Saturday was a day of high drama in Railway which saw the 1st team use their “get out of jail card” to come away with a hard fought win against an unlucky Ierne team. 2 rinks finished 3 ends before the last 2 rinks. Ierne held a 2 shot lead from these two rinks but on the green Railway were leading by 4 shots . Nigel’s rink won the next 2 ends and Derek’s rink lost the next 2 ends. So going into the last end we were up 1 shot overall. On Nigel’s rink Bryan put his 1st wood close to the jack and with a lot of short woods being bowled it was very difficult for the skips to get near the jack. So we won the end putting us 2 shots up overall with Derek’s rink still playing. After the front of the head was finished we held 4 shots with all Ierne’s woods short. It was looking good. But with his final bowl their no. 3 trailed the jack and held 1 shot. With his first wood the Ierne skip drew in a 2nd shot so the overall score was now level. and people were thinking maybe 3.5 to 3.5 was OK. With his first shot Derek thought he had the jack but just clipped one of paul’s wood and slipped by the jack. Then with his last wood their skip played a brilliant shot to within a few inches of the jack and they were now leading by one shot. 1 bowl to go out of 672 and Derek struggling to see a way in with his straight woods he decided to go in heavy into our 4 woods to move one of them nearer the jack in a hope to cut down their score. Again he caught part of Paul’s wood which slowed the wood down and changed is direction and it rolled towards the Jack and stopped holding shot. Very cruel on Ierne Skip who had bowled two amazing woods to give them the lead. All this was lost on us as we cheered a sigh of relief. A crazy 77 to 74 win. (5 points to 2).
Adam’s rink of Ian, Tim and Carrick were hampered by an under performing front of the head which in the end dragged down the standard of the whole rink, They started well enough with the score at 5 – 6 after 7 ends, They were still in it at 7 – 11 after 13 ens, but they lost 10 shots in the next 3 ends to put a winning point out of reach. mindful of the closeness of the overall score they kept fighting and won the next 3 ends. They looked to have a couple of big counts on the last 2 end before the Ierne skip played 2 great shots to win both ends the final score was a bad 10 – 25 loss.
Fiachra’s rink of Paddy, Tadgh and Zach had a good start and led 9 – 3 after 7 before Ierne fought back to 9 – 7 after 10 ends. This was as close as Irene got as Railway won 8 of the remaining 11 ends to finished with a big 24 – 11 winning score.
Nigel’s rink of Bryan, John H and Dave had the worst of starts dropping 7 shots on the first end. But they won 8 of the next 9 ends to build a lead of 15 – 8. Then they lost 7 of the next 8 ends and were losing 16 – 22 with 3 ends left as the first two rinks finished. With the pressure on they responded by winning the next 3 ends to only lose by 2 shots 20 -22. A big effort under the circumstances.
Derek’s rink of Paul L, Gerry and Ultan had a good start and were 8 – 0 up after 4 ends and were 18 – 7 up after 12 ends. After 18 ends it looked as if they had secured the overall win when the were leading by 10 shots 22 – 12. But they dropped 3 shots on the 20th end to make it interesting before the dramatic last bowl saved the day. They won 23 – 16 in the end.
The next game is on Saturday the 16th of July away to CYM. With a refixed league game against Crumlin to be played on Tuesday 19th of July.
Also on Saturday the ladies played Leinster away and lost 9 – 17. Their next game is away to Greenhills on the 16th of July.
On Monday night the second teams match was away to Kenilworth a green that we never won on. But the team put up a great display.The game was tight with no more than 5 shots between the teams at any stage and going into the last end we were actually 5 shots up but all rings lost the last end and we ended up drawing 2 rinks and losing 1 by 2 shots to lose the overall game 47 – 49 (1 point to 5 points). The next game is away to St Games gate next Monday the 18th of July.
Drew’s rink of Rory, Brendan B and John M started strongly and lead 8 – 3 after 7 ends. They continued to control the game and led 14 – 6 after 11 ends. A bad patch saw them lose three of the next 4 ends, but they were still 4 shots up going into the final end. Unfortunately the lost 4 shots to tie the game 15 – 15. After such a good display on such a difficult rink it was very disappointing ending.
Pat’s ring of Brian, Tony and Graham started slow and were 0 – 6 down after 3 ends and 4 – 12 after 7, but 5 shots on the 11th brought them back to 11 – 12 before the went into the lead 16 – 12 after 13 ends. but Kenilworth won the last 3 ends to tie the rink at 16 – 16. A great fighting display overall.
Nigel’s rink of Brendan S, Viv and Tim took time to get used to the green and were 6 down after 2 ends. But they fought back to 6 – 6 after 6 ends and 11 – 11 after 11 ends and 15 – 15 after 13 ends. They lost 2 of the last 3 ends to lose by 2 shots overall 16 – 18. A good result on a green that would not suit a number of Nigel’s rink.
On Sunday the first 3 round of the champion of Champions tournament it Dun Laohaire were played. Our two Champions Billy Stirling and Pat Evans were in action.
In the first round Billy beat the Icicyma champ Keith Shellard 21-9.
In the Second round he beat Greystones Aidan Kelly 21-14.
In the Q/f he beat Bray Brian Walsh 21-14.
Next Sunday at 2.30pm he plays in the semi Final against either the Crumlin champion Eamonn McEvoy or the Blackrock champion Alan Geary.
Pat had an even harder draw than Billy but won her 1st two rounds before losing narrowly 19 – 21 in the Quarter Final. A brilliant effort by both our champions doing Railway proud.
Word of wisdom.
When sending out an Email describing a bowls match you should always proof read it. Because talking about shots can be very dangerous with the I and O key so close together on a keyboard.
