The Irish Bowls team will travel to Bromsgrove, England this weekend to take part in the 2016 British Isles series, and among them will be local bowlers Esther Forster and Ronnie Stubbs
Esther has been attracting the attention of the international selectors for a few seasons now, and finally she has been given the chance to pull on the Irish jersey this weekend as she takes part in the A series event.
Speaking to Esther during the week she described her call up as “a dream come true” and having won both the Ladies Pairs (alongside Margaret Nelson in 2012) and last year picking up the Ladies Singles title it seemed like only a matter of time before Esther would receive the recognition she deserved.
Ronnie Stubbs will be Western’s other representative this weekend and has been named as skip on the same rink.
Stubbs has previous International experience and this will be vital as he leads his rink against teams from England, Scotland and Wales.
Ronnie was one of Westerns most in form players in the 2015/2016 season and was more than worthy of his call up having skipped Western to Shield success and winning various local tournaments.
The two Western players will be joined by William Boggs (Mid Tyrone) and Terry Crawford (Armagh) in a strong looking rink.
Also in action will be Ronnie’s two brothers Raymond and Gordon who will be taking part in the Individual Triples and also, Raymond has been named at skip on the Full International team. We wish them all the best of luck.
Individual Championships: Singles C Dillon Pairs A Johnston & E Morgan Triples R Stubbs, G Stubbs & P Reid Rinks D Morrison, A Morrison, W Morrison & T Morrison. International Team Rink: 1 K Conroy, G McCabe, A Leckey, S Hand Rink 2 C McHugh, D McElroy, W Morrison, B Rankin Rink 3 R Stubbs, J Quinn, E Curran, A Corrigan Rink 4 A Paul, M Wilson, S McSorley, J Beattie
‘A’ Series: Individual Championships: ‘A’ Team Rink 1 M Sproule, J Richardson, L Douglas, M McCullough Rink 2 S Trainor, S McMahon, N Haire, C Middleton Rink 3 R. Stubbs, T Crawford, W Boggs, E Forster Rink 4 N Rutledge, M Og Trainor, F McDermott, A Rankin. Captain M Sproule