This year’s County Finals were held at Houghton Dairy Lane at the weekend, locally the area picked up five titles. The men’s blue riband singles title went to Seaham Town’s Mark Higgins, the 2022 winner ended Jarrow West End’s Ian Smith’s hopes 21-14. In the Women’s Pairs the Sunderland duo of Barbara Ledger and Jane Hore performed the great escape against Silksworth Puma’s Charlotte Williams and Ann Upsall. The Sunderland pair trailed 14-2 and 16-4 but rallied and a last end three forced an extra end which they went on to win.
The men’s Fours final saw the Silksworth Puma’s Jaxon McKenna, Neal Ridley, John Leeman and David Bolt beat the Blackhall Bandits John Mansfield 19-8. The Silksworth young gun Layton Sykes completed a Junior double, first in the pairs leading in for Darlington RA’s Alex Wood they combined to beat South Park’s Liam Brodie 27-16. Sykes then completed the double with a hard fought 21-19 win over Jarrow West End’s Adam Rogan in the Junior Singles.
It was tough weekend for The Puma’s Charlotte Williams after losing another two county finals, Darlington RA’s Sophie Wood got the better of the Pumas star in the Junior Pairs and the Junior Singles, the latter was a 21-12 loss.
In the men’s Pairs defending champions Silksworth’s Jaxon McKenna and David Bolt missed out losing 24-11 to Darlington RA’s Mark Ralphs and Andrew Kirtland. That successwas Kirtland’s thirty first County title which is an amazing record and exactly twenty five years ago the lad won his first Pairs title under the old Durham County banner.
There was heartache in the men’s Triples for Dairy Lane’s Lee Harrison, Jimmy McAdoo and Dale Oram, leading for the majority of the game they dropped a seventeenth end count of five to trail 16-14, despite near misses on the last end Dunston’s Tom Pope held on for a 16-15 win.
The Dairy Lane club suffered another loss this time in the women’s Fours final. Glynis Morgan, Evelyn Barkes, Florence Phythian and Norma Stephenson were beaten 18-14 by Darlington Woodland’s Tracey Fairless.
Usworth’s Brian Poulter hopes of repeating his 2010 Two Bowl Singles success were dashed as Darlington RA’s David Newman ran out a 16-11 winner.
All the men’s county winners have the chance of winning a Northern Counties title at Silloth this weekend.
Only Dairy Lane A can stop the Silksworth Pumas from retaining their Earl Cup title, the Pumas 5-1 win at Marine coupled with Barnes Park’s 6-0 home loss to Dairy Lane A has opened up a thirteen point lead with only three games to play. The Pumas can clinch the title on Monday as they face Dairy Lane A. Usworth’s hopes of avoiding the drop took a blow as they lost 6-0 at New Herrington, bottom of the table Seaham Town kept their slim hopes alive with a 5-1 win at Dairy Lane B.
Round fifteen in Division Two saw the top two go head to head, Pemberton’s 6-0 win over long time leaders North Biddick saw the top two swap positions. There were 5-1 wins for Whitburn, Washington and South Hylton, the other game saw Hylton Colliery beat Hetton 4½-1½.
With only two weeks left in the Swan Cup the title is up for grabs after the top two both lost. Leaders New Herrington saw an eight game unbeaten run come to an end losing 5-1 at home to relegation threatened Roker Marine. Houghton Dairy Lane failed to capitalize losing 5-1 at Silksworth. Those results opened the door for Barnes Park, a 4-2 win over Usworth moves them into second with just three points covering the top three. The leaders are at third placed Dairy Lane this week while the final game will see Barnes host Dairy Lane. Hetton Workmen’s notched a vital 6-0 win over Seaham Town to move out of the bottom two.
In Division Two leaders North Biddick won 5-1 at Thompson Park and are the brink of promotion, the top two clash this week with leaders North Biddick hosting Hylton Colliery, a Biddick win will seal promotion. Pemberton’s promotion hopes suffered a setback losing 4½-1½ at home to South Hylton who leap frog Pemberton.
In the Harold Howey top of the table clash Barnes Park made it ten wins out of ten with a 4-0 victory over Dairy Lane B, Barnes now only need two rink points from their final two games to seal another Howey title. There were wins for Hetton Workmen, Dairy Lane A, New Herrington B and Seaham Town A. The bottom two clash this week where a defeat for Marine B will seal a return to Division Two.
Top of Division Two has changed hands again, Pemberton A’s 4-0 win over Sunderland B has propelled them to the top, Usworth’s 4-0 win at Chester le Street lifts them into the other promotion place. Only three points cover the top four, Seaham Town B’s 4-0 win over Roker Park has lifted them off the foot of the table.
Storey Bowl leaders Seaham Town suffered a second loss of the season, 5-2 at Hetton Workmen, the latter will be rueing the three concessions they have had to hand out as they sit off the pace. New Herrington’s 6-1 win at Houghton Town moves them up to second but are 9½ points behind the leaders.
The 3-2-1 Knock Out Triples final takes place at Pemberton, Silksworth Pumas will be looking for a twelfth win while Roker Marine will be hoping its third time luck and notch a first.
Burkett Shield Semi Finals – I Armstrong (HDL) v D Sykes (SP), M Higgins (ST) v B Sanderson (BP) – August 1 at Pemberton.
David Morgan Mixed Pairs Semi Finals – G Williams (SP) v G Wallace JNR (NH), P King (NH) v C Watson (NH) – August 5 at Barnes Park
Silver Jacks Semi Finals – J Sneller (SP) v G Farquhar (SP), P Harding (HW) v K Oliver (Wh) – August 7 at Pemberton.