2005 NEWS

Ronan runner-up in NZ Championship

15-01-05: Ronan McInerney made an impressive return to competitive croquet by placing 2nd in the New Zealand Open last week. He beat former World Champion Chris Clarke and 1993 Irish Champion Aaron Westerby on his way to the final, against reigning World Champion Robert Fulford. In the final Ronan unfortunately did not make a hoop, as Robert won with a 5th turn triple peel in the first game, and in three turns in the second, having failed to complete a sextuple.

2004 NEWS

John Moore wins Irish Golf Croquet

19-09-04: John Moore, from Yorkshire, became the first overseas player to win the irish Golf Croquet Championship, defeating Fred Rogerson in straight games in the final match at Carrickmines. The favourite for the title, Mark Mcinerney, withdrew during play.

Mark McInerney wins Irish Championship

Mark beat the world champion Robert Fulford in an electrifying five-game final at Carrickmines last Saturday. The score was +26(TP), -26(TP), +3(TP), -26(6P), +22(TP). Mark beat the NewZealand Champion Dennis Bulloch in straight games in his semifinal match, and Robert had defeated the defending champion Simon Williams 2-1 with two sextuple peels. Robert's break play throughout the week was staggering to watch, but his shooting was definitely below par. Mark was clearly very focused, and showed none of his expected flashes of temperament!

World Golf Croquet: Mark McInerney places fourth

The Irish and European Golf Croquet Champion, Mark McInerney (21), from Carrickmines, reached the last four in the MGM Assurance WCF 6th World Golf Croquet Championship, beating Andrew Johnston (I), Marcus Evans (E), Walid Salah (Eg), and Derek Old (E) to get there. He was beaten by Dennis Bulloch (NZ), and also lost to Khaled Younis in the play-off for third place, but well done anyway! Of our other representatives, Evan Newell was defeated in the second round by Hawar Mahmoud (Eg), and Carl von Schmieder did not survive the block stage.

www.worldgolfcroquet2004.com

Ireland 2nd in Home Internationals

The Irish team of Ed Cunningham, Simon Williams, Alan McInerney, Fred Rogerson and Tom Browne beat Wales and lost to Scotland and England in the Home Internationals Championship, played June 19-20 at Wrest Park in England. Alan provided the vital win against Wales, beating Ian Burridge in a close pegged-out ending in their third game. Simon got Ireland's consolation point in our 1-4 defeat by England, beating David Maugham. Ed, Simon and Fred lost, respectively, to Jonathan Kirby, Keith Aiton, and Bruce Rannie to give Scotland their first win over us for many years. Alan and Tom battled on into the dusk to hold them to 3 wins. Final result: England 3 wins, Ireland 1 win, Wales 1 win, Scortland 1 win.

Appleton Trophy match rescheduled August 28-29

This match is to be played in Edinburgh at the splendid new Meadows C.C.. All interested players should contact the Selectors at daikoku@eircom.net (handicaps 0 - 12 preferred). The Scotish C.A. have retained this trophy for the past four years, if that will goad you on!

Johnston wins Co. Dublin Championship

Report by Simon Williams

Carrickmines was at its brightest and best for the Championship of County Dublin meeting on June 4-7. The entry was less than in the previous two years, but there was still a good standard of competition in all classes. Andrew Johnston (Newcastle C.C.) took his first first-class title, defeating Edward Cunningham (Carrickmines) +25, +25 in the best-of -three play-off. Nathaniel Healy (Newcastle) defeated an English visitor, Brian Christmas (Shrewsbury) for the Duff Mathews Cup. Gerard Osborne Burke salvaged Carrickmines honour by winning the Class 3 title, and Frank O Neill (Carrickmines) won the Class 4, and the doubles, with his partner Patsy Fitzgerald (Kells). The handicap singles was won by Allan Knight (Shrewsbury). Players from Herbert Park C.C. and Dublin University C.C. also competed, and Ronan Rogerson was the Manager. All praised the excellent catering and smooth running of this very successful and popular event, and the weather was outstanding.

Mark wins the Silver Medal with 13/14

Report by Evan Newell. Evan?

Selectors

The Selectors for 2004 are A. Johnston, S.Williams,and one other to be appointed by the Council. A full Availability Form is in preparation, but please check the Fixture List on this site now.

Older Stories

Croquet In Spain

I visited our friends Fernando and Col. Alfredo in Jerez, Spain last month, and played a couple of games on Fernando's beautiful lawn. There are many other good reasons for visiting Jerez, but croquet players are assured of a kindly welcome. S.W.

Irish & European Golf Croquet Championships

The last C.A.I. event of the year was the Irish Golf Croquet Championship, held at Carrickmines. This was won by Mark McInerney, who beat Evan Newell in an exciting three-game final. Mark then went on to beat Evan again in the final of the European Golf Croquet Championship, which was held immediately afterwards, and Carl von Schmieder reached the semi-final. Congratulations to Carrickmines for holding this important event, and to the hard-working manager, Peter Payne.

Some More 2003 Results

Edward Cunningham won the C.A.I. Silver Medal, winning 13 games out of 14.

Simon Williams won the Irish Championship for the fourth time, beating Ronan McInerney in a gruelling five-game final. Ronan and Mark Mcinerney won the Doubles Championship. Benjamin Reeves Smyth won the Handicap Singles, and his class, and his handicap fell from 10 to 6! Harry Johnston won the Green Cup (Advanced Play), and visitors from England and Scotland won the remaining trophies: Diana Stephens won the Newell Candlestick, also the Handicap Doubles, with Bruce Rannie. Jonathan Toye with his notable one-handed style, was the popular winner of the Steel Cup. Chris Patmore won the Advanced Play plate, and Alice Reeves Smith the 14-point plate.

Mark Suter won the Championship of Co Dublin (also Handicap Doubles with Jane O Neill), and the South Leinster Open

An Irish team lost to Great Britain 5 - 10 at Carrickmines.

The C.A.I. retained the McWeeney Trophy in a match played at Bristol, but once again lost the Appleton Trophy to the Scotish Croquet Association, at Carrickmines. The Carter Challenge Trophy match was postponed until 2004.

Stephen Mulliner (England) won the European Championship in Jersey last September. It is Stephen's fifth title. Simon Williams represented Ireland with little distinction. Sweden was represented in the Championship for the first time.

2002 World Championship

In case you hadn't heard, Robert Fulford won the 2002 World Championship in New Zealand. But this is not news: after all he has won it five times. In a notable performance by Irish players, Andrew Johnston reached the semi-final (after working his way up from the qualifying tournament!), and Ronan McInerney and Simon Williams reached the quarter-finals. Mark and Alan McInerney and Edward Cunningham also represented Ireland in this excellently well-run tournament in beautiful and mostly dry Wellington.

2004 Irish Golf Croquet Championship

Manager’s Report

Entries: 24 entries (out of max. 32) were received, but Evan Newell (no fee paid) and Donal O Neill scratched before the draw was made, and Joseph McKeever (no fee paid) and Declan Kiely scratched at the last minute, leaving 20 players, including 2 juniors whom I charged half-price.

Officials, Play, etc. I am prepared to swear that Leo Dungan agreed to manage the event: she later denied this, but definitely promised to manage next year’s event (for the record). I stepped in, but found that a golf croquet event needs extra formality to make the competitors take it seriously. The Tournament was marred by the lack of Referees. Some ball-boys were available from among the Carrickmines members.

I played off 4 groups of 5 players, all playing 19-point games. 4 players from each group went forward to a draw for the top 16 places, with group winners and runners-up seeded. The losers of the first-round matches played off for 9th place, etc. while the four eliminated players played for 17th place. All play-off matches were best of three 13-point games. This format was completed in time for a civilised adjournment each day before 7 p.m.

Catering facilities were not available, and the players decamped to a pub for lunch on both days.

I duly sent the complete results to the Webmaster and to Bill Arliss (Golf Croquet Rankings)

Simon Williams

Irish edge out the Scot's to bring home the Appleton trophy.

A triumphant Irish team arrived into Dublin airport late on Sunday the 29th of August accompanied by the Appleton trophy which has been resident in Scotland for the last four years.
Following a memorable match, the Irish dug deep to win by a margin of 2. 14 points to 11.
Saturday saw some super play from the Irish, a wonderful return to form by Michael O'Shaughnessy had him completing a T.P and winning all his games. Late in the day a grinding performance from Harry Johnston saw him pull a game out of the fire against an inform Alan Wilson, to secure a 9-2 over night lead for the Irish. Captain Andy Johnston also managed 2 triples.
A super spread was laid on by our hosts at the home of Jaimison Walker, for which we are all very grateful. A good time was had by all, and surprisingly the Irish team were away to bed at a reasonable hour (i.e. before 3 a.m.) So things looked bright for a polishing off of the Scot's in the morning.
But the Scottish team had other plans. They got off to a flyer with 3 quick victories including a fine triple by David Appleton against Ireland's Andy Johnston. The Irish doubles pairing of H.Johnston and Nathaniel Healy fought well to steady the ship in the morning. 10-5.
The Scottish charge continued in the afternoon. Despite Jane Shorten and Nathaniel Healy finding some good form they were eclipsed by a Mr. David Appleton on a tripling frenzy.
However Ireland held firm and late in the afternoon M. O'Shaughnessy sealed the decisive 13th point and with it levelled up the overall series between Scotland and Ireland 10-10.
The event by all accounts was a success and we sincerely thank our hosts, and look forward to the return match next year in Dublin.

6th World Golf Croquet Championship

Brighton 20-27 June 2004

It was a somewhat disappointing end for the Irish to the highly anticipated 6th World Golf Croquet Championship. There were 64 competitors from 19 nations. 4 were Irish. Mark McInerney, Evan Newell, Andrew Johnston and Carl von Schmieder arrived in Brighton on June 19th 2004 with high aspirations, only to be disappointed with their level of underachievement.

Carl was showing signs of frustration after he failed to qualify from his block. His block was filled with experience and raw talent and was a tough one to qualify from. Carl never seemed to find his game until late in the week and his final placing was 60.

Andrew did very well to qualify from his tough block including England’s Stephen Mulliner and other experienced golf croquet players.

After a shaky start to the block with one win from his first 3 games, Evan managed to compose himself and win a sufficient number of games to merit qualification to the last 32 knockout stage.

Mark also made hard work of it by losing 2 of his first 6 games in the block, meaning he had to win his last to qualify. This he did. He then duly retired to the Championship hotel with the rest of the players to await the results of the knockout draw.

So far so good, 3 of the 4 Irish had qualified from the blocks. And what of the Egyptians you say. Well, 6 of the 8 block winners were Egyptian!! And so they waited patiently in the 3rd round of the knockout for the rest of the qualifiers to complete the first two rounds and join them in the latter stages of the competition.

Mark and Andrew were drawn to play each other in the first round of the knockout. This was a major disappointment for both players. Andrew’s wrists were starting to bug him and he was forced to change grip for the match. Mark won 7-3, 7-4.

Meanwhile, Evan was playing Tom Weston from England and did well to dispose of him in 2 straight games 7-5, 7-3. Both Mark and Evan were beginning to find their form and play well.

Evan had an Egyptian in the second round – Hazem Mahmoud, a very tough competitor. Hazem was playing some excellent golf croquet and before Evan had a chance to respond, the match was basically over. Evan was playing well and crawling back in the second game but never quite made it. He lost in 2 games 7-3, 7-6.

On the other lawn, Mark was 1-0 down and 5-2 down in the second game of his match against the 19 year old Marcus Evans. He somehow managed to rescue the game and won 2-7, 7-6, 7-5(he ran hoop no.11 and 12 in the same shot to win the match!) This put him through to the last 16, where he was to meet an undefeated Egyptian in the tournament, Walid Salah, who was reportedly playing some of the best golf croquet of his career.

The next morning, Mark beat Walid 7-6, 7-6 in 2 fantastic games. They both played some excellent stuff but Mark came out the deserved winner after a gruelling battle.

The quarter finals: Mark played Derek Old from England and won in two straight games 7-5, 7-6. Meanwhile, the unseeded outsider Dennis Bulloch from New Zealand was busy knocking out Egyptians including twice World Champion Salah Hassan in the quarter finals. He faced Mark in the semi finals.

Match of the tournament goes to Reg Bamford against the young Egyptian prodigy and new World champion Ahmed Nassr in the quarter finals. Both players did little wrong, but instead showed superhuman single ball shooting from all distances. Ahmed showed his true professionalism in the end and beat Reg in 2 games 7-6, 7-6. Reg is the first to agree that his tactics are still unsound! But once he learns the tactics to this game, we will have found a new World Champion!

Semi finals day: Ahmed took on Khaled Younis, 3 times World Champion in an all-Egyptian semi final, while Mark played Dennis in the other.
Mark just never seemed to find the form he had been showing all week, and Dennis played a near perfect game to ensure his place in the final. He beat Mark 7-5, 7-6. On the other lawn, Ahmed beat Khaled 7-6, 6-7, 7-4 in a magnificent game.

The final was short lived! Ahmed played some more superhuman golf croquet and quickly beat a nervous Dennis in 3 straight games 7-4, 7-3, 7-1.

Final placings for the Irish were as follows:

Mark McInerney 4th
Evan Newell 24th
Andy Johnston 32nd
Carl von Schmieder 60th

Although it’s important to note that the Egyptian contingent has again raised the standard of golf croquet worldwide for us all to follow, it should also be pointed out that they are only human, and are therefore prone to nerves and mistakes like all of us. Dennis and mark proved just how beatable they are. Perhaps it’s time to put an end to this element of fear we adopt when we mention “The Egyptians”. They are very beatable, and with enough preparation for the next World Golf Croquet Championship in New Zealand 2006, we might just have a non-Egyptian winner for the first time in its history! And there’s every chance he’ll be Irish. Maybe it’s time for golf croquet to be pushed a little more here in Ireland. Golf croquet is undoubtedly the game of the future and is drawing big media interest, unlike its more unsociable cousin, association croquet!

World Golf Croquet: Mark McInerney in Semi-final

THe Irish and European Golf Croquet Champion, Mark McInerney (21), from Carrickmines, has reached the last four of the World Championship, beating Andrew Johnston (I), Marcus Evans (E), Walid Salah (Eg), and Derek Old (E) to get there. He will play Dennis Bulloch (NZ) tomorrow. Of our other representatives, Evan Newell was defeated in the second round by Hawar Mahmoud (Eg), and Carl von Schmieder did not survive the block stage.

The MGM Assurance WCF 6th World Golf Croquet Championship is being played this week in Southwick and Compton clubs (Sussex, England) There is a dedicated website www.worldgolfcroquet2004.com , which has all the details.

Ireland 2nd in Home Internationals

The Irish team of Ed Cunningham, Simon Williams, Alan McInerney, Fred Rogerson and Tom Browne beat Wales and lost to Scotland and England in the Home Internationals Championship, played June 19-20 at Wrest Park in England. Alan provided the vital win againstWales, beating Ian Burridge in a close pegged-out ending in their third game. Simon got Ireland's consolation point in our 1-4 defeat by England, beating David Maugham. Ed, Simon and Fred lost, respectively, to Jonathan Kirby, Keith Aiton, and Bruce Rannie to give Scotland their first win over us for many years. Alan and Tom battled on into the dusk to hold them to 3 wins. Final result: England 3 wins, Ireland 1 win, Wales 1 win, Scortland 1 win.

Appleton Trophy match rescheduled August 28-29

Johnston wins Co. Dublin Championship

Report by Simon WIlliams

Mark wins the Silver Medal with 13/14

Report by Evan Newell.

Match Report:

Possibly the strongest ever Irish Silver Medals. A closely foughtcontest was expected but from an early stage Mark McInerney dominated and was quick to punish any failed opponnents triple attempts. Most of Mark's games were completed in under 30 minutes (a lesson for all aspiring croquet players !) and recording only one loss as a result of a technical error (football at hoop 5 during a triple followed by an immediate successful triple by Andrew)

Alan was the only player to have a chance of staying in touch but lost an exciting single ball (from hoop 1) to Mark after being provocitively TPO'd.
Simon Williams on the other hand produced a symmetrical performance by losing 5 out of his first six games and then winning 5 out of the his last six games. It would have been six out of the last six if Simon had not invented a new way to fail a triple at rover (against Mark McInerney) that is much too complicated to explain.
As for the other players, I will attribute lack of reportable material to early season blues !

See Latest Results

Selectors

The Selectors for 2004 are A. Johnston, S.Williams,and one other to be appointed by the Council. A full Availability Form is in preparation, but please check the Fixture List on this site now.

Older Stories

Croquet In Spain

Irish & European Golf Croquet Championships

Some More 2003 Results

Edward Cunningham won the C.A.I. Silver Medal, winning 13 games out of 14.

Mark Suter won the Championship of Co Dublin (also Handicap Doubles with Jane O Neill), and the South Leinster Open

An Irish team lost to Great Britain 5 - 10 at Carrickmines.

2002 World Championship