Locals come away with glory at Home Internationals

Shooting was difficult with the strong winds, poor visibility and heavy rain resulting in more points being dropped than usual.

The Home International was contested on Friday July 16 with teams from each country in the British Isles competing. The Northern Ireland team consisted of numerous shooters from the local area.

Local shooters George Gracey and Geoffrey Dale made their debut cap for the Northern Ireland team with Geoffrey placing second in the team with a score of 99/293 which also gained him the Highest New Cap Trophy.

Mourne shooter Ronald Sloan achieved a place on the Northern Ireland Team for the second successive year scoring a 98/284 and Rathfriland’s George Gracey scored a 96/280 which insured all local seniors contributed to the team’s total.

The five man Northern Ireland Junior Team consisted of three young shooters from the local area. The team which consisted of Damien Corvan, Niall Mallon, David Henning, Alex Graham and Aaron McDowell finished third in the junior category narrowly beaten by Wales by three points.

This was Alex Grahams first Cap for Northern Ireland which he topped off with a credible performance. David Henning won the C.Q.S Cup for highest scoring junior with a score of 97/280.

The next day saw the British Open title being shot for and once again it was difficult shooting conditions. Local shooter Gordon McDowell came of an early line with a very competitive score of 98/289 which eventually placed him third in A Class.

The second wave of squads consisted of the International teams which saw David Henning and Aaron McDowell both return scores of 99/288 which placed them fourth equal in the junior British Open. This placed Aaron joint first in B Class and placed David fifth in A class.

David’s combined score of 568/600 gave him the Jonathan Miller memorial cup over the two days. Aaron was narrowly beaten by an Irish senior team member in a shoot-off for the B Class British Open title leaving him in second place.

The surprise package of the Northern Ireland contingent was 14 year old, Kilkeel High School pupil Mark Henning who returned an impressive score of 96/283 to move him to tied first in C Class. A shoot-off followed with Mark shooting of against an Irish veteran team member for the British Open C Class title. Mark calmly shot 25 straight to take the title and notch up his first major win.

With all taken into consideration it was a good display by local shooters representing their country at this international event.