The team selected to represent Ireland at the Home Internationals, to be played at  Surbiton on 14/15 June is:-

Ed Cunningham (C)
Andrew Johnston
Simon Williams
Patsy Fitzgerald
Gerard Healy.

Best of luck to them.

Scottish Croquet Association v Croquet Association of Ireland
10-11 May 2008
Meadows West, Edinburgh

SCA: Bruce Rannie, David Appleton, Martin Stephenson,
James Hopgood, Campbell Morrison (10 May only),
Fergus McInnes (11 May only)

CAI: Evan Newell, Jane Shorten, Nathaniel Healy,
Danny Johnston, Ben Harris

Match score: SCA 16, CAI 9.

Cunningham and Williams lead the field after day one of the Irish Masters in Herbert Park.

A great days weather helped get the Division One of the Irish masters Championship off to a flying start. Simon Williams and Ed Cunningham are undefeated after two rounds beating Patsy Fitzgerald and Andrew Johnston respectively in close matches. The losers both had clear cut chances to win the match. Both Williams and Cunningham won 2-0 in the afternoon to lead the table. Conor Broderick came back well against Michael O’Shaughnessy to win 2-0 in the morning session.

A revised format combined this years Silver and Bronze Medals held in Carrickmines under sunny skies. 9 players pitched into one block all-play-all, followed by a best-of-three final match between the top two players. Firm hoops challenged any sloppy play but on the other hand the lawns were quite easy-paced.

A familiar looking CAI Juniors team travelled to Nottingham with high hopes of overturning the CA team that won the inaugural competition the year before. This year was a mix of both golf croquet and handicap, the latter representing a great opportunity for us against some of the CA players with low handicaps.

The Irish Youths team battled well before losing out to England 39-22. The match was a mix of both Golf Croquet and Association Croquet creating a good test of all round Croquet skill. Congratulations to the team for a great effort.

Two members of the Council have indicated that they will not stand for re-election at the next AGM, leaving only five. Our Constitution states that there shall be eight members and that a quorum for a meeting shall be five, so that the absence of one member destroys the authority of the meeting.
Besides this formal point, there is a great deal of work to be done in regulating and planning for the development of croquet in Ireland..
Of the present members, four are A class players, whose personal focus is on competitive and international play.

The draw for the Irish Master's Championship has been announced and can be seen on the Master's Page. The results table on that page will be updated shortly after each round. A PDF showing the full rules, dates and the draw can be downloaded from that page also.

Carrickmines 12-13 April
20 (singles)games

tony and james lemoignan beat simon williams and evan newell +26tp(tony)
richard griffiths & gavin carter beat ed cunningham & nathaniel healy +1 otp(ed)

tony lemoignan beat ed cunningham +25 -26tp +26tp
simon williams beat richard griffiths +6 +11
nathaniel healy beat gavin carter -2tp +21 +11ot
james lemoignan beat michael o''shaughnessy +22 +24

tony lemoignan beat simon williams -17tp +26tp +12tpo
ed cunningham beat richard griffiths -20 +5 +24
gavin carter beat michael o'shaughnessy +17 +26
gerard healy beat james lemoignan +4 +12tp

O

With the change to summer time the new season has now got under way.

Club nights on Thursday evenings at Carrickmines have started.

Newcastle CC is now back up and running on Thursday evenings until dark. Some of the younger players have been getting in some practise. Newcastle extends a warm welcome to visitors to come and play. Harry's and Nathaniel's lawns should be in good playable shape from this week.