BOWLS:McClure's the best of Irish
PORTRUSH'S Ian McClure won the IBA Open Singles on Saturday after a tight tussle with Belmont's Tony Budde at the Irish Bowling Association Championships at Belmont Bowling Club.
Budde failed to get off to the same blistering start he made in semi-final against Whitehead's Barry Brown when he took a 17 to one shot lead but he matched the Portrush man in the early ends of the final.
The game, being played at a slow rate was proving to be an enthralling encounter with neither player able to gain control and only a few shots separating the scores in the early stages.
It was only in the last quarter that McClure began to build a comfortable lead that saw him through to the end and take the title with an 8 shot win. He now heads off to Australia for a month as Irish champion.
In the other games, red hot favourite Steven Shields (Ballymena) had to fight all the way to the end to lift the Youth singles with a four shot win over Coleraine's Mark Mason.
In another tight final, Chris McCall (Falls) defeated Crumlin's Robert Maher by three shots to lift the Junior Championship.The Pairs title went to the Mulholland brothers Terry and Chris (Dunbarton) as they cruised to a comfortable win over Gary Clarke and Mark Shannon from Bangor.
The Dunbarton club scored a double success when the trio of Darren McIlroy, Gary McElroy and Cliff Dennison lifted the Triples as they defeated the CYM three of Maurice Kelly, Phelim Hamill and Frank McCarthy.
The final trophy of the day went to the Dunluce four of Simon Colville, Rodney Kane, Barry Kane and Mervyn McKeeman as they scored a two on the last end to win by one shot against Rodney Campbell, David Boal, Simon Denly and Steven Braniff (Pickie).
The Translink trophy for the association scoring the most points in the finals was won by the N I Private Greens.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Banbridge
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
