Page 12 - Winter 2018 19
P. 12

Page 12_Layout 1  12/12/2018  12:11  Page 1




              12
                                         IIBA Champion of  Champions
                                         IIBA Champion of  Champions
                                           Rinks
                                           Rinks
                                            The Ireland entries for World Bowls tournament are determined by
                                             who wins the 4 Champion of Championships. Entry to the Cham-
                                             pion of Champions is gained by winning licenced tournaments dur-
                                            ing the previous season.
                                                 As a result, each competition is very keenly contested. The
                                          rinks event has the smallest entry but usually has a high-class field.
                                        Last year’s winners skipped by Colum McHugh cane through the first
                                     game with a 1 shot win over Danny Mc Donald and had a more comfort-
                                                                       able  win  over  Gary  Burke  in  the  next
                                                                       game. In the semi-final, they came up
                                                                       against Gerry McCabe’s rink containing
                                                                       4 internationals. In the previous round
                                                                       McCabe’s rink had accounted for the ex-
                                                                       perienced Jal Richardson 10 – 3.
                                                                             The semi-final was a cliff hanger
                                                                       with McCabe winning with a ditching last
                                                                       bowl 10 – 9. In the other half of the draw
                                                                       John Quinn played another of Ireland’s
                                                                       world  championship  rinks  skipped  by
                                                                       Andy Leckey coming through comfort-
                                                                       ably 9 – 2.
                             Rinks Champions                                 It proved to be a disappointing final
                             Rinks Champions
                 Stuart McSorley, Alan Laughlin, with                  with John Quinn, Alan Paul, Stuart Mc-
                 Stuart McSorley, Alan Laughlin, with
                   IIBA Chairman Harold Massey and
                   IIBA Chairman Harold Massey and                     Sorley and Alan Laughlin winning com-
                         John Quinn & Alan Paul                        fortably 11 – 1.
                         John Quinn & Alan Paul
             Triples
              Triples
             The triples produced a number of surprise
             results with past winners Ray Stubbs and
             Nigel Gamble falling by the wayside. The
             defeat of Stubbs, 6 – 9, to John McMahon
             was the biggest surprise.
                   In  the  last  8  there  were  wins  for
             Michael Beattie, Alan Irwin, James Kirby
             and  Mark  Sproule  over Terry  Crawford,
             Tom  Patton,  John  Carson  and  John



                                                                            Triples Champions
                                                                            Triples Champions
                                                                    Mark Sproule, Aiden Corrigan,
                                                                    Mark Sproule, Aiden Corrigan,
                                                                         Damian Campbell, with
                                                                         Damian Campbell, with
                                                                      IIBA Chairman John  Quinn
                                                                      IIBA Chairman John  Quinn
                                                              McMahon.
                                                              In the semis, Alan Irwin had a comfortable 8 – 2
                                                              win over Beattie while Mark Sproule had a 6 – 4
                                                              win  over  John  Carson.  The  final  was  tight
                                                              throughout with little separating the two triples.
                         Pairs Champions                      Sproule moved into a 2-shot lead on the penulti-
                         Pairs Champions
                   IIBA Chairman John  Quinn                  mate end and Irwin just failed to get a tie end with
                   IIBA Chairman John  Quinn
               with Tom Lithgo & Robbie Foster                his last bowl leaving Sproule 8 -6 up.
               with Tom Lithgo & Robbie Foster
   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17