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Day 1 (pics)
Ireland made a promising start to their campaign to lift the trophies available in Llandrindod Wells. In the opening triples Cookstown Parochial’s Colm McHugh, Damian McElroy and Liam McHugh played M Follis representing England. The Irish triple never really got into top form and it was not until the 9th end that they squared the game at 6 – 6 after picking up a 3. The remaining ends were shared giving the Irish triple an 8 – 7 win.
In the rinks, A Corrigan, M Sproule, R Sproule and J Corrigan met the Isle of man, by far the weakest of the five teams and had little difficulty winning 13 – 3.
Gerry McCabe again met Isle of Man opposition and was never in any difficulty in building up a 14 – 3 lead after 12 ends. Despite an improvement by his opponent Gerry went on to complete a 19 – 10 win.
In the pairs, Uel McKeeman and Tommy Mullan met England’s G Stanway and were in control throughout. They led 7 – after 6 ends, 11 – 2 after 8 and completed a 13 – 4 win.
In their second game, A Corrigan’s rink met a very good Welsh rink skipped by R Hughes and were unable to repeat the win of their earlier game. They were never really in the game losing 15 – 3.
In the first of the team event, Ireland met Wales with eleven of the team having waited over 5 hours for their first bowl. Wales were expected to be difficult opponents but it was a convincing win by the Irish side. Gary Burke’s rink with Garfield Lithgo, Paul Reid and Derek Spratt had an excellent game and deserved more than their 10 – 8 win. Colm McHugh, Sammy Hall, Ryan O.Neill and James McCaffrey had a comfortable 12 – 5 win over A Hudson with Ryan in particular having a good debut. Raymond Stubbs, Gerard Conroy, Joe Beattie and Paul Duff also dominated their game throughout in winning 11 – 3. In the final game, John Quinn, Andrew Leckey, Lee Harrison and Alan Paul were behind for early part of the game but gradually they pulled their opponents back to be all square at 8 – 8 after picking up a three on the 9th end. On the final end they were unfortunate but still dropped 5 shots. The overall score was 51 – 29 for Ireland.
In the final series of individual games Gerry McCabe met the fancied A Evans from Wales and was pressed hard the whole wave coming through in the end by `15 – 12 to leave him in a good position for day 2.
The pairs has an embarrassingly easy win over the Isle of Man with U McKeeman finishing 24 - 4 up.
In the triples, C McHugh’s triple put in a better performance against perhaps the best of Isle of man coming through 13 – 4 again putting them in a strong position for day 2.
With just one defeat, the team were able to look forward confidently to day 2.
Day 2 began with the international series. Ireland met Scotland in what proved to be an exceptionally easy game. R Stubbs won 11 – 4, J Quinn 25 – 1, C McHugh 10 – 6 and G Burke 20 – 2 giving them a 66 – 13 win. England meanwhile defeated Isle of Man 64 – 23.
The individual series followed. Gerry McCabe, unbeaten on day 1, played his main rival in T Brown from England. For the first 9 ends, the game was relatively close but from then Gerry moved up a gear to lead by 3 after 12 ends and finish 19 – 11 up.
In the pairs Uel McKeeman and Tommy Mullan, also undefeated from day 1, met Scottish opposition in T Hamilton. The North Eastern pair were dominant throughout and after 12 ends were 18 – 2 up finishing after the 15 ends 21 – 8 up.
In the triples, the Parochial trio, also unbeaten on day 1, had an engrossing struggle with Scotlands’s L Moffat with little separating the two sides for most of the game. The Irish trio had to avoid defeat to make sure their last game with Wales was relevant. They were satisfied to tie the game at 9 – 9.
A Corrigan’s rink which lost its final game on day 1 knew that they faced an uphill battle to gain at least second place. They played better against the English 4 to record a 12 – 4 win.
The international series began the afternoon programme with Ireland facing the minnows of the competition, the Isle of Man. This proved to be even more convincing than the win over Scotland with only R Stubb’s rink facing any serious opposition in winning 13 – 7. G Burke won 20 – 2, J Quinn won 23 – 0 and C McHugh came through 26 – 2. England meanwhile beat Wales by a single shot 34 – 33. This game hinged on a titanic last end with the scores tied at 33 all. The lead change with every bowl before England gained the crucial with the last delivery.
The final individual series saw Ireland pick up three of the four trophies. Gerry McCabe, knowing that only a disaster change in form would prevent him picking up the title, was in great form against Scotland’s J Wood. Gerry remained in control to win 17 – 10 and claim the singles title. His main opponent Wales, A Evans finished all square with S Peel Isle of Man.
In the pairs the Irish duo knew that a win would guarantee the title and that even a defeat could see them still claiming the title depending up how England performed. The game was nip and tuck throughout and with one end to go Wales were one up. On the last end, the Irish picked up two excellent shots to take the game and title. The triples looked to be slipping away from Ireland as Wales went into a 4 – 0 lead with the Irish triple well below par. Once Liam McHugh got his weight and drew regularly onto the jack the game changed. From 6 – 6 after 7 ends the Irish triple never looked back to finish 12 – 7 up.
In the rink A Corrigan’s four totally dominated the game finishing 19 – 3 up and just missing out on second place.
Traditionally the series finishes with the Ireland – England international series. The game saw Ireland pick up the championship with a convincing 52 – 29 win. J Quinn’s rink won 23 - 0, R Stubbs 10 – 7, C McHugh won 26 – 2 and G Burke by 20 - 2.
The series proved an excellent success for Ireland with only the fours missing out.
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