INDOOR BOWLS

Kildare West Wicklow Indoor Bowling Association (KWWIBA)

Kildare Town Bowling Tournament - This year’s Kildare Town bowling tournament has attracted a very large entry of teams.

This tournament is one of the most successful events in the bowling tournament calendar. This year there has been an increase in entries of about 25 per cent or thereabouts, with an entry of 44 teams.

Not alone has there been an increase of team entries but also a huge increase in spectator numbers.

This probably is due to the move by the Kildare Town bowling club from the old CMWA Hall a few months ago to the more spacious and more comfortable setting in the Educate Together School, Melitta Road, Kildare Town.

While conversing with people it is found that due to the spacious grounds surrounding the school that parking being no longer a problem it is much more attractive for people to come and watch the games.

Tiebreaker Won By Millimetres - This match certainly had the pulses racing from the beginning, as Kill CBC and Brownstown provided the entertainment on what turned out to be a real thriller.

With both teams in superb form throughout the tournament up to now it was expected to be a hard fought, close and competitive game. We certainly weren’t disappointed on that front.

With only 11 ends to play in these rounds there would be no scope for any major errors in the contest.

Brownstown were the first to settle into the game and after two ends had accrued three scores on the board, but on the third end their opponents had reduced that lead down to one. But again the advantage lay with Brownstown as they opened up a gap of five.

But on the next couple of ends the Kill CBC side had closed the gap to two. Once more Brownstown with a score of one pushed ahead by three.

With only three ends left to play it looked like it would be enough to see Brownstown through, especially when every time their opponents threatened they were able to respond. But the Kill CBC side were far from finished as they scored one on each of those last ends to force the match into a tiebreaker.

Even the tiebreaker was a tit for tat, and shot for shot affair. This game hinged on the last bowl of both skips to decide the winner.

A brilliant last bowl by the Kill CBC skip Johnny Flynn rolled in to give his team a holding score of one, but the Brownstown skip Mick McMahon still had his last bowl to throw.

The tension mounting, breaths being held and the silence descending as Mick sent his last bowl on its way, but it agonizingly fell short just by millimetres.

So Kill CBC march on while Brownstown bow out. This was a great, great game and fantastic bowling by both sides.

Final score: Kill CBC 9, Brownstown 8.

Kill CBC: Phyllis Burke, Peggy Hayes, Josie Garvey and Johnny Flynn.

Brownstown: Frank Breen, Cathal Malone, Mary Stynes, Mick McMahon.

Kildare and Caragh provided another good game of bowling.

Except for a brief period in the early stages of the match the Kildare side were always in control, although they were never any more than a few scores ahead for most of the game it meant there was never any room for complacency. Caragh, no matter how hard they tried, never looked like they would overtake their opponents.

It was in the last quarter of the game that Kildare really shut out any chance of a comeback by Caragh, and went on to win on a score of 14/8.

Kildare: David O’Connell, Mick Mangan, Tommy Martin and Richie Baker.

Caragh: Sadie Kavanagh, Phil Ryan, Pat O’Driscoll and John Murphy.