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.
Congratulations to Drumgor for winning the Armagh Zone Cup and St Marks for winning the Armagh Zone Shield.
Final
The Cup Final proved an very tighter affair with Drumgor holding a slender 1 shot lead at the half way stage.
It looked to be plain sailing for Drumgor as by 6 ends in the second half they had increased their lead to 8 shots.
St Saviours however fought back hard over the remaining ends and with only 1 end remaining in both mats, St Saviours had levelled the match.
A bowl over the fender by St Saviours on the last end proved crucial at this late stage as it gave Drumgor a 3 shot lead with only one mat left. Drumgor held on in the last end and only dropped 1 shot to win the cup by 2 shots.
Rink Scores
J Beattie 9-7 R McMullan
D McMahon 6-7 U Shaw
A Corrigan 9-6 R Walker
L McHugh 9-11 H McIvor
Final score
Drumgor 33 - 31 St Saviours
Shield
The shield was literally a game of 2 halves as St Anthony's took the early lead in the first half due a convincing win on one mat and went into the break with a 8 shot lead. St Marks came out all guns blazing in the second half and were able to pull back the 8 shots over the first few ends and go on to win the shield by 13 shots.
Rink Scores
G Culbert 5 - 17 N Haire
A Roberts 9 - 5 T Crawford
S McSorley 18 - 6 S Trainor
A Leckey 13 - 4 D McDonald
Final Score
St Marks 45-32 St Anthonys
Friendship Singles
This seasons Friendship Singles Finals was held in St. Matthew’s Richhill on Thurs 13 March. Drumgor’s Aidan Corrigan emerged victorious beating St. Mark’s Pauline Beattie in a tie end in the final.
Killyman Pairs
Pauline and Joe Beattie have won Killyman Pairs (finals were on Sat 15 March).
Final Night Results
P Beattie beat D Jordan
F Dillon beat J Carson
N Graham beat P Noble
I Armstrong beat D Beattie
Semi Finals
N Graham beat I Armstrong
P Beattie beat F Dillon
Final
P Beattie beat N Graham
Ballylinney Rinks
St. Mark’s Gary Culbert, Matthew Crawford, Jal Richardson and Andrew Leckey have won Ballylinney rinks.
Oriel over 55 Pairs
Tullysaran’s Pat Garvey teamed up with Sean Conroy to win Oriel Zones over 55 Pairs.
Congratulations to Paul Whittle, Terry Mulholland and Mark Sproule of Cranagill who have reached the final of the National Triples. They will take on N Haire next Saturday in Richhill Leisure Centre. The full line up for the finals is as follows (finals to be held in Richhill Leisure Centre on Sat 22 Mar at 1pm):
Singles
T Crawford v R O'Neill
Pairs
M Wilson v D Walker
Triples
M Sproule v N Haire
Rinks
S McKinley v R O'Neill
Ladies Singles
P Beattie v B Davidson
Ladies Pairs
M Wilson v E Hastings
Ladies Triples
L Hamilton v B O'Neill
Over 55 Pairs
S Conroy v G Bell
Junior Singles
S Hand v D Davidson
Junior Pairs
S Breen v N Hastings