Matchplay 2025;
Ciarán's Matchplay has completed the Round Robin series and is now in the Knockout phase. The pairs, selected by Ciarán, have proven to be very even with almost all games going to the third end in the qualifying stage.
The quarter-final pairings are being decided at present and all bets are off! The games are well attended and great entertainment is on offer in the late evening sunshine.
Pétanque Sligo visitors:
Eventually Pétanque Sligo managed to visit Bayside Boules on Sat May 3rd. They travelled by train and DART and were picked up by Bayside club members and transported to the pistes. They had the use of the Bayside school toilet which was a great bonus.
After the welcome sandwiches play started about 1:45 p.m. They had 12 players and BBC had 18 available. We split the pairs after each match on both sides with 6 BBC players sitting out for the first three rounds. For round four BBC played Triples versus their Doubles. The scoring system meant that every point won in every match counted to the accumulated final total for each team.
On this occasion BBC won with a cumulative score of 234 v 214. This reversed the result in Sligo in 2024 where they were the victors. It was a most enjoyable event played in beautiful weather. All players, while being competitive, joined in the convivial spirit of the occasion. Both Sligo and BBC presented each other token 'prizes' of local brews to be used as we deem fit. Below are a few photos from the occasion:
If you have Facebook you can view a Sligo perspective on the day....
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068213322609
All Strung Out:
In preparation for the upcoming IPA - Irish Mixed Doubles competition being hosted by BBC the Competition Secretary, Sylver, advised that we should string out the pistes inside the wooden boundaries. We decided to prepare the pistes before the Sligo event to give us an opportunity to play on the more restrictive environment. We had a great volunteer crew .... and the idea worked well.
and even Fingal Operations were on hand to mow the surroundings before the event. They will need to be reinstate before the 24th May but it shouldn't take too long on the day. All the prelimin ary work has been done.
Transition Year Boules:
Following the Easter break the TY Boules with the students from St. Fintan's resumed on Friday 2nd May.
28 students showed up...double the previous number on any day!. Thankfully Tom Buckley was on hand to man the busy station.
The reason for the large number being that the very successful joint school production of 'Guys and Dolls', in conjunction with Santa Sabina, had concluded and many wanted to try out this novel activity with the added bonus of a 'Prize' of a set of Boules for the Winner after the final 3 sessions.
They will play next Friday 9th from 12:15 to 13:30 and on Friday 16th from 10:00 to 11:30. Any of the TY Support Group please let me know if you are free to support.
Thanks to Ciarán for storing the boules for the sessions.
Monday Competition:
The Monday Competition continues to attract interest and regularly has 20+ players vying for the magic 13s. The weather has been kind as you can glean from the following photos:
The situation after Week 5.
Irish Mixed Doubles - Sat 24th May - in Alden Park [BBC]:
As the numbers hoping to play in the Irish Mixed Doubles seems to be increasing, according to Sylver, and since there has not been a qualifying competition nationally, we will probably use the 4 pistes in St. Anne's Park jointly with Alden Park for the early rounds of the competition. Both venues have onerous required documentation from Fingal Co Co and Dublin City Council before permission is granted.
I checked the condition of the St. Anne's Pistes and two are regularly used but two are not. Those two will need some maintenance to remove grass by the root to prevent regrowth. It would take 6 people less than two hours someday soon. I'll text for volunteers in the near future. We can have a coffee afterwards in Olive's Room at the Red Stables on the BBC!!.
The 'tidied up ' pistes will also be ready then for our annual Memorial Match with St. Anne's on Friday 1st August.
Sylver has allowed Ciarán to run the competition as normally he travels to these events and never plays himself. He asked for a BBC partner and Anne Doyle, an IPA member and BBC Committee member has agreed to partner him.
Closer to the 24th we will look for support in the setting up of the venues and logistics for the day.
The two teams entered from BBC following our small ranking tournament are:
1. Gerry Lloyd and Brigid Kelly
2. Tom Buckley and Terry Stanley
If they allow others to enter our next teams in ranking order would be:
3. Dirk Starz and Sharyon Dunphy
4. Larry Breheny and Maureen Deane
5. John O'Connor and Eileen Donnellan
[both Joan and Agnes who qualified were unable to play on the day]
The final entry date is May 10th. We'll know the status of our teams after that. Remember, only those paid the extra €20 IPA membership are permitted to enter these events.
A Rule concerning the Jack now that we may be using strings on occasion
Boundaries
Previously, the rules defining the landing strip were quite complex. Now there is only one simple rule.
The jack can be thrown or placed anywhere on the assigned lane, except within 50cm of an end (short side) of the lane.
There is no longer any requirement that a jack must be a minimum distance from a side line, even if it is a dead-ball line. As long as the jack is touching the ground of the assigned lane, it is valid. It can touch a side line, and even extend over it, and still be valid. (A thrown jack is not like a hit jack, which can be resting on ground outside the dead-ball line and still be good when you have adjacent pistes only separated by the one string..)
Calendar for the rest of 2025
Ciarán will post this on our Webpage and Facebook page to all players check in advance for competitions they might like to try. You may be able to open the document below.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BmHFb-AtOoyDzxH38qisBpJ274hEPlZQhVsL93aXG34/edit?gid=199469717#gid=199469717&range=A1:K39
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