IRELAND V GREAT BRITAIN (by Rob Fulford)
Patsy Fitzgerald clinched victory 8-6 at about 4pm today for Ireland's
first
victory against GB (unless there is some ancient history I'm unaware
of).
Ireland had a great start winning all 3 doubles matches and this in the
end
was the decisive factor. GB seemed a little out of sorts perhaps
struggling
with the old mark II Dawsons. Patsy started particularly well on his
debut
for Ireland. GB's two Ians, Burridge and Lines, started the doubles
with the
intended policy of keeping it tight and not giving Patsy anything easy
but
then couldn't resist making a DL third turn after they hit. Patsy hit
and
went straight to 4b. Later to clinch the doubles he ran a good sweaty 8
foot
rover.
The match swung about once the singles started on Saturday afternoon.
Burridge and Maugham won quickly for GB, Williams for Ireland. Patmore
seemed to be in charge against Alan McInerney but the other two matches
could have gone either way. Marcus Evans and Andrew Johnston both
played
some good stuff. Marcus had the first chance to clinch the match,
making an
excellent precision pick up to get his second break going but having
just
done the 4b peel was hampered out of 6 and missed his 1b pioneer.
Andrew
soon finished with the third triple of the match. Ronan McInerney came
close
to producing a fantastic match to defeat Rob Fulford. Rob won the first
5th
turn but Ronan replied in kind in the next finishing off the contact
after a
TPO by Rob on the 4th turn. The third game looked likely to go to Ronan
26TP
sixth turn but he couldn't get the peels going and eventually playing a
slightly angled Irish penult peel had the back ball finish on the front
of
the hoop. Rob won a couple of turns later. Meanwhile Alan had come back
with
a late triple against Chris to level at 1-1 overnight with the overall
match
score Ireland 5 GB 3.
Sunday started with the six remaining singles and the prospect of
Patmore
and Alan McInerney's third turning out to be the crucial game if we
reached
7-7. Dave Maugham won quickly though scrappily against Ronan. Ed
Cunningham
and Rob Fulford went to a third. Rob went to 4b third turn but Ed hit
and
TPOed turn 4 pegging 2 balls out. Ed hit a couple of 20 yarders to have
reasonable chances to get a two ball going but eventually Rob finished
after
running 3 from a couple of yards, hitting Ed in front of 5 and rolling
up to
4.
Things at this stage were looking fairly rosy for GB, back to 5-5,
Patmore
and Lines were game up and the other two matches at game all. The only
downside for GB was that Ian Burridge should probably have clinched his
match already twice failing to finish from penult and peg allowing Alan
McInerney the chance to fight back.
Ian Lines was next to finish winning a tight second game after a more
comfortable first. Simon Williams won the decider against Marcus to
make it
a personal 3/3 for the weekend. Simon has a history of doing well in
this
event having one year beaten Mulliner, Avery and Irwin in quick
sucession.
Marcus played a lot of good croquet getting to 0/3, I'm sure he'll have
more
luck next time he pleys for GB. 6-6. Patsy levelled against Chris
Patmore.
Alan now took the decider against Ian Burridge, Ian missing a hampered
stroke after 3 starting his second break. 7-6 to Ireland.
So at 2.30 GB's hopes rested completely with Chris Patmore all the
other
matches having finished and Chris having two matches at 1-1. Chris got
the
first break against Patsy but missed an attempted sweep shot after
being
hampered out of 4. A couple of turns later Patsy was on a triple
actually
getting the 4b peel before 3. Everything seemed under reasonable
control but
Patsy made a real mess of organising a straight rover peel and ended up
rover and peg with a leave. Chris missed but Patsy failed to get a rush
to
peg after making rover and pegged one ball out. Chris hit but only made
two
more hoops before Patsy was able to finish off.
Congratulations to Ireland and thanks for all the hospitality. GB's
first
loss since 86?
Full Scores (1 match unfinished)
From Irish perspective
Cunningham & Johnston beat Evans & Maugham +20 +12
McInerney & McInerney beat Fulford & Patmore -4TP(F) +25 +14
Fitzgerald & Williams beat Burridge & Lines +26TP(W) +17
Ronan McInerney lost to Rob Fulford -26TP +14OTP -5TP
Ed Cunningham lost to David Maugham -17TP -25TP
Simon Williams beat Ian Lines +15 +24TP
Andrew Johnston beat Marcus Evans +25TP -26TP +11TP
Alan McInerney unfinished versus Chris Patmore -26 +4TP
Patsy Fitzgerald lost to Ian Burridge -3 -18
R McInerney lost to Maugham -9 -17TP
Cunningham lost to Fulford -21TP +13 -9OTP
Williams beat Evans +11 -17TP +14
Johnston lost to Lines -18 -5
A McInerney beat Burridge -9 +4 +14
Fitzgerald beat Patmore -10 +25 +20
Rob Fulford