Tyrone players lead Ireland to British Championship successes

MID Tyrone Zone’s representatives played a pivotal role in Ireland’s success at the British Isles Championships, which were played out at Shaws Bridge in Belfast over the weekend.

Robbie Foster and Gary McNabb helped Ireland retain the team trophy after winning all but one of their six matches against England, Scotland and Wales.

On the Saturday, Ireland suffered a disappointing defeat to England but beat Scotland and Wales, while on Sunday they emphatically exacted revenge on the English with a 55-25 victory to seal the overall crown after again dispatching the Welsh and Scots.

“We knew we had to up our game the second day after that defeat to England,” McNabb explained. “We knew we needed to bring it and we all did, but it’s a tiring couple of days.

“You’re playing for about seven hours a day, so the concentration levels are immense because any slip in concentration is costly.”

In the ‘A’ series team event, Catherine McCrossan, Aaron Ward and William Boggs helped their team seal the victory and also come home with the trophy after enjoying an unbeaten run of five wins and a draw. And it was a double celebration for Boggs, who played with Omagh’s Stanley Brown and South Tyrone’s Ian Hobson as they took home the trophy in the ‘A’ series triples.

The individual ‘A’ series pairs trophy was also sealed by a Mid Tyrone duo in father and son duo Marcus and James Rutledge, who won seven or eight matches to qualify via the National Pairs before competing and beating their home nations rivals at the weekend, to cap a remarkable weekend for Mid Tyrone and Ireland.

“All the competitions the Mid Tyrone players were in, we won everything, which is good. It was a clean sweep,” beamed Fintona Pearses BC’s McNabb after a hugely rewarding weekend.

He continued: “Overall Ireland won eight out of the 12 trophies and Mid Tyrone won all four we had players involved in, which was a clean sweep!”

While thrilled with the success his fellow Mid Tyrone and Ireland players enjoyed at Shaws Bridge, McNabb wasn’t overly surprised by their achievements and he hopes it signifies more to come in the next few months.

“Ireland would be considered the ones to beat,” he explained. “Everyone expects the Irish team to do the best but for Mid Tyrone to come back with the clean sweep is a bit unbelievable but it’s a good sign for the future!”

McNabb and his Mid Tyrone colleagues have a couple of other major targets in their sights over coming months with World Championship qualification a main objective, as is reclaiming the inter-zone Boomer Cup, which will take place in a one day event in Belfast in February.