Fintona triple finds final was well worth the wait

THE Fintona Pearses triples team of Gary McNabb, Gerard Conroy and Stuart McSorley enjoyed success in the National Championship final in Belfast, played almost two years late!

The Tyrone trio had earned their place in the decider against Matthew Crawford’s triple from Belfast back in March 2020, but they had to wait twenty months before they actually got to face off.

In the end, it proved a worthwhile display of patience for the Fintona men, who claimed a fairly comfortable victory in the end .
“The run to the final was tough, we had a lot of tough games, which were all played before Covid, back in March 2020,” McNabb explained.

“It’s been a long time coming. We were preparing ourselves for this big final that never came so we had to wait for 18 or 19 months, so it was very hard to get mentally ready for it again.

“I think that maybe, because we have amenities local to us, we were a little bit ahead of the opposition.

“I’m very, very delighted. It was definitely worth waiting for!”

As an added bonus for their win, the three Mid Tyrone Zone men will now travel to Scarborough in January to contest the British Isles Championships, which they feel they can win.

“We’d be pretty confident, it’s a good triple so we’d be disappointed if we don’t take it home,” McNabb added.

Meanwhile, McNabb’s playing partners, McSorley and Conroy also reached the final of the Pairs, losing agonisingly on the last bowl, as did Drumquin’s Catherine McCrossan, who fell to 17-year-old Rachael Cochrane, from Limavady, who won the triples and open rinks too.

Before heading to Scarborough for the British Isles Championships, McNabb will travel to Chelmsford this weekend for a pairs tournament in which he will be partnered by Limavady’s Mark McNicholl.