Drogheda Indoor Bowls
After Week Five of the Greenhills Singles Championship, the group stages are hotting up and there is still all to play for to see who fills the top eight spots and a place in the quarter-final draw for the four knockout categories.
Group A
Noel Kennedy was first on the mat as he took on junior member Grace Reilly. Grace really put it up to Noel before he won out 8-5, but again Grace showed that she has great potential for the future.
Next up in the group was the battle between John Sheridan and Michelle Dykstra. While the first three ends of the six end match were tight with just a single shot margin in each, Sheridan got a lucky break in the fourth end to take a three shot lead which he did not relinquish winning out 9-5.
Third pair up were Gabriel Mullen and Josephine Moran in what turned out to be probably the match of the night.
Neither was willing to give the other an inch and going into the final end they were tied at 3-3. However, it was Gabriel who just had the better of the last end to gain two shots and win the contest on a 5-3 scoreline.
To draw the curtain on Group A, Michelle Dykstra took to the mat for a second time to take on reigning singles champion John Hurley, who was unbeaten in the group stages up to that point. However, that’s the way it remained after the six ends but not before Michelle gave John fight for his 7-4 victory.
Group B
There five matches in the group on the night with Pat Smith stepping up twice, first to take on Jack Howell and then he later played Fintan McCarthy.
Against Jack, Pat was the first to get a score on the board and held a two-shot advantage after four ends. But Jack came into his own and won the last two ends to win 6-4.
Next up Pat crossed paths with Fintan and again Pat was first to register a score but he could not extend his lead by more than a single shot at any time. Then in the final end Fintan produced a couple of fine shots to win the end by two and the match by one.
Game number three saw Chris Reilly take on Marie Maher who, like John Hurley in Group A, was undefeated in this year’s competition. That remained the case at the end of the sixth end as she accounted for Chris 8-3. On this form Marie is definitely amongst the favourites for the singles title.
Sean Donnelly was in action next taking on junior member Emilia Griffin and while eventually Sean took the plaudits, Emilia again showed that the Junior ranks have a lot to offer.
The final game in this group between Brian Reilly and Claire Woods turned out to be another tight encounter with both players showing off their high quality abilities and never more than two shots between the couple before Brian just edged it by 5-4.
Group C
In the first group game Gertie Griffin took on newcomer Cathal McCormack and although Cathal again produced a very promising performance, the experience of Gertie showed towards the end and she held Cathal at arms length to win out 10-7.
A special mention for Cathal who before the competition had never thrown a bowl and is performing admirably under the circumstances.
Up on the mat next was another junior, Lauren Dykstra, taking on Gary Griffin. It was Gary who was quickest out of the blocks, and try as she could, Lauren not close the gap on Gary and lost out 10-6.
Sadie Campbell and Eamonn Griffin locked horns and what was yet another tight contest with Sadie edging what was again another high quality encounter 7-6.
In the final match of the group Paddy Griffin and Tom Devin went head-to-head. This was always going to be a tight battle between these two old foes and so it turned out as there was nothing to choose between the two at the end as they delivered a fantastic display of tactical bowls to register a 4-4 scoreline.