Locals picked for Irish A team

Congratulations to St. Anthony's Danny McDonald, St. Mark's Andrew Leckey and Drumgor's Aidan Corrigan who have been picked in the Irish squad for the British Isles "A" series to be held in Shrewsbury Bowls Centre on 14 and 15 March. Danny is skipping a rink in the team event, Aidan is playing second in the team while Andrew is leading on the Irish rink in the individual events. The full squad can be found here.

Cookstown pair win St. Mark's

St. Mark's Portadown pairs tournament concluded on Sat 10 January with Cookstown High School pair Seamus McGlinchey and Mark Wilson winning this year's competition. Gary Vernon and Robert Greer from 1st Dromara were runners up. Results from Finals Night were as follows:

Quarter Finals
Connor & Terence McCartan (St. Colman's) beat Joe Clarke/Tom Haire (Hillsborough)
Seamus McGlinchey/Mark Wilson (Cookstown High) beat Angela Canaway/Eddie Campbell (Tullylish)
Rachel & Robert Cassells (St. Mark's) beat Stanley Whiteside/James Emerson (Moy Parish)
Gary Vernon/Robert Greer (1st Dromara) beat Gary Smith/Dayne Jordan (St. Saviour's)

Semi Finals
M. Wilson beat T. McCartan
R. Greer beat R. Cassells

Final
M. Wilson beat R. Greer

Men make it an Interzone semi final double for Armagh

Armagh remain on course for an historic double in the Interzone competition with the Mens team emulating the Ladies acheivement last week and booking their spot in the semi finals of this year's competition. The men overcame Mid Tyrone in St. Saviour's by 10 shots to set up a semi final clash away to Oriel in a fortnights time. Oriel booked their place with an impressive 25 shot win against Mid Ulster, so the semi will certainly be Armagh's stiffest test yet.

Details of todays game are as follows:

Rink 1 A Roberts 12 v 5 T Vance
Rink 2 D McDonald 11 v 6 R Cunningham
Rink 3 A Leckey 7 v 9 M Cunningham

Half Time Armagh 30 v 20 Mid Tyrone

Rink 4 T Mulholland 16 v 6 D Spratt
Rink 5 J Beattie 7 v 10 G Conroy
Rink 6 M Trainor 5 v 12 C Short

Final Score: Armagh 58 v 48 Mid Tyrone

Ladies into Interzone semis

Armagh's ladies progressed to the semi finals of this years Interzone competition with a fine 21 shot win over Oriel at St. Matthew's Richhill. The game was over as a contest at half time with the 3 first half rinks running away with things to put the home side 34 shots up at the break. The visitors fared alot better in the second half, but had no hope of pulling back the deficit.

The ladies now play local rivals West Down at home in the semi final. The other semi final is between South Down and Mid Down.

Scores (Armagh skips first)

M Cassells 12 M Flannagan 6
D Marshall 17 J Roullier 3
R Cassells 17 S Larkin 5

Half time score: Armagh 46 Oriel 14

B Malone 10 R Brannen 7
F McNally 3 I Hanratty 9
P Beattie 5 M Carroll 13

Final score: Armagh 64 Oriel 43

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.