Team Championship
Report courtesy of A Rice
Ireland retained the British Isles Short Mat team championship title by winning all 4 games at Potters Leisure Resort near Great Yarmouth in England. With 5 teams in the championship it was Ireland turn to sit out in the first round of matches. England disposed Scotland by 66-18 while Wales defeated the Isle of Man by 62-16. Ireland’s first match was against Wales and what a tussle this proved to be. Wales made the brighter start taking a 9-6 lead after 3 ends. After 6 ends Ireland were ahead by a single shot, 19-18. Ireland stuck to their task and stretched the lead to 36-26 playing the last end. Gary Burke played 2 excellent bowls in the last end to pick up 4 shots for a 13-8 win. Gerard Conroy’s rink played well consistently to win 12-3. Martin Trainor dropped 2 shots on the last end to draw 9 each while Colm McHugh’s rink dropped a shot on the last end to lose 9-7. This gave Ireland a 41-29 victory. While this was going on Scotland beat the Isle of Man 45-26.
The third round of matches started at 9 a.m. on Sunday morning with England easily disposing of the Isle of Man by 84-13. On the other 4 mats Ireland cruised to a 63-17 victory over Scotland with all 4 rinks winning convincingly. It was a similar story against the Isle of Man in the first game of the afternoon with Ireland winning 88-20. The highlight of this win was a 34-2 victory for Colm McHugh’s rink. There was a major upset in the other game when Wales came from behind to defeat England by 40-32. Going into the last match against England, Ireland knew they had to avoid defeat by less than 8 shots to retain the title. Ireland never looked like slipping up and raced into a 10 shot lead after 3 ends. They maintained this 10 shot margin after 6 ends before extending the winning margin to 17 shots, 40-23. Gary Burke’s rink was the mainstay of this victory winning 14-2. Gerard Conroy also chipped in with a hard fought 8-4 victory. Both these rinks had a 100% record over the 2 days. Colm McHugh’s rink won 10-8 while Martin Trainor’s rink got edged out 10-9. All in all a satisfactory weekend’s work for the Irish team!
SCORES
| British Isles Championships 2007 |
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| Team Championship: Ireland represented by: |
| M O'Looney, J Beattie, E Irwin & C McHugh |
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| R Stubbs, N Noble, D Graham & G Conroy |
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| A Paul, S Hall, R Hunter & M Trainor |
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| G Lithco, A Steele, Miss P Cassells & G Burke |
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| Ireland |
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Wales |
| Ends |
3 |
6 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
6 |
3 |
Ends |
| G Burke |
2 |
5 |
9 |
13 |
8 |
8 |
7 |
1 |
B Haddon |
| M Trainor |
1 |
4 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
7 |
3 |
2 |
M Davies |
| C McHugh |
1 |
3 |
7 |
7 |
9 |
8 |
5 |
4 |
S Williams |
| G Conroy |
2 |
7 |
11 |
12 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
A Nicholas |
| Total |
6 |
19 |
36 |
41 |
29 |
26 |
18 |
9 |
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| Ireland |
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Scotland |
| Ends |
3 |
6 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
6 |
3 |
Ends |
| C McHugh |
6 |
10 |
15 |
16 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
R McNeil |
| G Conroy |
10 |
14 |
16 |
20 |
6 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
L Moffat |
| M Trainor |
6 |
9 |
14 |
16 |
7 |
7 |
3 |
2 |
K MacPherson |
| G Burke |
5 |
8 |
9 |
11 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
S Bremner |
| Total |
27 |
41 |
54 |
63 |
17 |
17 |
5 |
2 |
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| Ireland |
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Isle of Man |
| Ends |
3 |
6 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
6 |
3 |
Ends |
| G Conroy |
12 |
21 |
25 |
25 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
R McNeil |
| C McHugh |
14 |
24 |
31 |
34 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
L Moffat |
| G Burke |
5 |
9 |
11 |
12 |
11 |
11 |
9 |
7 |
K MacPherson |
| M Trainor |
4 |
12 |
16 |
17 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
S Bremner |
| Total |
35 |
66 |
83 |
88 |
20 |
17 |
13 |
9 |
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| Ireland |
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England |
| Ends |
3 |
6 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
6 |
3 |
Ends |
| M Trainor |
3 |
4 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
9 |
7 |
3 |
M Follis |
| G Burke |
5 |
10 |
14 |
14 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
S Lowe |
| G Conroy |
3 |
5 |
7 |
8 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
G Stanway |
| C McHugh |
5 |
8 |
10 |
10 |
8 |
7 |
6 |
2 |
C Burgess |
| Total |
16 |
27 |
38 |
40 |
23 |
22 |
17 |
6 |
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| Final Table |
W |
D |
L |
For |
Against |
Pts |
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| Ireland |
4 |
0 |
0 |
232 |
89 |
8 |
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| Wales |
3 |
0 |
1 |
177 |
120 |
6 |
| England |
2 |
0 |
2 |
205 |
111 |
4 |
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| Scotland |
1 |
0 |
3 |
111 |
201 |
2 |
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| Isle of Man |
0 |
0 |
4 |
75 |
279 |
0 |
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