Oriel’s qualifiers for the National open singles took place on Friday the 22nd of November in Magheracloone with some great bowls on the night. We had a great turnout, so thanks to everyone for supporting it. 4 Players will eventually qualify for the National Tournament in Belfast
Section A
Round 1
To start off the night Noel Mackin got the win against Pat Cunningham. Paddy Hanlon managed to beat Rachel Brennan. Thomas Martin won against Sean Duffy. Micky Rushe managed to come out on top against Patrick Corrigan. Paul Keogh beat Tom Devin in a good game, and finally Michael Cunningham won against Michael McLearnon . Oliver Donaldson and Michael Hand received a bye in this round.
Quarter Finals
In the quarter finals Paddy Hanlon got the win against Noel Mackin. Thomas Martin and Micky Rushe had a good close game, but Thomas was able to come through in the end. Michael Cunningham continued his good form against Paul Keogh, and Michael Hand got the win against Oliver Donaldson.
Semi Finals
In the last game of the night for this section Paddy Hanlon took on Thomas Martin. Paddy got off to a good start and was able to take a 4 shot advantage going into the last end. Thomas was only able to get 2 shots back in the end, giving Paddy the victory.
Paddy will take on Michael Hand on finals night, after he was able to come through another good game with Michael Cunningham, with both players playing fantastic bowls throughout. The final should be a great match-up with everyone looking forward to it.
Section B
First Round
In the first round of section B James Campbell got the win against Geraldine Boyle. Colm Minnock had a good win against Jack Hanratty. Gerard Donaldson managed to beat John McCann. Finally Niall Martin beat new-comer Paul Conlan fairly comfortably.
Quarter Finals
In the quarter finals John Murnaghan got his night started with a good win over James Campbell. Colm Minnock continued his good form and got through over Gerard Donaldson. Jason Hand and Niall Martin had a good game. Niall gained a good advantage in the early ends, but Jason brought it back to 9-6 going into the last end. However Niall was able to close out the last end to move on. Seamus Marmium and Mickey Hayes also had a good back and forth game, but Mickey was able to finish strongly to make the next round.
Semi Finals
In the last round of the night for this section we had John Murnaghan vs Colm Minnock. On paper John would have been seen as the favourite going into this match, but Colm was playing great bowls all night. And so it was Colm kept playing extremely well and came out with the victory.
In the other semi final Niall Martin took on Mickey Hayes. Mickey started strongly and gained an early advantage, however Niall played his way into the game and in the end managed to come out with the win with an end to spare.
This leaves Colm Minnock and Niall Martin to play for the spot in the Nationals on finals night in January. Best of luck to them both.
Section C
First Round
Section C began with an good match up with Anthony Reel and Finbar Mullin. Finbar started extremely strongly and gained a lead he was never going to give up. Greg Marron started with a tough draw against Shane Hand, and Shane came out with the win. Stephen McMahon beat Philip O’Rourke. John Lewis came through against Stephen O’Kane. Jim Harmon had a good win against Mary Carthy. Paudie Boyle got off to a good start beating a tough opponent in David McGuinness. Finally Marty Trainor managed to beat Monina Birch in their opening game.
Quarter Finals
In the quarter finals Finbar Mullin and Shane Hand had a good game, but in the end Shane came out on the right side of the result. Stephen McMahon continued to play well when beating John Lewis. Paudie Boyle also continued his good form and beat Jim Harmon. And Marty Trainor got a strong win against Jamie Corrigan.
Semi Finals
To finish off Section C for the night Shane Hand took on Stephen McMahon in arguably the tie of the evening, with some fantastic shots played. Stephen started off strongly to go ahead by 4 shots, but Shane played his way back into it chipping away at the lead to level things up with 2 ends to play. However Stephen picked up a decisive 4 shots in the 9th end with some good play, and made sure Shane couldn’t return the favour in the last end to make it through to finals night.
It was between Paudie Boyle and Marty Trainor to join Stephen in the final of section C and this was another good tight game. And while Paudie played well throughout the night, Marty’s experience came to the fore and closed out the game to claim the other final spot. This sets up another good match-up to look forward to in January. Best of luck to both players.
Section D
First Round
To start off section D PJ Martin went up against Kevin Conroy. Despite PJ playing some good bowls Kevin was able to keep the scoreboard ticking over and came through with the win. Conor McEnaney started his night off well by beating Paul Mackin. Eugene Callan and Michael Garvey had a good game, with Michael winning it out in the end. Paul Duff started strongly with a win against John Sheridan. John McMahon’s experience told on a tough mat against Shane Hanratty. Declan McKeown started off with a good win against a tough opponent in Bernie Cunningham. Finally Sean Breen was able to come through a tough game against Jim Fox.
Quarter Final
In the quarter finals Kevin Conroy and Conor McEnaney had an absolutely great game. Kevin started strongly and looked like he would see the game out comfortably. However Conor played some great shots to make the comeback and force the tie-breaker end, and was able to continue that to finish with a good win. Paul Duff continued his strong form this season and comfortably won against Michael Garvey.
Declan McKeown played well on the way to a win against John McMahon. Finally Sean Breen was able to beat a strong player in Tom Rushe to reach the semi finals.
Semi Final
To finish off the night Conor McEnaney took on Paul Duff, while Declan McKeown played against Sean Breen. In the first game unfortunately Conor wasn’t able to reproduce the form that got him passed Kevin Conroy, and Paul was able to reach finals night quite comfortably. In the other game Declan McKeown adapted to the mat’s speed first, and was able to race into a commanding lead. And while Sean did make an admirable attempt at a comeback, Declan was able to minimize the shots Sean was regaining a number of times and was able to get the win with a few shots to spare.
We’d like to thank everyone for coming out and supporting our National Singles Qualifier tournament, and wish the best of luck to the remaining 8 players on January’s finals night.
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