The Ryston bowling tournament that ran from Wednesday 19th to Saturday 22nd September in the Ryston Sports and Social Centre attracted massive support from far and wide. This year the club decided to change the format from a four-person team to a three-person team. The format change resulted in attracting an entry of forty-seven teams, which set the tone for a very congested fixture list.
With such a spacious venue able to accommodate eight playing mats it was never going to be a problem finishing the tournament in the scheduled time frame.3
Shield Semi-Finals
In the first shield semi-final a very strong Caragh 3 easily saw off the challenge of a very inexperienced Allen2.
In the second semi-final it was Abbey Bowls Bowling Club from Ballacolla Co. Laois against Kildare 4. This was a thrilling encounter between two evenly matched teams, with the scores level on several occasions. Indeed on the fifteenth and final end the sides were once again deadlocked on a score of 15 shots each, forcing the game into a tiebreaker with a relieved Kildare team getting over the line on a final score in their favour 18/15.
Cup Semi-Finals
In the first Cup semi-final Kildare1 saw off Rathcoffey1 after a very competitive game by 15/10.
The second semi-final between Rathmore1 and Baltinglass1 was a very close affair for most of the game. But it was the Rathmore side that got the vital scores on the last four ends to see them through on a finishing score 13/7.
Shield Final
This match between Caragh3 and Kildare4 had all the hallmarks of being a very good game, and up to the fourth end it was touch and go as both teams were level at three scores apiece. From there to the eight end Caragh suddenly hit a purple patch and cruised into a very commanding lead of 15/3.
This game looked all but over at this stage and the question in everybody’s mind was what the final tally would be. But for some strange and unanswerable reason Caragh just completely seem to have switched off, maybe complacency set in, thinking the game was done and dusted.
Kildare from that point onwards started to eat into the Caragh lead, and held their opponents scoreless for the next six ends and at that stage had actually taken the lead on a score of 16/15.
With only the last end to play it was make or break time now for both teams, with Caragh under the most pressure trailing by that one shot. But credit to them for holding their nerve when it counted most and got that vital score to send the game into a tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker was a great finale to this match with Caragh just edging it by one shot, to win on a finishing scoreline of 17/16.
Caragh3: Josie Garvey, John O’Toole and Dominic Kavanagh.
Kildare4: Theresa Broughall, Jim Condron and John McLoughlin.
Cup Final
Kildare1 and Rathmore1 were the contestants in this final. From the off Kildare were the team that settled quickly and slowly began to dominate proceedings. With nine ends played and holding a lead 11/3 it looked like a forgone conclusion as to who would win.
But once Rathmore got going and started to play to their true form this game was far from over.
Unfortunately the poor start left them with an uphill battle, but they certainly made life difficult for their opponents, which made for an entertaining game, but at the finish it was Kildare the winners on a score of 15/11.
Kildare1: Una Downey, Fintan Downey and Mark Caldwell.
Rathmore1: Joe Fenner, Joe Watters and Breda Fenner.
Ann Field (Ryston) thanked John Murphy (Caragh) for organising the fixtures and being on hand to umpire proceedings throughout the competition and to Dunnes Stores their main sponsors, to all the business people that supported the club, the volunteers and especially to the catering staff for their commitment and dedication and hard work throughout the tournament.
And she also thanked all the participating teams and spectators for their continued support.
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