SHIELDS EDGED OUT IN EPIC DENNY CUP FINAL
South Shields suffered late heartbreak in this year’s Denny Cup final, and it was by the finest of margins.
In the morning semi-final held in Rugby, Shields ground out a cracking 74-69 win over Nottingham as Gary Farquhar steered his rink of Dave Paterson, Michael Byrne and James Sneller to a 21-12 win over Phil Epton.
Shaun McIntosh defeated World Singles runner-up Simon Skelton 16-13.
The other two rinks were narrowly beaten, David Bolt lost 22-17 against Tom Doig and Chris Storf went down 22-20 to Duncan Robinson.
In the other semi-final, Exonia overpowered Wey Valley 80-65 which ensured there would be a new name on the roll of honour.
The final turned out to be a classic, at one stage Shields trailed by 17 shots, but roared on by their vociferous supporters they turned the game around over the latter stages.
Chris Storf’s rink was first off narrowly losing 16-15 against Robert Paxton.
David Bolt then recorded a 21-20 win over his England skip Jamie Chestney, which was followed by Gary Farquhar’s 21-13 loss at the hands of Ian Bond.
That left Shaun McIntosh last on the green, leading England’s Sam Tolchard 20-11 which give Shields a one shot lead overall.
With the skips left to bowl, McIntosh converted a shot down situation with his first bowl, only for Tolchard to hold his nerve and draw within a foot for shot.
And when McIntosh’s final bowl narrowly missed Tolchard’s shot bowl, it left the Exonia skip two foot for the match.
However, the drama continued as his draw dropped short leaving the match tied 69-69.
Prior to the start of the final, the Paxton/Storf tie was selected for the extra end which was unfortunate as both rinks had been off the green for a 20 minutes.
The extra end went right down to the final Storf bowl, with the shot against, the Shields skip looked to have played a match-winning bowl only for the jack to stick against the Exonia bowl to leave Shields devastated.
Last year, Shields lifted the Denny Plate and 12 months later, to not only reach the Denny Cup final, but to push an Exonia team with six England internationals to a single shot shows how far the Jack Clark club has come.
Semi Final: Wey Valley 6580 Exonia, South Shields 7469 Nottingham. Final: Exonia 70-69 South Shields.
There has been more Shields success in the area finals of this season’s National competitions, and having already bagged nine places at the National Championships, they landed a tenth.
In the Ladies Singles, Nina Riches was awesome when defeating England star Hartlepool’s Lauren Mosley 21-5 in the last 16 at Nottingham.
Riches will face a preliminary tie against another current internationalist, Clevedon’s Laura Holden.
In the Two Bowl Singles, Mosley did gain some revenge defeating Riches 21-16 in the Over-60s Pairs.
The Shields duo of Jackie Tallack and Maureen Charles went down 19-6 against Hartlepool’s Janet Ridpath.
In the Over-60s Singles Area final, Gateshead’s Brian Orrell was beaten 21-13 by Thornaby’s Steve Slaughter.
However, there was better news for Gateshead in the Over-60s Pairs as Ronnie Richardson won a thrilling area final 15-14 against Redcar’s Alan Jones.
In the Over-50s Triples, Aycliffe’s Barry Attwood defeated Durham’s Mark Barkess 20-8 to book a place at Nottingham.
On Wednesday, the Houghton Sancroft Seniors will attempt to book a place in the Seniors Inter-club playoff semi finals having finished second in their group.
Sancroft were handed an away quarter-final tie against Group Two winners Hartlepool B (12.30pm start).
Sancroft team: M.Wright, P.Thomson, T.Joicey, F.Froud, P.Collins, B.Walsh, D.Wright, J.Jones, J.Sutherland, J.Swinney, F.Fletcher, I.Whorlton.
Houghton Ladies ended their Inter-club campaign on a losing note as they were narrowly beaten 69-65 at the hands of Durham.
At Houghton, the home rinks finished 19 shots up, mainly thanks to Joan Rodgerson’s rink of Jean Watt, Evelyn Barkes and Susan Forster, who eased to a 30-7 win over Arlene Stafford, while Ellen Faith went down 16-12 to Christine Budd.
The game however was decided at Durham as both Houghton squads were beaten.
Norma Stephenson succumbed 26-13 to A.Stirrat and Jenny Smith lost 20-10 against Eileen Horan. Those scores left the away squad 23 shots down and sealed a 7-3 point’s loss.
Next weekend, Durham County Seniors will head to Nottingham to face Kent in the National final of the Over-60 Inter County competition.
The counties met in the 2011 final when Kent ran out comfortable winners, Durham have made a couple of positional changes from the team that defeated holders Norfolk in the semi-finals.
Durham Team: S.Krimpen, R.Robinson, M.Robinson (all Durham), B.Attwood (Aycliffe), G.Dews (Durham), M.Baines (Darlington), F.Edwards (Aycliffe), J.Hutchinson (Durham), P.Barion (Aycliffe), A.Durbridge (Darlington), K.Wilford (Hartlepool), D.Webb (Stanley), A.Stewart, G.Alderson (both Durham), B.Houghton, I.Peacock (both Stanley), M.Wright (Houghton), D.Haggath (Stanley), G.Peacock, A.Stephenson (both Darlington), W.Routledge (Durham), A.Mole (Hartlepool), S.Clarke (Aycliffe), W.Ferry (South Shields).
The County Seniors warmed up for that final by retaining their Midland’s Seniors League title.
A comfortable 145-88 win over Warwickshire at Doncaster was enough to seal the deal. Top rink was skipped by South Shields’ Billy Ferry, who steered his rink to a 34-6 win.
Latest Standings: Durham 5-98, Yorkshire 5-68, Lincolnshire 5-56, Nottinghamshire 5-52, Warwickshire 5-31, Leicestershire 5-25.