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The 2004 BUSA Home
Internationals are being staged in the luxurious surroundings of the Terry
Griffiths Matchroom in Llanelli for the first time since 1999.
On that occasion Wales
clinched a nail biting victory over England on frame count back.
This time round the Republic of Ireland look to be the team to beat and
after the first rounds of matches they’d reinforced their status as
favourites with resounding wins over Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Republic of Ireland team, captain by Derek Stynes of Maynooth College,
boasts three Irish international players in its squad. Brendan O’Donoghue
is a former Irish senior champion and Brendan Byrne and Jonathan Grant are
former junior internationals. Daniel Bolton, Richard Quirke and Niall
Bulfin complete the squad.
O’Donoghue, with a run of 57 and Grant notched 3-0 wins against Wales,
while Byrne and Stynes won 2-1. Wales’ only winner was Malory Stanford
from Cardigan who beat Limerick’s Richard Quirke 2-1.
Northern Ireland, also boasting a strong team, with former junior
international Mark Lennon (right) in the line up, inflicted a 14-4
hammering on Scotland.
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There were 3-0 wins for Paul
McKay, the captain, and Andy Hutchinson, while the rest of the squad,
Darren Oldroyd, Jordan Millar, Gerard Catney (top left), John Currie, all
from Queen’s University Belfast, and Mark Lennon from Ulster, all won
2-1.But Northern Ireland then fell foul of their southern neighbours as
the Republic beat them 14-4.
The big three for the
Republic, O’Donoghue, Byrne and Grant all won 3-0. Stynes and Quirke won
2-1 and only Mark Lennon returned a 2-1 win for Northern Ireland against
Niall Bulfin of Tipperary.
Scotland’s hope were further dashed when they suffered their second defeat
of the day, going down 12-6 to England. The Scottish team, all from
Glasgow University, had arrived with high hopes, after Glasgow University
had won the Universities Championship earlier in the year.
A 3-0 win for Craig Turze from Newbury, set the English on their way.
Nottingham’s Sargon Isaac, Mark Jones from Shrewsbury, Londoner Harry
McCulloch, and Matt Tugby of Nottingham, all returned 2-1 wins. Only Andy
Booth (left) from Aberdeen, with a 2-1 win over Tim Miles of Worthing,
prevented a landslide. |
