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Report on Geraldines Annual Singles Tournament |
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Written by Dermie
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Monday, 23 November 2009 14:53 |
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The Annual Open Singles tournament organised by Geraldines Bowls Club, was held recently and attracted almost 200 entries from all the Clubs over a wide area. Over the qualifying nights we witnessed some incredible matches.
The 12 qualifiers over the 4 qualifying nights were as follows:
Connor Mackin (Cullyhaana)
Billy Taaffe (Redeemer)
Michelle Martin (Redeemer)
Gerry McCabe ( Redeemer)
Paul Duff (Louth)
Jason Hand (Corduff)
Eddie Curran (St Marys Creggan)
Bridge McAleer (Redeemer)
Fra Dillon (Redeemer)
Walter Kinnon (Poyntzpass)
Gerry Crosby (Redeemer)
Ollie Halpenny (Collon)
Unfortunately Bridge McAleer couldn’t attend due to the death of her brother. The Zone and the club would like to offer our condolences at this time.
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Preliminary Round:
Connor Mackin was drawn against Gerry McCabe. It was hard to pick a winner before the game and that showed when it went to an extra end. It took Gerry McCabe a wonder bowl to draw to the line, after Connor had sunk thejack, to win the game. Billy Taaffe was drawn against Paul Duff and Paul showed why he was selected for the Irish team, by playing wonderful bowls. He was 4 shots up last end and Billy never looked like getting them. Fra Dillon was drawn against his clubmate Gerry Crosby and cruised home to victory. Michelle Martinreceived a bye due to Bridge not being able to attend the final.
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The Quarter Finals:
| The Quarter-finals round saw Jason Hand destroy Ollie Halpenny, winning with a few ends to spare. Michelle Martin didn’t fare out much better, playing an in-form Gerry McCabe; she lost with 2 ends still to go. Eddie Curran totally outplayed Walter Kinnon and again ran away with the game. The closest game of the quarter finals was Fra against Paul. The game was tit for tat the whole way through until the 7th end, were Fra picked up a count of 3 and went into the last end 4 shot to the good. Paul couldn’t manage to get the four which put Fra through. |
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The Semi-finals
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The first semi-final saw partner against partner, with Gerry McCabe drawn against Fra Dillon. This game was very close and after 5 ends they could not be separated. Gerry picked up a count of 3 shots in the 6th end. Fra returned the favour in the next end by picking up 2. Gerry played a fantastic last bowl in the 8th end to pick up 2 shots, which left him 3 ahead playing the final end. Fra had half a chance with his last bowl, but missed which put Gerry through to the finals night. The other semi-final between Jason and Eddie was close up until the 6th end, were Eddie's experience came through and picked up a count of 3, to go 4 shots up with 2 ends to go. He then picked up 1 shot and won the game with an end to spare. |
The Final:
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Not to many times do you witness in a final of a singles tournament, the holder of the Champion of Champions Singles and the National Singles Champion against each other. The spectators were waiting in anticipation for a classic. We were about to witness “The battle of the two Singles Champions”. Who would be victorious? Could they put on a show that everyone would be talking about? The answer definitely not.
The mat itself was very tricky which certainly didn’t help. Gerry was getting counts on one side and Eddie on the other. Both were missing shots that they would normally get with their eyes closed. With 4 ends to go they could not be separated. Suddenly Eddie started to get the mat and picked up a large count and playing the last end was 3 shots to the good. Surely he couldn’t lose the match from here? The answer was yes he could, as Eddie played 4 of the worst bowls I had seen him play, all short. Before Gerry threw his last bowl he was holding 2 shots, possibly 3, and he ran at it. Everybody taught he was tight but it ended up perfect. He dropped Eddie's bowl and ran through for a count of 4 shots.
Gerry most have played his "Get out of Jail free card" as nobody in the hall taught he would pick up a count of 4 to win. If the game had have been on a better mat we may have seen a classic and a different outcome but we shall never know.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 November 2009 03:58 |
