Family clash provides fitting climax

THERE was a late session for Greenhills members on Thursday night with six games played and some great bowling on view.

The first match of the night between Josephine Moran and Sadie Cambpell was nip and tuck all the way. Josephine gave it her best shot but Sadie turned the game in her favour at a crucial period to snatch the win by one shot in a very entertaining game.

There is never much between Tony Lacken and Eugene McKeena and so it proved again as both players showed their class in an absorbing contest. Eugene found himself one up with one end to play, but with his very last shot Tony knocked his own bowl onto the jack with a brilliant effort to take the win by two shots.

In the third match Claire Woods was pitted against Francis Fleming and the latter had her opponents on the ropes with a superb start. But Claire didn’t panic and battled back to take the victory by three shots.

A good start proved to be decisive for Peter Woods against John Hurley in the fourth match. John did rally well midway through the contest, but Peter hit back almost immediately showing a lot of invention and creativity to pull away and win by five shots.

In the fifth match Alan Thornberry managed to keep Val Maguire at arms length for much of an absorbing battle. Alan started brightly, but Val rallied well midway through the match to keep things tight and tense. However, Alan took control again and secured the match by five shots.

In-form junior star Sophie Thornberry took on Jimmy Flood in the penultimate match. Jimmy had to show all of his battling qualities to come back from three down on two separate occasions and he held his nerve to scrape through by one shot in a hell of a game.

In the last match of the night another junior member Megan Devin took on her granddad Tom Devin. There was no quarter asked or given in this family affair as the student and teacher traded shot for shot. The lead changed hands a couple of times and Tom had to call on all of his vast experience to eke out a two-shot win.

On the interclub front juvenile members Megan, Ciara, Caitlin and Chloe produced some excellent performances in the senior singles open in Killanny the previous Friday.

Times of play this week are juveniles, Tuesday 7-8.15pm and seniors Tuesday and Thursday 8-10.30pm.