Bowling News - April 2025
In Bray's Easter rollup twelve rinks took to the field and, in the end, the winners were Niall Shelley's quartet with the man himself being on top form. Afterwards a raffle for various prizes (some non-alcoholic!) was held. Our friends in Greystones were thanked for their participation and also those members who had donated prizes. All-in-all nearly €800 was raised for the club in an event that had been organised by Pat Crinnion, Liam Collins and Philip Bredin.
The Unfurling of the Flag was held for the ILB president, John Hackett of Ierne BC. The visiting bowlers found the condition of the green to be excellent. This was in no small measure down to the TLC of Crumlin's Paul Smyth who had agreed to oversee its upgrade.
The Bray singles ladder, run by Mark Hughes, reached its knockout phase. The top 20 battled it out until just two were left standing, Niall Shelley and John Gilliland. In a close final it was John that took the title and, for the second year running, Niall had to be content with the runners-up spot. All-in-all the competition had produced 205 singles matches and the highest movers were all relatively new to the game – Wes Kehoe (19 places), Liam Collins (18) and Damien Byrne (15). Ann Harris won the novice section.
The Summer bowling leagues got started but the first Saturday saw most matches being rained off. Eamonn Kennedy's Premier team rearranged their visit to Ierne for the following Tuesday. Once again the heavens opened that evening but the game went ahead anyway. Despite all obstacles the Seasiders came away with a creditable two points.
The visit of Colm Heaslip's Division 1 team to Skerries prompted some reminiscences from Roddy O'Leary regarding the bowling pairs tournament that used to be held there two decades previously. One evening he heard a scream from the bathroom of the B+B that he and Pam were staying at. Running to assist, he saw that Chrissie Sheppard had managed to pull off the handle of a tap, unleashing a geyser of water. Roddy managed to screw it back on and received a soaking for his trouble. Another time Bray's Mick Redmond had made it to the competition final but was unprepared for the rain that accompanied it. In a possible world bowling first, he borrowed a ladies' white, waterproof skirt and wore it around his neck for the match!
Patrick Brosnan, Bray BC.
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