Gentlemen beat the ladies for the Horseshoe

THE annual Ladies v. Gents Horseshoe competition was played last Friday evening.

The two Presidents, John Parkes and Marianne Nelson selected the teams, ten players on each side.

The score was level after the two top matches.

John Parkes beat Marianne Nelson and Mary Dooher beat William McCandless.

The next two games were also shared.

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Harry Shannon beat Marlene Nelson while Hilda Caughey beat Declan Dooher.

The men gained a one point lead after the next two games.

Andy Murphy beat Mary Quinn while Denise McBrien and Paul Magennis got a half match.

The men increased their lead to two points after the fourth series of games.

Colin Wilton beat Ann Magennis. Diana Whan halved with John McDowell.

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The Ladies were fighting for every point but were running out of luck.

When Bill McCandless beat Wendy Todd and Kathleen Smyth halved with Kieran Magennis, the score was 6.5 – 3.5 in favour of the men.

In the very tight games, those that finished level, the men certainly had all the breaks.

And, when the weather turned nasty, the men seemed to cope better.

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It all got very tense when Mildred Hodgett beat Sydney Pepper and Alana Gartland beat John Poots. At this moment of time, there was only one point separating the two teams.

The men hit back immediately. Sean McGreevey beat Mary Longmore and Bobby Geddis beat Liz Armstrong.

Helen Cocks beat Gerry Blevins to reduce the deficit to two points and it stayed that way when Susan Magennis halved with Bertie Shaw. The score was now 9-7 in favour of the men.

There were four games left and the Ladies had to win three of them to force a draw. The men showed no mercy, winning all four games.

P.J. Johnston beat Vivian Faulkner.

Peter Hillen beat Robina McCandless.

Elmer Armstrong beat Ada Lavery.

Joe Glass beat Eileen Mayne.

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So the final result was Gentlemen 13 points, Ladies 7 points.

The Horseshoe will sit proudly above the door into the men’s locker room for the next twelve months.

It was a very competitive match, as usual. But, more importantly, it was played in the best of spirits and, despite the rain, everyone enjoyed the evening.