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28 At the following ‘A’ series in Dum-
fries, Seamus Kyne floated the
idea of staging a similar tour in Ireland
and there was considerable enthusi-
asm for the idea.
A committee of 8 was formed,
Seamus Kyne, Gerry O’Hare, Jim
Pinkerton, Dairmuid McMahon, Ryan
O’Neill, Kevin Conroy, Cecil Dillon and
Simon Cavan and it was decided to
stage two singles competitions in
Cookstown, won by Martyn Trainor and
in the Jim Baker Stadium, won by Runners-up Gary Merron and Seamus Kyne
Colum McHugh. with short mat tour Chairman
Both were an outstanding suc- Gerry O'Hare (Centre)
cess with 256 entries in each and a waiting list in both. This season, in addition to the two sin-
gles, it was decided to stage a pairs competition based on the same round robin format and
again it stimulated great interest.
The event was staged at the Baker Stadium and was one which gave bowls and the tour
a major boost with the so called ‘big guns’ and favourites knocked out in the early stages of
finals night. The final, between Nigel Gamble and Simon McCullough from the Loughenreagh
club and Seamus Kyne and Gary Merron from the Lafarge Club in Mid Ulster was not one
that would have been expected but it proved to be an excellent final of quality bowls which
went to the very last bowl with the Loughenreagh pair squeezing home 9 – 8.
Junior Bowls
Junior Bowls

In an effort to stimulate junior bowls, the
IIBA and the Irish Short Mat Tour came
together to run a junior rinks round
robin competition.
Entries were received from 12
zones each team comprising two rinks
with the overall score deciding the win-
ner of each game.
The event
proved to be an
outstanding suc-
cess and what
had been a trial
exercise seems
likely to become
a permanent fix-

NORTH WEST ZONE ture. The winner
NORTH WEST ZONE
of each group
went through to
the main knock out stage, the second team in the group to the plate Seamus Kyne
and the third team to the spoon competition.
All 3 were very keenly contested with most games decided on the IIBA Public
final end. The overall winners were North West Zone with an excellent Relations
team of very talented young bowlers, a credit to the work put in by their Officer
coach Ryan O’Neill every Friday night for several years.