SINGLES

Eddie Curran has won the prestigious singles title at the shortmat champion of champions.

It was a high quality field with some eagerly anticipated ties in the very first round. One such game was the reigning champion John Quinn up against the national singles champion Alan Paul. It was a tit for tat game with the contestants inseparable at six shots each after seven ends. Going into the last end Quinn had a one shot lead and was favourite for the next round when he ditched the jack but finished 14 inches away within the confines of the live area. Alan then drew to the ditch line and lay beside the shot bowl. John was unable to promote his toucher for a game winning lie so the game went down to the final delivery from Alan. He had an opportunity to win the game by hitting his own bowl and projecting the Quinn bowl away from the jack however he was fractionally tight and caught the edge of his bowl killing it as it broke the ditch line. The margin between victory and defeat is minimal at this level and on another occasion Alan would have connected full onto his own bowl to lie two shots. John will have considered himself fortunate as a player never relishes being in the position of the result of the game being in the hands of their opponent especially with the last bowl of the game.

In another first round encounter international colleagues Sammy Hall and his skip Marty Trainor came head to head and again it was another close game with Sammy leading by one shot after eight ends. He continued is accurate drawing game and was able to complete a hard earned victory.

Meanwhile Eddie was up against the promising Glen Wilson who is the current U18 champion. There was little between the two with neither able to open a significant advantage. It was only over the concluding ends that Eddie produced the right shots under pressure to narrowly win through to the second round. There was a bigger challenge for Eddie in the second round in the shape of John Quinn but the fellow from Foyle rose to the challenge and set the pace in the early stages. This forced Quinn to chase the game and play more attacking shots but Eddie is well versed in these tactics and was able to match his opponent and took full advantage of the opportunities on offer to progress to the quarter final.

In the top quarter of the draw Bernie Conlon was flying the flag for the ladies and had claimed the scalp of international Andrew Steele to set up a quarter final tie against Uel McKeeman. Bernie was in excellent drawing form and after eight ends had been completed she was ahead 6-4. Then Uel hit back with a count of three in the penultimate end to gain a significant edge. Many players would have succumbed to defeat after such a blow at this late stage but Bernie put it behind her to gain the one shot required to take the game into a tie end. She drew a delightful bowl right behind the jack in this pressure situation to claim another renowned scalp.

In the other games Eddie was growing in confidence with another impressive display to see off A Corrigan while Andrew Leckey bludgeoned Sammy Hall out of the competition. The enthusiastic Stephen McMahon was progressing quietly but very impressively to take his place in the semi-final against Andrew Leckey. He lifted his game to an even higher level in the semi-final but the battling Leckey was able to restrict his younger opponent to a one shot lead after five ends. McMahon then reaped the benefits of his consistent play to take full control of the game with a five shot advantage. Leckey was then given a lifeline when out of the blue he claimed a full count of four shots to reduce the deficit. In the next end Stephen clipped Andy’s lying bowl but it refused to fall giving Leckey the shot and levelling the scoreline at 9-9. Andy then claimed his third successive end and the match to progress to the final. It was a tough call on Stephen and one of those games is hard to explain how he lost especially as his opponent gave him the credit for playing the better drawing bowls and having a better running game.

In the other semi-final match Eddie Curran was up against the last lady standing Bernie Conlon who arguably had produced the most consistent drawing bowls of the tournament up to this point. Eddie took an early three shot lead but then trailed after conceding two consecutive doubles. Curran found the perfect range on the fifth end to claim a decisive four and followed this with a single to lead by four shots. A three on the eighth end enabled Eddie to play tactical bowls where second shot was suffice over the remaining ends to claim a place in the final.

Curran had improved round by round with his choice of shot being impeccable especially with some head changing bowls. Eddie produced his best bowls in the final and it was a treat to see him rely more on the drawing shot when in trouble as opposed to the often used running shot adopted by the majority of players when under pressure. Andy is a very attacking player and made Eddie produce some high quality bowling to take control of the game after the two were locked together at four apiece. The Foyle stalwart opened a four shot lead with a mixture of precision drawing and accurate deliveries using controlled weight. He secured the title with a single on the ninth end having shown his calibre and versatility of shot by drawing to all parts of the live area.

Eddie rightly deserves the champion of champions singles title with Andrew, although disappointed, very gracious in defeat. Eddie has been a respected zone bowler for a number of years and has had several near misses in the past. Over the past few years he has had to cut back tournament play due to work commitments but today all the pieces of the jigsaw fell into place. Not having inflated hopes for progress his confidence grew round by round as he found his rhythm and more importantly his old consistency. This is Edski’s first major title. Well known and respected in the North West of the country this title will be well received for one of the gents of the game.

PAIRS

In the pairs the majestic veteran Dessie Hamilton turned in a display at lead that has seldom been matched and with Alan Johnston at skip they proved a potent force. Dessie is one of the old style players that draws, draws and when in trouble draws even more. In the final he was rarely more than a few inches from the jack with numerous touchers. The high degree of reliability in front of Alan gave him the opportunity and confidence to produce the full range of shots from the delicate draw to the precision chop and lie and very occasionally the forcing shot. It was an excellent performance by the pair who always seemed in control of the game but it is testament to how well their opponents, Michelle Martin and Paul Duff played that they took it right to the last bowl and lost out by only one shot. Paul played some timely conversion shots to restrict Dessie and Alan and prevent them from dominating the score board.

Through out the earlier rounds Paul had been in top form with he and Michelle taking full control of the semi-final comfortably defeating Alistair McIntyre and Rodney Kane.

Dessie gained revenge in the quarter final over young guns Simon Colvin and Gary Kelly who narrowly defeated him in the final of the national pairs. Then in the semi-final they convincingly overcame another top pairing of Billy Taafe and Kevin Conroy.

Colvin and Kelly had had produced a remarkable comeback against the very experienced double L combination of Liam Conway and Liam McHugh. Gary played a magnificent bowl with the final delivery of the tenth end to take out two opposition bowls to claim four shots and take the game into a tie end. The new tactic for the tie end if the toss is won is to place the jack long and try to ditch it. Young Colvin did this with the tie end lasting one bowl.

The outdoor wizard, Noel Graham could not repeat the form of his tournament win last season and fell meekly at the first hurdle much to the delight of his outdoor international colleague Gary McCloy.

Triples

Glen Smith, Damien McElroy and Colm McHugh left it to the last bowl of the game to snatch the title from Robert Cassells, Joe Beattie and Pauline Cassells. It was a roller coater ride with the two triples exchanging small counts on a regular basis. From 6-3 ahead Cassells lost a four and the lead. McHugh then lost a three to go two behind but then claimed a three to take a one shot lead. In the second last end Cassells claimed two shots to enter the final end with a one shot lead. Colm added a second shot with the final bowl of the game to snatch an entertaining 12-11 win.

This is Glen and Damien’s second successive win at the champion of champions having claimed the pairs title last season. Alan Johnston did the same feat in reverse winning the pairs this year and skipping the winning triple in 2007.

Fours

Ronald Stubbs, Gordon Stubbs, Keith Morrison and Raymond Stubbs claimed the fours title defeating John Devine, Nishie Logue, Ryan O’Neill and Leigh Harrison. A count of six proved to be decisive. Stubbs conquered current national champions and club colleagues in the semi-final. They got off to the best possible start in the semi against Paul Reid with a count of five and although their lead was pegged back to two shots they ran out 11-6 winners. There was a more dramatic conclusion to the other semi-final with Leigh Harrison’s rink claiming a four in the last end to win by one shot against the defending fours winners skipped by Rodney Cunningham. Amazingly the four shots were in a line in the ditch beside the jack.