Rathangan and Kildare seal their places in KWWIBA Cup final
Kildare West Wicklow Indoor Bowling Association (KWWIBA)
The semi-finals of the Allen bowling tournament in both the Cup and Shield didn’t feature a lot of the teams that some people would have considered the favourites to reach this stage of the competition.
The ‘dark horses’ and certainly the surprise packets to reach this far were the Abbey Bowls club who hail from a little village called Ballacolla, which is situated a short distance southwest of Abbeyleix in County Laois.
One may ask what is surprising about reaching a semi-final in a Kildare West Wicklow tournament. Well, considering they don’t play in any structured competitions in their own area, as they only play the game as a social outlet it leaves them at a disadvantage when playing teams that are battled hardened from the intense competitions from playing against each other.
In the last few years they have competed in the Kildare Town bowling tournament but this was their first time to compete in the Allen tournament.
They were very worthy semi-finalists as the produced some fine bowling along the way.
Unfortunately for them they came up against a very strong Rathangan team in the Cup semi-final, but they gave a very good account of themselves for about half the game. But from thereon the Rathangan team had just too much power and pulled away to win convincingly.
Abby Bowls2: Pat Fitz, John McDonald, Mary O’Keeffe and Richie Lyons.
In the second Cup semi-final Kildare and Coill Dubh played out a real classic. With only four ends to play the sides were deadlocked at eight scores apiece, but in the last four ends Kildare pulled away to make it into the decider.
Kildare: Fintan Downey, Mick Keirin, Anne Gleeson and John Gleeson.
Coill Dubh: Thomas Baker, Pat Dolly, Jody Gordon and Thomas Hogan.
The first Shield semi-final between Abbey Bowls1 and Kill was a very close match for two thirds of the game, but from that point onwards the more vast experienced Kill side completely took over and ran out easy winners.
Kill: Elizabeth McGarr, Tom Quigley, Des Beatty and Lar McGarr.
Abbey Bowls1: Seamus O’Brien, Joe Ging, Mary McDonald and Eddie Hayes.
The second Shield Semi-final saw Allen1 against Balyna. This game turned out a lot easier for the Allen side than anyone could anticipate as the Balyna side failed to get into any rhythm whatsoever and completely failed to hit their usual form.
Allen1: Mary Brennan, Concepta Mullally, Doreen Wiltshire and Kevin McCormack.
Balyna: Rita Kinsella, Berni Flanagan, Gary Stynes and Noel Kinsella.
Cup Semi-finals Results
Kildare 16 Coill Dubh 9, Rathangan 24 Abbey Bowls2) 7
Shield Semi-finals Results
Kill 20 Abbey Bowls1) 8, Allen1) 23 Balyna 10
Upcoming Event
The Rathcoffey Tournament commences on Thursday 18th August and continues on Friday 19th Thursday 25th Friday 26th and finishes on Saturday 27th August.
Draw will take place on Thursday 11th August in the Rathcoffey GAA Hall
League Divisions
Would all club Secretaries please make sure to have their L1 form returned with list of names for their relevant division to the League Secretary by August 15th.