History was made on Tuesday night as the Northern hosted its first Ladies Championship Final in 13 years.
It’s been magnificent to see the ladies section get off to a strong start in its first season since 2010 and we’ve already managed to secure at least two talented female bowlers in this years finalists Dawn McKenna Wilson and Carolyn Young.
It was an overcast evening on rink 4 but the ladies soon shone a light as the match got off to a flying start after Carolyn took the initiative by winning a 3 in the first end but Dawn fought back instantly to win a 4 in a high octane start. Carolyn then won a 2, followed by another and a 1 to go 8-4 up before Dawn won 2 shots in each of the following ends to bring it to 8-8 and to show that it was going to be a tight game. Dawn pulled ahead in the 8th after winning a 1 and that was followed by a 4 in the 9th before Carolyn took 1 in the 10th to start a potential comeback that was halted by Dawn winning a 1 of her own in the 11th.
It was at that moment that all of a sudden we had a summer shower that lasted for 10 minutes or so which led to the crowd taking sanctuary in the clubhouse and the players having to deal with a changed green.
Carolyn won a 2 in the 12th to make it 14-11 and they then won another 2 to bring themselves to within just 1 shot. However, that’s when Dawn started to find her weight on the wet grass and she took two 1’s in a row followed by a 2 to give herself a 5 shot lead and needing only 3 to win. Carolyn was really unlucky with her final bowl in the 16th end though as her chap and lie almost did sneak in to stop the 2 and take a 1.
Dawn kept her form going and took another 2 in the 17th to put herself within just 1 shot of the title, piling the pressure on and Carolyn did hang on for a while as she won two ends in a row to make it 20-15, but then in the 20th end, bowling towards the clubhouse, while she was lying, Carolyn accidentally knocked the jack towards a McKenna-Wilson bowl to give the shot away and she couldn’t claim it back. Bowls can be a cruel game, but it’s also such a pure game.
In her victory speech Dawn said “I think that out of all the games I’ve played here that was the best. It was enjoyable and we all know that Carolyns a champ so I was up against it but I’m a Wilson now!”
The marker of the match, Scott Blair, said “A very impressive display from both ladies considering the amount of time they’ve been playing bowls. A hard fought game played in a good and very friendly manner”
Gordon Wilson Snr who’s done a fantastic job of coaching the ladies each Tuesday night said “It was a very good final, I thought the level of bowls, especially considering the two of them have only started this year, along with all the other ladies, was brilliant, so well done. It’s unfortunate there has to be a runner-up on these occasions and unlucky Carolyn”
Hopefully the enthusiasm shown by everyone in the ladies section continues into next season and the support from the club for it can continue and grow. Both players played fantastic and all the other ladies have done so too in their very first seasons so a massive well done to everyone involved from the editorial team here
Bonus feature – Pairs Semi-Final
John Urquhart and Gary Largue vs Larry Sorrel and Mike Drummond
While the Ladies Final was happening over on rink 4 an epic Pairs Championship semi-final that ended up lasting 2 hours and 40 minutes was unfolding over on rink 3.
Billed as a close affair with no real favourites it was three time former club champ John Urquhart as skip with former President Gary Largue as his lead vs the fast hitting Mike Drummond at skip and another former President in Larry Sorrel as lead.
Both teams took a shot in the first two ends but then Mike and Larry seized control to be 9-1 up after six. Gary and John started a fightback though and by the time we got to the end of the 12th end the score was 12-8 to Mike and Larry before Gary and John won a three to bring themselves to within just 1 shot with four ends to go.
Then the darkness started to kick in. As mentioned earlier this was a very long game as due to the level of bowls on display players were having to plan their shots and teams were required to have discussions. We’re almost into September now and so the evenings are drawing in and for the final few ends both sets of players were saying they couldn’t really see the white, or even bowls around it at such a distance with John Urquhart commenting “You cannae make it up, I cannae see”
As such the game became quite scrappy but a wonderful drive from John won his team a 2 for a score of 14-13 heading into the 16th end to lead to a tense climax but Mike and Larry then won a 5 leaving their opponents needing a 6 for peels and deciding not to play the 17th end.
Congratulations to Mike and Larry as they progress through to the final where they’ll play either a duo of Jimmy Martin and Ronnie Scott or the pairing of Andy Reid and Ian Miller
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