Welcome to the web site for the Irish Indoor Bowling Association which is the controlling body for the game of short mat bowls across the island of Ireland. The web site is designed to provide up-to-date information about the IIBA. We hope that you will find the site interesting and informative.

Oriel made up for the disappointing result last year in West Midlands by convincingly winning this year’s competition against West Midlands and Pembrokeshire. Over the 2 days play they accumulated a total which saw the contest over with a run to spare. Congratulations to all involved and few would doubt the Zone’s ability to retain it again next year.

Inter Zone

Holders and favourites, Oriel just managed to come away from Larne with a 2 shot win after coming back from an 11 shot deficit. North West did not have all their own way against North Eastern winning by 10. Armagh came out comfortable winners against Mid Ulster though with only 6 shots separating the teams mid way through the second half a shock looked possible. Donegal set up a home game with Oriel after defeating neighbours Foyle by 9 shots. Mid Tyrone had a comprehensive win over Meath, East Antrim came through against South Down, Mid Down beat Lisburn 56-41 while Monaghan had a narrow 2 shot win over North Down.

Draw in competition  section.

British Isles Championship

MAGNIFICENT WEEKEND FOR IRELAND

The British Isles Championships proved to be another Irish domination after a shaky start in the opening games. To come away with 10 of the 12 trophies is a remarkable achievement by both the Premier and ‘A’ Series squads. The ‘A’ squad scored a clean sweep. The team took the top spot as well as the overall trophy for the top ‘A’ squad. In addition, P J Gallagher won the singles while Gerry McCabe and Sean Conroy took the pairs. Gavin  Blakey, Jack Moffett and Kyle Blakey won the Triples with the Morrison’s, Tom, William, Andrew and David took the rinks. 6 trophies out of 6 was a tremendous performance.
In the Premier Competition, the team, after an opening defeat against Wales came back to win the next 5 with several convincing results. The squad picked up the McDermott trophy for the top Premier squad. In the singles, Joe Beattie went tantalisingly close to taking the title losing by 1 shot in the last game. In the pairs, Michael Hand and Jim Fox came up against very still opposition and missed out. In the Triples, the Stubbs, Ray, Gordon and Ronald came top while Colum McHugh, Paddy Hanlon, Keith McCulloch and Liam McHugh won the Rinks after an exciting final game win over Scotland. The Premier squad picked up 4 trophies to complete the 10.
It was a super performance by all the players both on and off the mats. Credit also to the team manager, Gerry O’Hare whose constant encouragement proved inspirational and to the selectors who often get criticised when things go wrong but rarely credited when success comes.
We all look forward to the 2020 series to be held in Aberdeen when the squad will hope to build on the 2019 success.

(pics in 2018 Gallery)

GALWAY BAY HOTEL CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

Cookstown Parochial continued Mid Ulster’s dominance of the Galway Bay Hotel Club Championship with their 6^th win in the 15 years of the competition added to the 3 won by Cookstown High. This year’s competition produced a number of very close games and the Parochial were involved in several of these. They began with a game against Donegal’s  Ballylennon coming away with a single shot win. Their second game saw a clash with 3 times winner St Mark’s Portadown winning 26 – 19 thanks to a 12 – 4 win by Damian McElroy’s rink. The quarter finals involved Parochial in another cliff hanger when 3 down with one single end to play saw them picking up a 4 to win 24 – 23 with McElroy’s rink again the deciding factor winning 11 – 5. There were wins for Magilligan over 1^st Ahoghill, Maghery over Spa GC and Bishop Street over Sydenham. In the semifinals Parochial had a comfortable 36 – 11 win over Magilligan while Donegal’s Maghery defeated Bishop Street 33 – 24. It was Maghery who got off to the better start in the final with Colum McHugh 8 – 0 down after 3 ends. Again it was McElroy’s rink which was keeping his side in the game. It was not until the 6^th end that Parochial began to take control with Sean Quinn and McElroy’s rink picking up crucial shots. Parochial finished 27 – 19 up with Colum McHugh 6 – 10 down to C Glackin, Sean Quinn 9 – 7 up over J Glackin and Damian McElroy 12 – 2 up against E Walsh.
In the plate competition quarter finals Ballylennon, Kilskerry, Derramore and Wellington had wins over Dunluce, Rock, Spa GC and Eglantine. In the semifinals Kilskerry proved too strong for Ballylennon with a 23 – 11 win while Derramore squeezed home Wellington 26 – 22. The final produced an excellent game with the lead changing hand virtually every end. The game went to the final bowl with Kilskerry winning 25 – 24. J  Beattie beat J Rankin 8 – 6, D Wilson lost to B Rankin 8 – 12 and T Brian beat A Rankin 9 – 6.

It proved to be an excellent days bowling and thanks go to Galway Bay Hotel for their continued support of the competition.

Cookstown Parochial

Brigid Davidson and IIBA President Flo McNally

Maghery

Kilskerry

Derramore

Ladies Inter Zone

Mid Tyrone 75 Lisburn 48

Monaghan   44 Mid Ulster 50

Oriel 39 Donegal 48

North West 60 Northern 39

West Down 46 Armagh 38

Western 76 East Antrim 38

S Tyrone 66 Mid Antrim 41

South Down 46 Mid Down 58

Men’s Inter Zone

Donegal 66 Mid Antrim 36. 
Foyle 60 Western 48. 
Larne 59 Northern 49. 
Oriel 70 South Tyrone 47. 
North Down 56 West Down 54. 
Belfast 45 Monaghan 63.

BRITISH ISLES CHAMPIONSHIPS

AGM Update

This saw the IIBA Affiliation fee rise from £25 to £30 for the incoming season.

The other main change is to Rule 37 Last End or Extra End (page 51) which was changed to

Rule 37 Bowl touching the jack and coming to rest in the ditch

In singles, pairs, triples and fours, if any of the first two bowls delivered by the lead, on any end, shall touch the jack and come to rest completely in the ditch, they shall be declared dead and removed from the mat. If either bowl so delivered comes to rest intersecting the ditch line it shall be marked as a toucher.

Where the former Law 37 covered the last end and extra end, the change in wording means that the Law now applies to EVERY end.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – See infographic attached.

Hopefully you will be aware of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that will become law on 25 May 2018. This is the biggest change in Data Protection law for 20 years and will be replacing the Data Protection Act (DPA). It represents a new approach to data protection legislation and brings greater protections for the public. Consumers and citizens will have stronger rights to be informed about how organisations use their personal data. They’ll have the right to request that personal data be deleted or removed if there’s no compelling reason for an organisation to carry on processing it and also how they give consent. There must be a positive opt-in – consent cannot be inferred from silence, pre-ticked boxes or inactivity. That is why all secretaries this year must fill in either Form 1 or Form 2 depending on whether or not there is a change in secretary.

National Championships

The nationals will be remembered for two major achievements. Pauline and Joe Beattie became the first husband and wife to contest singles finals in the same year but it was the achievement of Rachel Cochrane in becoming the youngest finalist and the youngest ever winner of the ladies singles. It was an astonishing victory for Rachel who is probably the youngest player to win a national title anywhere. It was arguably the best ladies final seen with both Rachel and Pauline Beattie playing exceptional bowls throughout the 15 ends with Rachel’s last bowl getting the second shot she needed to pull off an historic win. Pauline’s disappointment was to some extent lessened as husband Joe picked up the national singles title with a win over P J Gallagher. The all Oriel final saw a surprisingly comfortable victory for Michael Hand and Jim Fox over Kevin and Sean Conroy. The Triples went to the Stubbs who had a 2 shot win over Kyle Blakely. Colum McHugh picked up his 2nd rinks title with a comfortable win over the Morrison’s. The Ladies triples  saw a comfortable win for Lisa Richardson, Irene Dougles and Michelle Wright over Jean McKee while in the Ladies Pairs, Oriel’s Vera Mohan and Christine McSherry had a 3 shot win over Donegal’s Rachel McDonnell and Vanessa McHugh. The over 55’s title went to Terence Patton and Valerie Witherow defeating Paul Moffett and Lynda Lyttle. The two junior finals were outstanding games. The singles went to Devon Wallace with a last end win over Shane West while Nathan & Zoe Minish who had the narrowist feeler gauge win over Chloe Wilson & Lara Reaney.

World Bowls

Despite contesting 3 finals, success still eludes Ireland's representatives. In the singles Alan Paul  lost to J Payne of Belgium, in the pairs Kevin and Sean Conroy lost to J Hagen Sweden while in the rinks Andy  Leckey, Jonnie Wilson, Eddie Campbell and D J Wilson lost to S Willies England.  G McNabb and G Conroy took 3rd place in the pairs.

Inter Zone Finals

Oriel made it 3 wins in 4 years as they dominate the men's inter zone but it was not without a second half fright. Up 16 shots at the interval, the game looked to be all over but North West came back to within 5 shots thanks largely to Leigh Harrison's rink. The first half saw convincing wins for Gerry McCabe over Brian Rankin and Niall Hand over Adam Rankin with only Jamie Cochrane performong for North West in the 8 all with Sean Trainor. The second hald saw a determined North West putting pressure on the favourites with wins for Marty McNicholl over Kevin Conroy and Leigh Harrison over Paul Duff. Paddy Hanlon drew with Trevor McIntryre.

Winning Oriel Team

Zone Convenor Gerry O'Hare receives Boomer Cup from

IIBA President Mrs Flo McNally

Runners Up North West

Zone Convenor Coleen Cochrane receives runners up Cup from

IIBA President Mrs Flo McNally

LADIES FINAL

Winning Western Ladies

Zone Convenor Harold Nixon receives  Cup from

IIBA President Mrs Flo McNally

Runners Up North West Ladies

Zone Convenor Coleen Cochrane receives runners up Cup from

IIBA President Mrs Flo McNally

Plate Finals

Terry Mulholland with Plate Shield on behalf of Armagh Zone

Armagh team which defeated South Down in Plate Final

BRITISH ISLES CHAMPIONSHIPS

Click link for results (pics in gallery)

ZONE NEWS

Zones which wish to publish general information about developments / events in their area can be allocated a specific page on the site and contributions will be credited to those Convenors who forward it.

CHILD PROTECTION

Updated forms and information is in the Child Protection section .

Natalie Merrigan  representing the marketing department of the Galway Bay Hotel  with Seamus Kyne IIBA PRO.

Tournaments

Tournament resutts WILL NOT be published on the web site until the WINNER has returned the Champion of Champions form to the Competition Secretary. If details do not appear on the web site, winners will not have returned the form or if they have returned it and details do not appear on the web site, they MUST contact the Competition Secretary immediately. Only when the results appear on the web site will entry to the appropriate Champion of Champions competition be confirmed. Entries  can only be made for only ONE category.