Final Day report by Stephen Mullinger, tournament manager

Every game began with a supershot with the reply either to the east boundary or a wide mid-court join. In game 1, Mark hit on turn 4, went to 4-b and had a standard TP in front of him when he missed a short cut rush after 2. Stephen hit, went to 1-b and completed the sextuple, +15sxp Mark then hit on turn 3, game 2 but failed hoop 1, allowing Stephen to hit and make another 1-b leave. This time Mark hit the tea lady and went to 4-b with a NSL but Stephen hit the short lift and took Y from 1-b to 4-b. The lift was missed and Stephen finished +17tp.

Stephen looked like taking the title 3-0 after he went to 3-b on turn 3 in game 3 and Mark missed into C4. However, the rush across court hit the H1 pioneer and this prevented getting partner anywhere near 2. Hoop 2 was approached unsuccessfully and Stephen had to lay up in C2. Mark hit the 16 yarder from hoop 3 and made hoop 1 and also laid. Stephen cornered but Mark extracted a break and reached 4-b with another NSL. Stephen hit the short lift with his hoop 2 ball but the rush on partner nicked the peg. The approached was reasonable but the hoop was failed. Mark hit with his backward ball and finished +17tp.

Game 4 began with another turn 3 break, this time by Mark to 4-b with a 3 ducks leave which Stephen missed. However, Mark's standard TP came to unexpected grief when he attempted to hit partner, which had only just run 4-b, from the south and did not make contact. Stephen laid another 1-b leave and looked set for his second sxp with three peels done before 1-back. Sadly for him, he hit a delicate backward take-off too delicately and failed 1-b. Mark took his chance to take his penult ball to rover and finish after Stephen just missed a 30 yarder. There were no bets on the outcome of Game 5 but it turned out to be a brisk 5th +26tp to Stephen.

The trophy was presented by Leo Dungan who was thanked for all her hard work in organising the Carrickmines end of the event together with warm appreciation for Simon Williams' groundskeeping labours.

Consolation Plate results:
Birger STENE beat Arthur FORBES +4(t)
Juan BRAVO-FERRER beat Kevin GARRAD +17
Roar MICHALSEN beat Fergus McINNES +16
Nathaniel HEALY beat Kevin WELLS +12
Danny JOHNSTON beat Andres DE DIEGO +18TP
Birger STENE beat Roar MICHALSEN +9(t)
Nathaniel HEALY beat Juan BRAVO-FERRER +21
Danny JOHNSTON beat Kevin WELLS +5
Kevin GARRAD beat Andres DE DIEGO +4(t)
Fergus McINNES beat Arthur FORBES +11
Richard GRIFFITHS beat Andreas ALVAREZ-SALA +4(t)
Danny JOHNSTON beat Birger STENE +26STP
Roar MICHALSEN beat Kevin GARRAD +12
Juan BRAVO-FERRER beat Fergus McINNES +19
Danny JOHNSTON beat Roar MICHALSEN +23
Richard GRIFFITHS beat Birger STENE +23
Fergus McINNES beat Kevin GARRAD +16
Kevin WELLS beat Ben REEVES-SMYTH +7(t)
Danny JOHNSTON beat Ben REEVES-SMYTH +10
Richard GRIFFITHS beat Roar MICHALSEN +6
Birger STENE beat Kevin GARRAD +7(t)
Fergus McINNES beat Kevin WELLS +8(t)
Danny JOHNSTON beat Richard GRIFFITHS +3
Roar MICHALSEN beat Kevin WELLS +16
Fergus McINNES beat Birger STENE +3

Plate winner: Danny JOHNSTON (IRE)

News from Day 2 of European Championship - by Manager Stephen Mulliner
The Carrickmines weather has to be experienced to be believed! Heavyish rain and bright sun have alternated at roughly two hourly intervals yesterday and today. Round 1 of the knock-out contained good wins for Andreas Alvarez-Sala, the strongest of the three young Spanish players and for Ben Reeves-Smyth, one of the younger Carrickines members.

The quarter-finals went with seeding although the presence of Simon Williams in the Mulliner/Williams match meant that any result was possible. Stephen completed two sextuples, in turns 7 and 6 respectively, aided by an 8 yard cut-rush peel of rover in game 2. Better to be lucky than smart.

Kieran Murphy, 21, is one of the Trinity croquet "squad" and is a great prospect for Ireland. He got away first against Stephen in the semi-final but unexpectedly failed a tight 2-b. Stephen then produced his third sextuple. A fourth seemed on the cards in game 2 until the bombard after 4-back worked far too well and the penult peel only went through by 2 yards. The rover peel was attempted from 11 yards and bounced out. Kieran got going off the contact but missed a roquet after hoop 2 and Stephen soon finished.

Andrew Johnston and Mark McInerney shared the first two games with triples. Game 3 contained some early interactivity until Mark took a ball to 4-b and Andrew missed the long lift. Mark has some adventures in his delayed TP but brought it home to set up a rematch with Stephen of the 2000 Europeans final.

Round 1
Andrew JOHNSTON 26 v Roar MICHALSEN 2
Ben REEVES-SMYTH 26 v Danny JOHNSTON 18
Nathaniel HEALY 9 v Andreas ALVAREZ-SALA 26
Juan BRAVO-FERRER 0 v Mark MCINERNEY 26
Stephen MULLINER 26TPO v Fergus McINNES 15
Simon WILLIAMS 26 v Andres DE DIEGO 13
Kevin WELLS 6 v Richard GRIFFITHS 26
Kevin GARRAD 2 v Kieran MURPHY 26

Quarter-finals
Andrew JOHNSTON 26 v Ben REEVES-SMYTH 6
Andrew JOHNSTON 26TP v Ben REEVES-SMYTH 0
Andreas ALVAREZ-SALA 3 v Mark MCINERNEY 26TP
Andreas ALVAREZ-SALA 0 v Mark MCINERNEY 26TP
Stephen MULLINER 26SXP v Simon WILLIAMS 0
Stephen MULLINER 26SXP v Simon WILLIAMS 9
Richard GRIFFITHS 2 v Kieran MURPHY 26
Richard GRIFFITHS 14 v Kieran MURPHY 26

Semi-finals
Stephen MULLINER 26SXP v Kieran MURPHY 8
Stephen MULLINER 26 v Kieran MURPHY 2
Andrew JOHNSTON 26TP v Mark MCINERNEY 0
Andrew JOHNSTON 10 v Mark MCINERNEY 26TP
Andrew JOHNSTON 2 v Mark MCINERNEY 26TP

News from Day 1 of European Championship - by Manager Stephen Mulliner

Today's block stage extracted 16 qualifiers for tomorrow's knock-out from 20 entrants from 8 countries. Mark McInerney (IRE), the GC World Champion, was in prime form with four 26TPs. Stephen Mulliner (ENG), Andrew Johnston (IRE) and the holder, Tony Le Moignan (JER) were also unbeaten. Unfotunately, Tony had to withdraw for health reasons before his final game and Kieran Murphy (IRE), also unbeaten, took his place in the draw as block winner.

The detailed results were:

Stephen Mulliner 26 TP Juan Bravo-Ferrer 3
Gerard Healy 26 Kevin Wells 4
Mark Mcinerney 26 TP Birger Stene 0
Danny Johnston 1 Richard Griffiths 26
Tony Le Moignan 26 TP Nathaniel Healy 9
Andres De Diego 22 Roar Michalsen 18
Andrew Johnston 23 Kevin Garrad 11
Simon Williams 26 TP Andreas Alvarez-Sala 3

Stephen Mulliner 26 TP Ben Reeves-Smyth 3
Gerard Healy 9 Juan Bravo-Ferrer 26
Mark Mcinerney 26 TP Fergus Mcinnes 0
Danny Johnston 26 Birger Stene 3
Tony Le Moignan 23 Roar Michalsen 17
Kieran Murphy 26 Nathaniel Healy 1
Andrew Johnston 26 TP Arthur Forbes 2
Simon Williams 26 TP Kevin Garrad 0

Stephen Mulliner 26 Kevin Wells 11
Ben Reeves-Smyth 26 Juan Bravo-Ferrer 17
Mark Mcinerney 26 TP Richard Griffiths 0
Fergus Mcinnes 21 Birger Stene 7
Kieran Murphy 26 Andres De Diego 9
Nathaniel Healy 22 Roar Michalsen 10
Andrew Johnston 26 TP Andreas Alvarez-Sala 0
Arthur Forbes 11 Kevin Garrad 21

Gerard Healy 14 Ben Reeves-Smyth 26
Kevin Wells 23 Juan Bravo-Ferrer 20
Mark Mcinerney 26 TP Danny Johnston 0
Richard Griffiths 23 Fergus Mcinnes 14
Tony Le Moignan 23 Andres De Diego 19
Kieran Murphy 26 TP Roar Michalsen 8
Simon Williams 23 Arthur Forbes 21
Andreas Alvarez-Sala 26 Kevin Garrad 18

Stephen Mulliner 26 Gerard Healy 1
Kevin Wells 23 Ben Reeves-Smyth 22
Danny Johnston 26 Fergus Mcinnes 13
Richard Griffiths 26 Birger Stene 2
Kieran Murphy w/o Tony Le Moignan opp scr
Nathaniel Healy 26 Andres De Diego 10
Andrew Johnston 26 TP Simon Williams 11
Andreas Alvarez-Sala 19 Arthur Forbes 9

The knock-out draw is:

Andrew JOHNSTON (IRE) v Roar MICHALSEN (NOR)
Ben REEVES-SMYTH (IRE) v Danny JOHNSTON (IRE)
Nathaniel HEALY (IRE) v Andreas ALVAREZ-SALA (SPA)
Juan BRAVO-FERRER (SPA) v Mark MCINERNEY (IRE)
Stephen MULLINER (ENG) v Fergus McINNES (SCO)
Simon WILLIAMS (IRE) v Andres DE DIEGO (SPA)
Kevin WELLS (IOM) v Richard GRIFFITHS (JER)
Kevin GARRAD (IOM) v Kieran MURPHY (IRE)