Croquet Association of Ireland

Development and Administration Officer required

robert — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 17:48:43 +0000

Development and Administration Officer required robert Tue, 16/12/2025 - 17:48

The Croquet Association of Ireland is seeking an administrative/development officer starting in 2026.

This is the first time the CAI has created this role. The successful applicant will initially work for up to 20 hours a week with the possibility of further hours as the role develops.

For further information, please contact Celine Reilly, the chairperson of the CAI at chair@croquetireland.com

Read Job Description here:

Ireland – Spain 4th Women’s GC match

robert — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 09:21:08 +0000

Ireland – Spain 4th Women’s GC match robert Thu, 11/09/2025 - 10:21

Carrickmines Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club was the excellent venue for the 4th women’s GC match between Ireland and Spain. This time the Spanish sent a team to match the Irish players DGrades, after decisive victories for Spain in the first three encounters. The format was a mixture of doubles and singles and at the end of the first day the Spanish had a slight lead. This was reduced to one game by lunchtime on Sunday with Clair Whyms taking a game off Spain’s no 2 Luz Maria Prado to reduce the lead to 23-22. However, the Spanish took 10 of the remaining 12 games to win the match comfortably 33 games to 24. Three of these games were close 7-6 battles so the match was closer than the overall score suggests.

The weather was grey and misty for most of the weekend this didn’t dampen the spirit of conviviality and bonhomie. The two teams were treated to an excellent barbecue on Saturday evening by Master Chef Alan Looney and coffee and cakes were very welcome on both days. Many thanks to Carrickmines for hosting the event on its superb lawns.

Irish Team: Jane Morrison (c), Clair Whyms, Patricia Whitty, Patricia Mulcahy, Sylvia Briggs, Celine Reilly and Hillary Whitty.
Spanish Team: Maria Angeles Alvear (c), Luz Maria Prado, Beatriz Cabeza de Vaca, Maria Eugenia Ortiz, Paloma Casanova, Enriqueta Cuartero.

Carter Cup Victory.

robert — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 14:55:34 +0000

Carter Cup Victory. robert Fri, 01/08/2025 - 15:55

Ireland retain the Trophy after a four day battle at Carrickmines.

Matches between Ireland and USA began in the 1990s but have lapsed of late, since USA became a Tier 1 nation with a place in the McRobertson Shield, so this year's match was the first since 2011. A new format was agreed, whereby both AC and GC would be played and each side looked to have equal participation of genders.
USA sent a team of 5, there being one late withdrawal for health reasons, so Alan Looney agreed to play as a sub on the US side. The Irish squad was Danny Johnston, Simon Williams, Sandy Greig, Fred Rogerson, Jane Morrison, Nathaniel Healy and Clair Whyms. Play was planned for 4 days, with equal amounts of AC and GC, both singles and doubles. All matches were to be best of three.
Ireland tended to come out on top of the AC matches but USA held its own in GC. By Wednesday evening, when a 6pm guillotine on play was enforced, Ireland held a 14- 7 lead and USA needed a strong morning on Thursday to extend the match. Although they won 3 of the morning's AC matches (reduced to single games) this was not enough to deny the Irish an unassailable lead, so Ireland was declared the victor at 16 - 10.
All matches were played in a thoroughly sporting atmosphere and the Americans proved to be both tough opponents and gracious guests. Many thanks to Carrickmines and all who helped make the occasion a success.

Golf Croquet Home Internationals 2025 Edinburgh

robert — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 14:08:48 +0000

Golf Croquet Home Internationals 2025 Edinburgh robert Wed, 23/07/2025 - 15:08

An Irish team, consisting of Jane Morrison, Simon Williams, Charlie von Schmieder (Captain) and Sandy Greig played in the Golf Croquet Home Internationals in Edinburgh. The team took a very creditable second place , with England winning.

The photo shows the team relaxing after their exertions!

CAI Council Membership

robert — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 17:30:24 +0000

CAI Council Membership robert Thu, 17/07/2025 - 18:30

CAI Council members May 2024/5

Celine Reilly ( Carrickmines) Chair, Governance, Funding chair@croquetireland.com
Huw Spiers (Carrickmines) Honorary Treasurer treasurer@croquetireland,com
Alan Looney (Carrickmines) Honorary Secretary secretary@croquetireland.com

Hillary Whitty (Rushbrooke) Ordinary Member
Clair Whyms (Newbridge House) Ordinary Member
Frank Fitzgibbon (Herbert Park) Communications
Simon Williams (Carrickmines) National Childrens Officer caichairman@gmail.com
Ann Collins (Newbridge House) Outreach Events
Sandy Greig (Carrickmines) Coaching Officer, Selection Committee

Anti-Doping Officer:

David McGrath

Coaching Subcommittee:

Sandy Greig
Clair Whyms
Andrew Johnston

Selectors:

Sandy Greig
Patricia Whitty
Yvonne Marrinan
Nathaniel Healy
Simon Williams

Home Internationals 2025 Report

robert — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 13:50:58 +0000

Home Internationals 2025 Report robert Tue, 10/06/2025 - 14:50

A strong Irish team travelled to the Devonshire coast to compete in the 2025 AC Home Internationals held at Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club. Arriving on Friday evening, the lawns were in great condition and promised a good challenge for the weekend even allowing for rain predicted for the following morning.

Day 1:
With the sun shining, the Irish team drew England in Round 1 and knew a stiff test awaited as their team was a strong as ever. Things began optimistically, with Jane Morrison picking up the first game against young up-and-comer Jack Good early doors and Andy Johnston picking up a game with standard TP against perennial opponent David Maugham when he looked in danger of going behind early. Simon Williams followed suit with a neat TP against Gabrielle Higgins in the opening game. Form player Aston Wade of England got the better of his opening exchange with Sandy Greig to take the first game for England, and ultimately took the second in quick succession to score the first match points for either side. Andrew then quickly levelled things up for Ireland, with a +26tp result in game 2 vs David Maugham. Irish captain Danny Johnston was having a decent start too, battling through some early rustiness to take advantage of some uncharacteristic errors from his opponent, the 2016 World Champion Stephen Mulliner, and take game 1 with triple.
After a steady glooming of the skies above, the heavens finally opened and chased already slightly soggy players from the courts to their lunch. The heavy rain persisted and flooded all bar one of the assigned courts, meaning some headaches for manager Angharrad Walters and some rapid lawn reassignment. After much manual puddle redistribution with brushes and Jack Good’s Bowdry work, the skies cleared and lawns became playable again. Danny’s match moved from Lawn 1 to Lawn 2 and, from the pegged down position, he was happily able to finish a match winning TP (having hit in and taken off the joined up oppo balls some 4 hours earlier as the rain started) to make it 2-1 to Ireland. Simon then delivered the telling match point, defeating Gabrielle Higgins in the 3rd game to secure a 3-2 overall match victory for the Irish.

The Irish team then rapidly moved on to their next test versus Wales, attempting to claw back some of the time lost to the inclement weather by playing into the evening with the sun beginning to emerge from behind the clouds and the promise of paella supper in the clubhouse as a reward. Andy was obviously most eager for his dinner, dispatching the manager +26tp, +26tp in short order to gain Ireland’s first point of the match. Simon looked to following suit, only for his striker’s ball to dive away at the last moment on a rover peel to allow his opponent Rick Harding back into Game 2 and to ultimately level the match at a game apiece. Sandy shook off the morning’s disappointment to quickly take game 1 against Home Internationals veteran Chris Williams before retiring for the evening. Danny began a battle with Ian Burridge and looked in reasonable shape to finish a TP with a delayed double until his escape ball drifted directly behind penult. He managed to recover sufficiently to get the rover peel done but suffered the same fate as Simon, running the strikers ball out of position and having to retire from corner 2. Ian set a leave with Danny’s peg ball in the 4 yards south of penult, which Danny shot at aggressive with his rover ball from corner 2, hitting and finishing the game and retiring for supper. Jane and her opponent Dayal were still duking it out in game 1 of their tie as the light began to fade, when it was decided that pegging down for the next day would be a more humane course of action.

As previously mentioned, the club had arranged an excellent paella to be catered on site and the Irish left that evening with well-fed and in a good position to finish off the test against Wale the following morning.

Day 2:
The sun shone in earnest on Sunday morning and with no threat of rain everything was set for an exciting end to Ireland’s match with Wales and the concluding test versus Scotland that would likely decide the outcome of the tournament. The Scots had earlier beaten Wales 3-1 with one match unfinished and had brought a team with strong depth compared to some previous years. Ireland began the day with Sandy finishing off Chris Williams +26 to bring the match to a 2-0 scoreline, allowing some breathing room for Danny and Simon who duly finished off their matches to win the test 4-0 with Dayal and Jane’s match being halted with Dayal a game up.

The match versus Scotland commenced immediately, with three of the Irish players under some time pressure to make it back to Bristol airport for their flight having lost time to the weather on the Saturday. Things didn’t start as positively for the Irish, with Andy succumbing to a -26tp, -26tp result against the Scottish No. 1 Duncan Reeve and showing that things can be cruel at the top level. 1-nil to the Scots. Things went from bad to worse, with Sandy dropping game 1 to the rapidly improving Lorna Dewer who was looking imperious. Simon began to turn the tide, benefiting from his opponent Andrew Symons giving him an opening in game 1 which he duly seized. Danny then followed suit, hitting in to regain the innings in game 1 of his match with Scottish No. 2 Alastair Burn Murdoch which was rapidly slipping away. Jane meanwhile was playing against David Warhurst down on Lawn 1 and not having things all her own way.
At this point the manager began to frantically work through the permutations of the possible outcomes in the Ireland vs Scotland match, with England vs Wales very evenly poised at that point. An England win would put them squarely in the frame having beaten Scotland 3-1 with Gabrielle Higgins and Andrew Symons match being paused at 1-1. A win for Scotland over Ireland also put them in contention as there would then be three teams on 2 wins each, and a matches-won countback would begin, followed by a games-won tally if that proved indecisive.
By far the simplest solution it was agreed was for Ireland to beat Scotland. Danny grabbed the first Irish point, finishing game 2 with a neat TP whilst playing around a failed SXP attempt in the third game of the Mulliner-Burridge match. Ian failed to capitalise on his opponent’s misfortune, with Stephen eventually winning and putting England in the driving seat in that test. However, Chris Williams pulled off an unexpected come-from-behind victory over Aston Wade and Rick Harding defeated Gabrielle Higgins to make the final result 3-2 to England: with Mulliner’s win proving more decisive than expected, how would that effect the standings come the end of the day?
Sandy eventually fell in game 2 to Lorna, leaving Scotland 2-1 up in the test. Simon almost immediately levelled the test in the same lawn, leaving Jane to battle it out with David on Lawn 1 to try and seal an Irish victory. Meanwhile, the manager, no doubt conscious of possible permutations, ordered Gabrielle and Andrew Symons unfinished match to be completed resulting in a rapid victory to the former and a scoreline of 4-1 to the English. This left England poised on 2 Tests won, 9 matches won, and 21 games won. Jane was looking down and out in game 2 but heroically wrestled the momentum back to take game 2 and force a deciding 3rd in the gloaming of Devonshire evening. The details of the match were relayed to Irish supporters at home and abroad via WhatsApp updates from Sandy, the only remaining Irish player after Andy, Danny and Simon had to hare off to make their flights home. As the third game started, herself and David traded opportunities with the match waiting for someone to seize the initiative. Ultimately it was David who managed to make the first breakthrough, bringing a ball to 4-back. Jane had a chance of a break shortly after, but a failed hoop 3 in the fading light allowed David to take control and eventually take the match and the Test for Scotland. With Jane’s previous match vs Dayal remaining the only pertinent unfinished tie in the event, Ireland had fallen cruelly short of the win with 2 Tests won, 9 matches won, and 20 games won, a single game short of England’s tally.

From an Irish perspective, there can be no regrets having played very well throughout and outperformed our world ranking positions consistently across the event. Everyone played their part in what was a very well-fought and enjoyable event. Special praise must go to Budleigh Salterton Croquet Club for their excellent hospitality and to the manager Angharrad Walters who calmly dealt with the significant rain delay getting the event back on schedule seamlessly. We look forward to welcoming this excellent series to Ireland again in the very near future!

Irish Team Photograph.

Danny Johnston.

CAI Silver Medal 2025 Report

robert — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 12:04:04 +0000

CAI Silver Medal 2025 Report robert Tue, 29/04/2025 - 13:04

The CAI Silver Medal selection eight competition was held in Carrickmines Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club on the weekend of April 26- 27th this year, with good weather and enthusiasm for the new season’s croquet.
The early games saw a couple of +26tp results for the highest ranking players, Simon Williams and Danny Johnston and some early interactive pegged out endings, with Fred Rogerson coming through against Alan Looney and Simon Jenkins succumbing to Russell Harris’ 3-ball ending on his first appearance in the tournament.

Rounds 2 and 3 saw Jenkins find his footing, beating Nathaniel Healy for his opening win, while Fiachra Carroll also overcame his early loss to pip Alan to the post to win +3 and shake off early-season rust. Danny and Simon Williams continued their winning form, entering Round 4 facing Simon Jenkins and Alan, respectively. Simon Jenkins looked to haul in Danny’s unbeaten start, only for an unfortunate fault at the start of turn 5 to let Danny back in from where he took the initiative. Simon Williams, too, ended the day unbeaten, dispatching Alan 26-0.
Most remarkably, and to the manager's delight, the event moved at lightning speed with no games going to time; an indication of the quality of the play despite double banking.
The start of day two saw Simon Williams and Danny, the two remaining unbeaten players, pitted against one another. With the dew still settled on a bright Lawn 1, Simon’s duffer tice hit from A-baulk ended up mid-way between the peg and hoop 6. Danny hit his own east boundary ball on turn 3, and the dew caught him out as he failed to get a rush on the duffer ball. He managed to cope, taking off to 1, making a 3-yard hoop and making a break from there. Simon missed the resultant 3-ducks leave, and Danny finished on turn 5 to remain unbeaten. Meanwhile, on lawn 2, Russell Harris beat Fred with his first-ever ranking triple peel, consigning Fred to a 4th loss of the weekend, having had a strong start.
Nathaniel and Simon Jenkins began to show some sharp play to creep up on the leaders, beating Fiachra and Alan, respectively. In Round 6, Nathaniel had the early play against the leader, Danny, hitting his own duffer tice and setting an Old Standard leave after a little colour confusion at the peg. It was a strong leave, and Danny failed to hit, but Nathaniel was unable to dig out a break and an error left Danny with an opening which he used to TPO his opponent, leaving him on 2 and box. Off the leave, Nathaniel ended jawsed in 2, and had a good chance in his subsequent turn, running 2 and hitting a 17-yard roquet on the oppo peg ball near hoop 3. He rolled off 3 and gained a rush to 4, but here a hill caught his hoop approach, and Danny was able to finish with a 3-ball break in the ensuing turns to remain unbeaten.
In the final round, Simon Williams was up against Simon Jenkins and needed a win to keep the pressure on Danny, who was up against Alan Looney on the next court. Unfortunately for him, Simon Jenkins did what he’d been threatening to do all weekend and completed a neat TP to bring them both to 5 wins out of 7 and leave Danny as the winner on the day and the recipient of a shiny new Silver Medal arranged by Sandy Greig after several years of absence.
Huge thanks to Carrickmines for hosting the event and providing an excellent atmosphere as always, and to the players for making it a great weekend’s croquet.

Full results on CroquetScores.com

CAI Silver Medal	DJ	NH	FC	SJ	SW	AL	FR	RH	Wins	Net Hoops
Danny Johnston	*	26tpo	26tp	26tp	26tp	26	26tp	26tp	7	150
Nathaniel Healy	17	*	26	8	0	26	26	13	3	-40
Fiachra Carroll	0	15	*	13	4	26	26	*	2	-52
Simon Jenkins	1	26	26	*	26tp	26	26	13	5	56
Simon Williams	0	26tp	26	9	*	26	26	26	5	52
Alan Looney	5	14	23	5	0	*	17	10	0	-108
Fred Rogerson	2	23	9	1	18	26	*	0	1	-94
Russell Harris	7	26	*	26	13	26	26tp	*	4	36

CAI Selections for International Events in 2025

robert — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 11:03:25 +0000

CAI Selections for International Events in 2025 robert Wed, 12/02/2025 - 11:03

The CAI Selection Committee are pleased to announce that they have selected the following players
for international events in 2025.

AC World Championships. Florida. 18-26 October.
Andrew Johnston, Sandy Greig and Russell Harris.

AC Home Internationals. Budleigh Salterton. 7/8 June.
Danny Johnston (Captain), Andrew Johnston, Simon Williams, Sandy Greig and Jane Morrison.

The Selection Committee have also invited the following players to play in the CAI Silver Medal at
Carrickmines on 26/27 April:
Danny Johnston, Simon Williams, Simon Jenkins, Fred Rogerson, Nathaniel Healy, Fiachra Carroll,
Russell Harris and Alan Looney.

WCF GC 2024 World Championships

robert — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 13:11:40 +0000

WCF GC 2024 World Championships robert Fri, 08/11/2024 - 13:11

This is a report by Patricia Mulcahy who was Ireland’s sole representative at the World GC Championships held in North Carolina in October.

80 players from 17 countries gathered at Chesapeake Bay Croquet Club (CBCC) for the opening ceremony on 17 October. I had the honour of carrying the Irish Flag and appeared in a bright green blazer in the group photograph. CBCC boasts 24 courts and games were single banked throughout. The courts were notably sandy and instead of the usual white painted lines, string defined the boundaries. With quad hoops set to 1/32nd of an inch, many hoop shots rebounded.

Play began at 8.30am every morning, with dew covering the lawns but by 10am when the sun was high, lawns played much faster. The organisation was thorough and efficient. A large number of volunteers had been recruited from as far away as Chicago. Referees were each allocated a block of four courts. Every lawn had a human scorekeeper to operate what looked like a digital scoreboard (actually a metal board with reversible black and green tiles which were fixed by elastic and could be flipped over as required) to indicate the score. Each player had a little name board printed with their name and country flag. There were 8 blocks of 10 and the schedule showed the sequence of games each of us would play, and the allocated lawns.

When a game was scheduled, two name boards were stuck on a central board, with the court number written in between. You took your board the designated court, and when the result of the coin toss was known, stuck it to the scoreboard on the blue/black or red/yellow side. Details of each match were printed on small squares of paper with the names of the players, start time, court number and boxes for writing results. At the end of a match, you returned your name board to the tent, the winner wrote down the score and both players signed the chit. During the game, you raised your hand to indicate that you had run a hoop. Each match was best of three and the later games were listed for 10.30am, 1.30pm and 3.30pm but obviously this did not always run to time when games lasted longer than assumed. But since you always knew which court you’d be going onto, you could track the progress of the preceding match. Some days you were listed for 8.30am, others for 10.30am starts. Sundown was around 6.15pm, and a few matches were pegged down.

I was in B Block and played Dom Aarvold (England), TeKiri King (New Zealand), Paul Neubecker (USA), Air Hamdy (Canada), Greg Fletcher (Australia), Mohamed Walid (Egypt) and Ahmed Elmandy (Egypt).

With block games due to finish on the Tuesday, the knock out draw and gala dinner were arranged at the nearby Piankatak Golf Club, generously funded by Beverley and Randy Cardo. Since the final games of the block were still in play as we sat down to eat, we were denied the drama of the draw.

Given the competition, my baseline was not to lose any game 7-0. I did manage to achieve that, and I did make my opponents work for their wins. I took one game from Paul Neubecker and might have won the match had I not inadvertently touched my ball when lining up to clear him from just in front of hoop 13. My next best effort was against block seed number one, Ahmed Elmandy. I found myself leading by 4-1. When we arrived at hoop 13, I had a jump shot, which hit the hoop. I lost the match but he said I’d given him the toughest 13 he’d played all week. I took that as a great compliment and I got a handshake from Tournament Director, Jeff Soo.

That left me in the Plate where I managed to beat Alexander Kirsten (Germany) 7-1. He then beat Kyle Malouf (USA) 7-3. My next was against Kyle, who beat me 7-1. Croquet is a funny game. I played a couple of Zed games (for players who had no further matches to play) and lost both. I turned my attention to watching the finals hoping to learn something from the best in the world.

Saturday 26 October was Finals Day. In the Plate final, James Galpin (England) led Patricio Jnr Garay (Spain) 6-1 in the final game. Patricio gamely battled back to 6-6, but James held on to win. The main final was a blockbuster between Blake Fields (USA), who had turned 18 only the week before, beating the fancied Robert Fletcher (Australia) 7-0 in their last game. You can see it on YouTube.

Chesapeake Bay is a beautiful part of the world. It’s worth looking at a map to understand just how much of the area is water. I stayed at Flowering Fields, an excellent B&B a mile off the highway between Kilmarnock and White Stone, about 30 minute drive from the club. This involved crossing the 1.9 mile Norris Bridge over the Rappahannock River, described by some as a white knuckle drive, with narrow lanes and unnerving overtaking permitted. Our hosts offered all sorts for breakfast, crab cakes a specialty, but I couldn’t face them at 7.30am. The house was old, and had been dismantled and removed back from the waterfront to avoid British canon fire in the war of 1812. I’d studied American history and enjoy reading the biographies of early American presidents. I'd just finished reading a dual biography of Jefferson and Madison, so many of the place names rang bells, as I drove around.

I stayed on for three days to do some sightseeing: day one was Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown, day two Arlington cemetery and a whistle stop tour of Washington, day three Jefferson’s estate at Monticello and lastly, Virginia’s state capital Richmond, with its Civil War Museum on the way to the airport.

What I am especially pleased to report is the number of players and volunteers who approached me to speak of the warm welcome they had enjoyed at Carrickmines and most of them mentioned Simon Williams with great affection. I had the time of my life and hope I added just a little to Ireland’s presence on the international croquet scene.

Irish Team: GC World Team Championships

robert — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 22:52:38 +0000

Irish Team: GC World Team Championships robert Wed, 06/11/2024 - 22:52

The CAI Selection Committee are pleased to announce that the following team has been selected to play in the GC World Team Championships taking place in Tasmania in February 2025.

Mark Stephens (Captain)
Alan Looney
Kieran Murphy
Evan Newell
Rob O’Donoghue
Simon Williams