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TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP - Ireland in a class of their own
TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP - Ireland in a class of their own
FIRST SET OF GAMES
FIRST SET OF GAMES
This year’s championships proved unsurprisingly to be a cake walk for Ireland. They started off
with a 44 - 24 victory over Wales. Two of the four rinks were close but the other two were comfort-
able wins for Ireland. Wales only winning rink came from Chris, Mike & Henry John with Skip Luke
Haddon, winning 9 - 7. Ireland’s best rink was that of Mark Beattie, PJ McCrossan, Leigh Harrison
& John Quinn, who led 12 - 1 after five of the ten ends and finished off with a four to win 17 - 5.
Second best came from Joe Beattie, Nicky Haire, Johnnie Wilson & Alan Paul with 11 - 3.
England’s opening match against Scotland was a one-sided affair with England taking all
four rinks. The best of the bunch was a 20 - 2 result from Danny Langdon, Anthony Fautley, Ben
Render and Skip Stephen Proctor. Next best was 18 - 4 from Jacinta Townend, Royston Lewis,
Adam Sultana & Barry Hedges. The final score in the match was 64 - 13.
The next round found Scotland under the cosh again facing Ireland, who won 66 - 22. How-
ever, they didn’t have it all their own in one rink where Skip Robert McNeill and his team of Anne
Motroni, Zoe Haining, Stuart Hiddleston gave a very experienced Irish four a run for their money
and led 8 - 6 with two ends to go. Two singles levelled the score at 8 all in the end in a great match.
However, the other three rinks went Ireland’s way with some big scores. Andrew Leckey, Gerry
McCabe, Ryan O’Neill & Kevin Conroy won 21 - 3 and Joe Beattie, Nicky Haire, Johnnie Wilson
& Alan Paul won 23 - 4.
England meanwhile were being pushed by Wales, although England did win three of the four
rinks in the end. For Wales Chris, Mike & Henry John with Skip Luke Haddon won 11 - 5. For Eng-
land Jacinta Townend, Royston Lewis, Adam Sultana & Barry Hedges cruised home 18 - 8. The
oddest end to a game came when Nigel Nicholls, Jack Knight, Keith Hawkins & David Wiggins
dropped a four on the last but one end to be 8 - 6 down but then finished off with a three for a 9 -
8 win and an overall match win for England by 43 - 32 but the Welsh were not finished against
England just yet.
In the third round England’s winning run was brought to a halt when they lost 40 - 21 against
Ireland. Doing a lot of the damage for Ireland, Mark Beattie, PJ McCrossan, Leigh Harrison & John
Quinn won 16 - 6. England’s only winning rink came from Danny Langdon, Anthony Fautley, Ben
Render & Stephen Proctor who won 6 - 5 in a very tight in which the English foursome snatched
victory with a single on the last end.
In the Wales v Scotland match the Welsh were given quite a fright and scraped home 35 -
33. The Scots best rink was that of Anne Matroni, Zoe Haining, Stuart Hiddleston & Robert McNeill
who won 12 - 4. Also snatching victory for the scots was a last end four from Yvonne Hiddleston,
Robert Lanza, John Black & Jimmy Broach who won 9 - 8. However it was not quite enough in the
end, leaving the Welsh as winners by just two shots.