McNabb completes ‘perfect’ season

GARY McNabb completed a ‘perfect’ season on the mats when he not only won the Irish National Singles crown, but he also led Fintona Pearses Bowling Club to both the Mid Tyrone League and Galway Bay Hotel National Club Championship titles.

It was far from easy, however, particularly in the Singles final against Mark Petticrew of Larne, who looked as though he had victory secured ahead of the last end of their clash.

But McNabb had other ideas and as he did in Manchester two weeks earlier when he was forced to dig deep several times to win the Short Mat Players Tour’s Champion of Champions crown, he did so again with a special shot that sealed yet another title.

“It came down to the last bowl!,” exclaimed McNabb, who defeated Cookstown’s Daniel Davidson 9-4 in the semi-final a week earlier.

He continued: “He was 12-11 up and lying shot and I came down and took his two bowls out to get a three and win the game.

“I kind of went through myself celebrating after that but the young fella played very well against me, he wouldn’t go away!”

The first of his weekend’s triumphs arrived on Friday when Fintona finished the Mid Tyrone League 11 points ahead of second placed Ardstraw, while Clogherney were a further point adrift in third, and the Pearses then went on to dominate the Irish Club Championship final to seal an 18-7 victory over Largy in Saturday morning’s final in Belfast.

“We were expecting it to be much tougher, but thankfully we got over the line okay with it,” McNabb observed. “The whole team pulled together and with us having a couple of league games before the end of the week, it set us up that we were well practiced and ready to play the final.

“Everyone was brilliant, Mark Beattie from Strabane, Aaron Ward, Stephen Stafford, all the Rutledges, Norman, James and Marcus, it was a good team and we had a good team spirit, everyone was going well and behind each other.”

After revelling in those team successes, McNabb turned his attentions to securing the National Singles crown, which he felt would complete a ‘perfect’ season from a personal standpoint, having already claimed two World titles and two Champion of Champions crowns and he’s delighted to have achieved that feat.

“It’s been a pretty amazing few weeks and I’m delighted with it to be honest,” he beamed.

“I said beforehand if I managed to do it it would be a perfect season and that’s as good a word as you could call it.

“I’ve got the two Irish singles titles that are available, the World’s [individual and teams] at the end of last year, and the Champion of Champions singles in Manchester, so I’ll take it!”

To conclude his season, McNabb will play in the Short Mat Players Tour’s World Masters at the end of April when he and around 200 others will battle for glory.