Drama as extra end decides Greenhills second-place play-off

Irish Independent

14-07-2025

The overall winners of the Tommy McGuinness Perpetual Trophy had already been decided beforehand, with captain Claire Woods and her teammates Tony Whinters and Gabriel Mullen taking the honours.
However, the runners-up prizes were up for grabs as two teams had finished tied on the same number of points at the conclusion of the league stage, and spectators gathered on Thursday for a seven-end play-off between John Hurley's team of Michelle Devin Dykstra and Gertie Griffin and Paddy Griffin's team of Josephine Moran and Noel Kennedy.
However, with Noel not available on the night Paddy's team incurred two penalty points and Josephine played with four bowls.
As it turned out, there was no quarter asked or given in this tough encounter, which was played in a very sporting manner.
The pressure was on from the start with both teams leaving bowls short and not getting them up to jack high in the first couple of ends.
It was John Hurley's team who settled the better of the two teams, and with Gertie playing a superb backhand draw shot and John unleashing a direct hit into the middle of the head, their team moved two up after three ends.
Paddy's team responded very well, applied considerable pressure on their opponents in the next end and were rewarded for playing decent bowls to jack high as they went one ahead.
That good fortune continued as Josephine played two delightful forehand draw shots into the head, splitting it wide open, to extend their lead to two in the fifth end, with just two remaining.
John's team could see the game slipping away from them, but they gradually regained control. In particular, John and Michelle stepped it up another gear, showing their superb drawing ability as they halved the deficit back to a single shot despite heavy pressure from their opponents.
It was proving to be nip and tuck throughout this match and it was no different in the last end as the two teams went at it hammer and tongs, throwing caution to the wind and playing great bowls when it really mattered.
Ultimately, John's team of Michelle and Gertie managed to gain control with the help of some superb forehand and backhand draw shots from Gertie and Michelle, levelling the match.
With nothing between the teams, the play-off progressed to an extra end, and after winning the toss John's team decided to go first. Gertie duly played a superb forehand draw shot to jack high, but what followed was some superb bowls into a tight head by all the players.
With John's team of Michelle and Gertie holding shot, Paddy put weight on his bowls, but it was to no avail as John played a superb shot into the head on the backhand to secure the game by two shots and clinch the runner-up spot in the tournament.
Club chairperson John Hurley presented the Tommy McGuinness Perpetual Trophy to the winning captain Claire Woods and her team of Tony Whinters and Gabriel Mullen and congratulating them on winning the trips tournament.
Vice-chairman Paddy Smith presented the runners-up prizes to John Hurley's team of Michelle Devin Dykstra and Gertie Griffin.
John said in his address that he'd like to thank all the members who took part over the eight weeks, the umpires who officiated in the matches and those who took care of the refreshments throughout the tournament.
The next tournament will be over the round robin rinks format and it will commence on July 31. Players are asked to please put their name forward on the noticeboard if they wish to take part.
Standout performers on Thursday were John Hurley, Josephine Moran, Michelle Devin Dykstra, Paddy Griffin and Gertie Griffin.
Times of play this Thursday are from 7 to 9pm.