Thornberry’s double delight
MEMBERS of Greenhills Bowling Club were on the edge of their seats for the final round last Thursday night as Alan Thornberry claimed the Summer League Doubles title in impressive fashion.
In the first match in Category A Ciara Floyd and Val Haggins took on Jack Howell and Jimmy Flood and after four ends they were still all square. However, Jimmy and Jack kept their composure and they never looked back after picking up two shots from the next end. Despite the gallant efforts of their opponents the two gents emerged victors by five shots.
The second match in Category A saw Tom Devin and Tony Lacken take on Josephine Moran and Megan Devin and the lady pair got off to a dream start, taking the first two ends to go three up.
The lead became four as Tony and Tom left bowls short and put them into the ditch. They eventually reduced the deficit to three, but Megan and Josephine then stormed eight up with just one end remaining.
Tony and Tom reduced the deficit by one after that last end but were left to lick their wounds from a heavy defeat.
The third match in Category A was Claire Woods and John Hurley against Sean Donnelly and Gertie Griffin, and after two ends Claire and John were already three down. Indeed, Sean and Gertie eventually went six up after four ends.
However, Claire and John showed character by pulling three shots back and amazingly managed to even up the match with one end remaining. Skips Sean and Claire showed fantastic composure in that deciding end and it was Claire who got the upper hand by the narrowest of margins.
Category B began with Sophie Thornberry and Eugene Mc Kenna taking on Peter Woods and Alice Leonard, and it was Sophie and Eugene who raced into the lead, three up after two. However, Alice and Peter battled hard in the next end to cancel out their opponents’ advantage.
Lead player Sophie responded by playing superb back-hand draw shots to the jack and her pairing were two up once more.
Alice and Peter hit back to level the match with two ends remaining and then went three up, but the final end was a ding-dong battle between the two skips Eugene and Peter and in the end Peter and Alice only scraped through by one shot after a measure.
The second match in Category B was Michelle Dykstra and Anna Farrell against Jean Madden and Sadie Campbell, and Jean and Sadie fired into the head to make their intentions clear as they went two up.
Michelle and Anna got a quick brace in the fourth end to even the score. Sadie and Jean found another gear to go three up, but Michelle and Anna produced the goods when needed and emerged victors by four shots.
In the last match in Category B Anna Mc Kenna and Sean Donnelly were up against Claire Woods and Ciara Floyd and the latter pair found themselves trailing by five shots after three ends.
Claire and Ciara briefly reduced the deficit to two, only for Sean and Anna to pile on the pressure and restore their four-shot lead.
Both came Claire and Ciara with some excellent draw shots and there was only two between them once more. That gave them the momentum going into the final end and it was Claire and Ciara who emerged victorious by three shots.
In his Chairman’s address John Hurley congratulated Alan Thornberry on winning the title and on his excellent performance throughout the 10 weeks. He also thanked all who participated in the competition, the umpires, Fr Joe Heffernan op Club Chaplin for taking time out to present the prizes and Josephine and her team for providing light refreshments throughout the tournament.
Times of play this Thursday are 7 to 8pm for juveniles and 8 to 10.30pm for seniors, but from next week play will return on a Tuesday at the same times.