Artie wins Kenny Irvine Grand Prix

Kenny Irvine, of Ballyvea Gun Club, was a regular shooter at Rathfriland and after his untimely death last year his family made the decision to offer up this exquisite piece of silverware. Kenny was well-liked by everyone and his death shocked the shooting community so the cup was a hotly-contested competition.

In total there were 17 squads of shooters with guns numbering 82. In the morning the weather conditions weren’t great for shooting with visibility in the third layout causing trouble for many, even forcing some high-profile casualties throughout the day.

High Gun for the day was Artie Griffiths who shot 100/299, narrowly missing out on the 300 score. However the big story of the day was the Kenny Irvine Grand Prix.

The five highest scores of the day were to shoot off for the cup; Griffiths qualifying automatically with high gun. Joining him were WJ Young and WP Armstrong who both shot 292’s; Brian Scott, eventual winner of class B with 293 and Mourne shooter Ronald Sloan who shot 294.

The shoot-off was tense with Ronald almost gaining the points needed to win but it was Griffiths again who came through, becoming the inaugural winner of the Kenny Irvine Ulster Grand Prix Championship.

The individual class prizes saw numerous local shooters included too. The previously mentioned Ronald Sloan finished up equal first in class AA. Junior shooter Alex Graham continued his recent good form, finishing second equal in class A with 98/290.

Rathfriland regular Brian Scott won class B, shooting 99/293, with Rathfriland shooter Gary Laffin finishing runner-up in the same class with 96/283. Banbridge junior Aaron McDowell completed class B, finishing third equal on 98/281.

Final class results were as follows: High Gun and Kenny Irvine Grand Prix winner – Artie Griffin (100/299). AA 1st= Ronald Sloan (99/294) and Ian Crooks (100/294), AA 3rd= WJ Young and WP Armstrong (both 99/292). A 1st, Steven Hempkin (98/291); A 2nd= Alex Graham (98/290) and Davy Gwynne (97/290). B 1st, Brian Scott (99/293); B 2nd, Gary Laffin (96/283); B 3rd= Angela Miller (95/281) and Aaron McDowell (98/281). C 1st, Nick Cochrane (91/265); C 2nd, N Whyte (89/261); C 3rd, Carl Tate (87/259).

The club would like to thank all those who helped with the various tasks on the day of the event; setting up, maintenance of the traps, refreshments etc. These are all essential to a day’s shooting and the help is very much appreciated.

Deepest thanks also go out to the Irvine family for donation of the trophy and for their presence at the shoot to hand over the silverware..