v Drumgor was not played). League tables have been reconciled to the official tables kept by the League Secretary.
St. Mark’s have retained the Division 1 title with Drumgor runners up. In Division 2 Cranagill won all their games and are promoted to Division 1. St John’s Moira will join them. Mullavilly and Kilmore are relegated to Division 2.
Pauline and Joe Beattie have claimed the World Pairs Championship title at the World Short Mat Championships last weekend in Cardiff. These take place every 2 years with the winners of the last 2 years Champion of Champions qualifying to represent Ireland. Armagh Zone were well represented in Cardiff with Pauline and Joe in the pairs, the St. Mark’s rink of Paul Wilson, Gary Culbert, Jal Richardson and Andrew Leckey in the fours, Cranagill’s Dayne Jordan and Mark Wilson making up half of the other Irish rink and Sean Trainor from St Anthony’s playing in triples with Oriel’s Paddy Hanlon and Billy Taafe.
There were 2 sections in each competition played on a round robin basis with the top 2 from each section qualifying for the semi finals. In the pairs Joe and Pauline started off with a comfortable 22-8 win over England but their next game against Sweden proved a much tighter affair but they managed a 11-10 win. Comfortable wins followed against Germany, India, Belgium, and Scotland before a resounding 31-6 win against Italy in the penultimate group game. The locals tasted their first (and only) defeat in the final group game going down 12-5 to Wales, but this did not stop them from topping the group and setting up a semi final clash against Ireland’s other pair, Foyle’s James Mullan and Lorenzo Graham, who came second in their group. Joe and Pauline were always in control of this semi final easing to a 16-5 win. In the other semi final, the English pair of Jack Sheppard and Gareth Stanway comprehensively beat the Welsh pair that had previously beat Joe and Pauline. The final also proved to be a one sided affair with the Beattie’s in great form. They were 8 up with 2 ends left and although England scored 2 in the penultimate end the game was over and the Irish pair capped off a great season with the World Championship title.
Both Irish triples (Paddy Hanlon and Mid Ulster’s Alan Paul) topped their groups and both faces Welsh triples in the semi finals. Paul won 12-4 in his semi, but Hanlon lost 13-10 in his. Paul went on to claim the title winning 13-6 in the final.
In the singles, Ireland’s representatives Kevin Conroy (Oriel) and Donegal’s John Quinn both qualified from their sections, but faced each other in the semis. Conroy emerged victorious in the all Irish clash and went on to win the final beating Wales’ L. Hadden 15-6.
In the rinks the St. Mark’s four didn’t make it out of their group after winning 3 and losing 3 of their 6 group games. Mark Wilson’s four won the first 5 of their group games, lost the group decider against Wales, but qualified in 2nd place to set up a semi final clash against England. The Irish four won this 12-7 but there would be heartache in the final with Wales claiming the title with the last bowl of the match denying Ireland a clean sweep of the titles.
The new bowls centre at Bannview Squash Club in Portadown was officially opened at the weekend. The main hall which hosted National & Zone Championships for a period of time has been refurbished with 4 new mats purchased. The proprieter Gerald Black is hoping to run tournaments over the summer. There is also an open tournament scheduled for Easter Saturday 19 April to which all bowlers are invited. The facility is available for booking at various times during the day. For further details of the proposed tournaments and to book a session contact Gerald at Bannview on 028 38336666.