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.  

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 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

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.

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.  

The CAI Selection Committee are pleased to announce their selection for the following international events in 2025.

AC World Championships. Florida. 18-26 October.
AC Home Internationals. Budleigh Salterton. 7/8 June.

The Selection Committee have also invited 8 players to play in the CAI Silver Medal at
Carrickmines on 26/27 April:
Click the title above to see the full selection.

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

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

Three events were held: the Singles Championship, the Maggie Handicap Doubles, and the Plate event.

Singles Event: 24 players were sorted into six blocks, with winners and runners-up advancing to the quarter-finals. Notable matches included Huw Spiers' victory against Mark Stephens and Simon Williams' triumph in the final over Glenn Fauske to claim the Irish Singles title.
Maggie Handicap Doubles: Cami and Tate Russock, a visiting couple from Florida, won the Doubles event, making them the first foreign names on the trophy. They defeated the Irish duo of Huw Spiers and Marguerite Cremin Chung in the final.
Plate Event: Celine Reilly won the Plate final, beating Henry Bagwell on hoop 13.

As we approach the final. the last Seed remaining (Mohamed Nasr) has fallen and the Finalists this evening are (only) two Block 3rd seeds Fawzy Helmy and Ayman Nagah. But these bare statistics do not reveal the high standards of this Competition as match after match was played with so many different aspects in play and just sheer intensity. In a way we have the two most deserving contestants in the Final as Mohammed Nasr (who lost to Fawzy Helmy in the semis last night on hoop 13 final game but more of that later) had actually dropped his only other game (a block 19 pointer) to Ayman.