Report on Section A

The first round saw many of the favourites bow out with Stephen McMahon surprisingly losing to Rachel Brennan and even a bigger surprise Connor Mackin losing to Paddy Boyle from Aclint. The tie of the first round saw Philip Mackin drawn against Paul Duff. Philip came to the game fairly confident began by claiming 1 shot in the first end. Paul then showed his class by getting 7 shots in the next 4 ends and ran out an easy winner 11-4. Gerry McCabe struggled to get over his first game only just beating Manina Birch by the odd shot.

The second rounds saw very few upsets or close games. In the quarter finals Paul Duff put out Stephens victor Rachel Brennan but the tie of the round was undoubtedly Jason Hand v Gerry McCabe. Jason (who had beaten Gerry in Killanny Singles the previous week) began slowly with Gerry 7-4 to the good after 7 ends Jason played a great bowl in the 8th end and picked up 3 shots to tie the match with 2 ends to go. Jason got 1 shot which left Gerry 1 down going into the last end and playing his last bowl the game was against him. He played a brilliant shot to pick up 2 and win by 1. Jason's brother Niall also reached the quarter final but he had the same faith as Jason this time going out to Gerry's father Brendan McCabe by the same margin. The final quarter final tie saw Thomas Gartlan disposing of Peter Byrne.

The last games of the day saw Thomas Gartlan (Killanny) versus Gerry McCabe (Redeemer) and Paul Duff (Louth) versus Brendan McCabe (Redeemer).

Paul had a great tussle with Brendan and could never get a good lead over his Redeemer counterpart. After nine ends, Paul led 8-7. Brendan had a chance with his last bowl but failed to draw the shot. While Pauls game very close with some wonderful drawing shots Gerry's was anything but. Gerry had a firing session burying the jack with his first bowls ala Andrew Lecky and eventually cruised home 12-0 with a few ends to spare.

 

Report on Section B

This section became much easier with the absence of two former Champion of Champions Singles winners in Kevin Conroy and Diarmuid McMahon both due to ill health. This left this section wide open with John McMahon, Gerry Crosby, Carol McMahon and Jim Fox.

 

The first round tie of the round saw Gerry Crosby in a great tussle with the inform Patricia Hanlon. Patricia was playing fantastic bowls and went into the last end 8-7 up. Gerry played a great last bowl to pick up a count of 2 to win 9-8. In the second round John was drawn against Mary O'Hare. John, with his new bowls, was playing well and in the end, ran home victorious. Carol McMahon was also involved in a nail-biting finish with Michael Cunningham with Carol eventually winning by 1. Gerry Crosby had another tough tie, this time against Gerry Roe. Gerry Crosby eventually won by 3 shots which put him into the semi-finals. John McMahon faced a tough tie against Jim fox, but what looks tough on paper doesn’t always work out that way, as John cruised home with an end to spare. Carol McMahon played the last of the Hand cubs Shane. Carol ended up beating Shane with ease eventually winning 11-4. Greg Marron played the up and coming talent of Calum Cummiskey but the old hand of Greg came through this test eventually winning by 5.

In the semi-finals John McMahon (Carrickmacross) faced Gerry Crosby (Redeemer) and Carol McMahon (Carrickmacross) and the last remaining woman faced Greg Marron (Corduff).

Gerry began quickly by playing some wonderful running shots and raced into a 10-4 lead. Then suddenly John sparked into life and brought the game back to 1 with 1 end to go. Gerry lied shot with John playing his last bowl. Although Gerry had last bowl, if John had of took out the lying shot it would have been very difficult for Gerry to get in. John fired and looked perfect on its way up the mat but all of a sudden it started turning out. Disaster, he threw the bowl the Wrong Bias by mistake, which left Gerry the victor.

 

Report on Section C

This was the section of some major surprises. The Lordship players for the first time became heavy hitters. Anyway the main players in this section was Paddy Hanlon, John Murnaghan, Michael Hand, Oliver Donaldson, Brendan McMahon and Gareth McMahon

The first round probably saw the biggest surprise of the day with John Boylan from Lordship, putting out one of the favourites for the title, John Murnaghan. However the tie of the round was definitely Michael Hand and an inform Gareth McMahon. Gareth played some wonder bowls and knocked out Michael with an end to spare. Paddy Hanlon began his day with Pat Cunningham from Kilcurry were he ran out an easy winner.

The second round saw the next Lordship victim with Johnny Holmes knocking out Gareth. Johnny had no fear and buried a number of jacks. Paddy continued his relentless play by whipping the floor with Margo McEntee. Brendan McMahon was quietly making his way through the draw without much fuss. In the quarter finals Oliver Donaldson faced Brendan McMahon and it took Oliver’s last bowl to finally win the match. Paddy Hanlon had stiffer competition against Noel Mackin, but it was the same outcome with Paddy winning easily. The Lordship pair Johnny Holmes and John Boylan continued their remarkable run with both reaching the semi-finals. In the Semi-finals Johnny Holmes (Lordship) faced Paddy Hanlon (Cooley) and Oliver Donaldson (Cullyhaana) faced John Boyle (Lordship) Paddy was hot favourite going out after beating some big names, but Johnny Holmes was on fire. It was a close encounter all the way and after 10 ends could not be separated at 6-6. Johnny got a fantastic bowl in but Paddy responded with a magical bowl to win the game by the narrowest of margins 7-6.