Page 20 - Autumn 2018 Final

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IRISH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
IRISH NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
20
The nationals will be remembered for two
major achievements. Pauline and Joe Beat-
tie 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
which stood out..
It was an astonishing victory for Rachel who is
probably the youngest player to win a national title any- From
From
where and t was arguably the best ladies final seen with both Rachel and Seamus Kyne
Seamus Kyne
Pauline playing exceptional bowls throughout the 15 ends with Rachel’s
last bowl getting the second shot she needed to pull off an historic win.
In the semi she defeated the highly experienced
Anne McKiver 8-5. In the final she met multiple win-
ner Pauline Beattie who in her semi-final looked to
be on the way out as she trailed another previous
winner Brigid Davidson by 3 shots going into the
last end. However, she picked up a 3 and won the
tie end to set up a final of experience against
youth.
Rachel led from the 5th end showing great
maturity for someone so young and it was only on
the last 2 ends that Pauline pulled back and lay tied
Pauline & Joe Beattie
end until Rachel’s last bowl. Pauline’s disappoint-
ment was to some extent lessened as husband Joe picked up his first national singles title with a
win over P J Gallagher. Nothing separated the two for 6 ends when it was 6 – 6 but Joe won all ends
until the 13th with a 4 to finish 15 – 7 up.
The Pairs continued Oriel’s success in the men’s Zone final with the father and son combination
of Kevin and Sean Conroy, no strangers to national finals, meeting Michael Hand and Jim Fox. This
all-Oriel Pairs final proved to be a disappointing one and saw a surprisingly comfortable victory for
Michael Hand and Jim Fox over Kevin and Sean Conroy. Fox as a comfortable 16 – 8 win for Hand,
who led throughout and indeed by the 7th end the Conroy’ had picked up only 1 shot.
In the Triples it was familiar faces coming through. Ray Stubbs, another multiple nationals win-
ners defeated Alan Laughlin 8-4 in the semi-final and met Karl Blakey who featured in last year’s
rinks final who had an 8-5 semi-final win over John Quinn. In the end the Triples title went to Ronnie,
Raymond & Gordon Stubbs, who had a 2 shot win over Kyle Blakely’s Triple.
This year the rinks draw showed a clear division between the top and bottom halves of the
draw. Undoubtedly it was the bottom half which contained the great majority of the fancied rinks with
Kevin Conroy, Ray Stubbs, Andy Leckey, J Wilson, D Morrison and A Corrigan all past national win-
ners featuring while in the top half Colm McHugh was the main recognised rink. In the end it was the
Morrison’s, father and 3 sons, who progressed to the final where they met Colm McHugh. In the end
Colum McHugh picked up his 2nd rinks title aided by Brigid Davidson, Liam McHugh and Keith Mc-
Culloch, with a comfortable win over the Morrison’s who never recovered from dropping a 5 on the
first end.
The ladies Triples saw the usual favourite and several times winner, Pauline Beattie not quali-
fying. In the end the final featured feature two triples who have not previously contested the final, L
Richardson and a very surprised triple skipped by J McKee and resulted in a 15 - 4 comfortable win
for Lisa Richardson, Irene Douglas and Michelle Wright over Jean McKee’s triple with the experi-
enced Armagh triple always in command from start to finish