The Stewartry County Finals kicked off on Friday evening with the triples final.  The Castle Douglas triple of David Green, John Crawford and Will Green led 4-3 at 5 ends against Kirkcudbright’s Tam Aitken, Steven Johnstone and George Brown.  Kirkcudbright fought back to lead 8-7 at 11 ends but counts of 3 and 2 put CD into the driving seat and they held on to win 13-9.

 

First up on Sunday morning were the pairs and senior fours finals.  In the pairs Scott and Alan Davies of Castle Douglas were looking to regain the title having won it in 2009 and 2010, and losing in the final in 2011. They were up against Stewart Tait and Bruce Richardson (Dalbeattie) and got off to a good start, leading 7-3 at 8 ends.  However the Dalbeattie pair went on a run and scored 13 shots over the next 7 ends and wrapped up the win with an end to spare.

 

The senior fours saw Tam Maxwell, Stewart Gilmour, Will and Allan Green from Castle Douglas take on Spalding’s Steve Davie, John Peacock, Arthur McFegan and Hamish Sinclair.  Again the Castle Douglas players took a strong lead, going in front 11-5 at 7 ends, however the Spalding team fought back with 4 singles and a score of 6 to lead 15-11.  Spalding extended the advantage to 5 in the last, and they held on for the win.

 

The two singles matches kicked off at 12.30, with an all Castle Douglas match in the gents singles between Alan Davies and Will Green.  Dalbeattie’s Jack Cobban met Ewan McMinn of Kirkcudbright in the junior singles.

 

Alan started strongly and his accurate drawing took him to an 11-2 lead after just 7 ends.  Will fought back to trail 11-6 and 14-10, but that was as close as he could get, with Alan scoring 5 shots on the next 3 ends to lead 19-10, and a couple of ends later Alan closed out the match 21-12.

 

In the junior’s Ewan took an early lead 7-2 and extended this to 13-4 before Jack fought back to bring the deficit down to 2 at 13-11.  However Ewan got back on track with 6 shots in 3 ends to lead 19-11 and he took the title 21-12 three ends later.

 

The last two finals to go on were the fours and mixed pais.  Kirkcudbright’s Tam Aitken, Tommy Docherty, Steven Johnstone and George Brown went ahead 6-3 after 6 ends against David, Gavin, Will and Allan Green of Castle Douglas.  The Castle Douglas team scored a 4 on the next end to go ahead by 1, and the two teams scored 3 each over the next 5 ends to see Castle Douglas ahead 10-9 with 5 to play.  A run of 1,1,3,1 put Kirkcudbright 5 up at the last end and they held on for victory.

 

June Dinnell and Colin Campbell of Kirkcudbright went up against holders Christine Tennant and Keith Shuttleworth of New Abbey in the mixed pairs, and there was never more than 2 shots in the match over the first half of the game.  The score was tied at 8 each after 9 ends, and it was the holders who took the next 3 ends to lead 13-8.  The pairs swapped 2s on the next two ends to leave New Abbey 5 up and 3 to play, and they held thier advantage to finish the match 17-12 winners.

 

Stewartry President Jim Maginess thanked all who had made the day successful - players, spectators, supperters and umpires.  In particular he thanked Ian Bendall and Golden Charter for the continued generous sponsorship of the County Finals, and Ian and Jim jointly presented the prizes to the winners and runners-up.

Singles - Alan Davies (Castle Douglas) 21 - 12 Will Green (Castle Douglas)

 

Pairs - Stewart Tait, Bruce Richardson (Dalbeattie) 16 - 7 Scott Davies, Alan Davies (Castle Douglas)

 

Triples - David Green, John Crawford, Will, Green (Castle Douglas) 13 - 9 Tam Aitken, Steven Johnston, George Brown (Kirkcudbright)

 

Fours - Tam Aitken, Tommy Docherty, Steven Johnstoe, George Brown (Kirkcudbright)  15 - 11 David Green, Gavin Green, Will Green, Allan Green (Castle Douglas)

 

Senior Fours - Steve Davie, John Peacock, Arthur McFegan, Hamish Sinclair 18 - 12 Tam Maxwell, Stewart Gilmour, Will Green, Allan Green

 

Junior Singles - Ewan McMinn (Kirkcudbright) 21 - 12 Jack Cobban (Dalbeattie)

 

Mixed Pairs - Christine Tennant, Keith Shuttleworth (New Abbey) 17 - 12 June Dinnell, Colin Campbell (Kirkcudbright)