No joy for brave Irish U25's on home carpet

Following defeats by Scotland and England, Roy McCune’s team tried desperately to repair broken pride and, even though they can hold their heads high after a brave showing against Wales on Sunday, Ireland still finished their series without a victory.

England retained the title following a convincing win over rivals Scotland in their final match.

The English, boosted by the appearance of Jamie Chestney and Sam Tolchard, were just a class apart and had little difficulty negotiating their three matches.

Ireland began the series against Scotland, who romped to a 109-73 win. However, the damage was achieved on only one rink as Brian Irvine’s 43-10 win over Gary Kelly proved significant.

Patrick Burns produced Ireland’s most impressive showing which earned him a 26-23 win over Colin Hutchinson. Andy Duncan also beat Paul O’Donnell 17-15

It was a similar scenario against England on Saturday afternoon. Tolchard’s 31-9 victory over Andy Duncan was always going to be difficult to repair, while Chestney scored a 26-10 win over Kelly.

Team captain Graham McKee was the home team’s top performer, skipping his rink to a 27-21 victory over Robert Chisholm, while Burns bravely grabbed a 21-21 result against Danny May.

By that stage Ireland’s chances of lifting the Joyce Brimble Memorial Trophy for the first time had already evaporated, but they did show fine battling qualities in yesterday’s final match against a Welsh team that scored a shock win over Scotland in their previous outing.

Ireland tried desperately to give the home fans something to cheer with Kelly claiming his first scalp of the tournament - a 19-18 win over Phil Taylor.

Duncan also chipped in by beating Andrew Hopkins 17-15, while McKee wrestled out a 25-25 result against Ross Tomlinson.

Burns fell to his first defeat, which resulted in a narrow 23-18 loss against Matthew Thomas. It was a case of so near, yet so far!

“On the plus side, we had two winning rinks against the Scots. A lost bowl winner deprived us of two rink victories against England. And, then we lost on only one rink against Wales.

“So there are plenty of positives from the display, there were a lot of success over the weekend.”

RESULTS: Ireland 73 Scotland 109 (G McKee 20 S Anderson 28; G Kelly 10 B Irvine 43; A Duncan 17 P O’Donnell 15; P Burns 26 C Hutchinson 23).

England 92 Wales 67 (R Chisholm 14 R Tomlinson 19; J Chestney 30 P Taylor 13; S Tolchard 23 A Hopkins 24; D May 25 M Thomas 11).

Ireland 67 England 100 (A Duncan 9 S Tolchard 31; P Burns 21 D May 21; G McKee 27 R Chilsholm 22; G Kelly 10 J Chestney 26).

Wales 83 Scotland 82 (A Hopkins 12 P O’Donnell 23; M Thomas 21 C Hutchinson 22; R Tomlinson 23 S Anderson 25; P Taylor 27 B Irvine 12).

Scotland 67 England 80 (C Hutchinson 4 J Chestney 36; S Anderson 13 S Tolchard 20; B Irvine 25 D May 10; P O’Donnell 25 R Chisholm 14).

Wales 81 Ireland 79 (M Thomas 23 P Burns 18; A Hopkins 15 A Duncan 17; P Taylor 18 G Kelly 19; R Tomlinson 25 G McKee 25).