Sport
2 August, 2024
State title for Shirley
DENNINGTON bowler Shirley Hogan won her biggest indoor bowls trophy last Sunday, taking out the Victorian Ladies Champion of Champions title in Melbourne.
Shirley qualified to compete in Melbourne after defeating Allansford’s Sally Madden 16-14 at the recent Champion of Champions indoor event in Warrnambool.
Frank Harney defeated George Draffen with the same scoreline of 16-14 in a repeat of the 2023 local Champion of Champions men’s final.
Frank and Shirley both travelled to Melbourne for Sunday’s Victorian finals, with Frank narrowly losing to eventual finalist Stuart Hedger of Ballarat.
Shirley won her first game 17-16, her semi-final 22-20 and defeated former Warrnambool player Anne Draffen in the final, 20-19, to take out her first state title.
Warrnambool pennant semi-finals were played on Monday night with some exciting finishes.
The Allansford Lions team of Rob McCrabb, Doug Byron, Alan MacCulloch and Russell Kerr booked a spot in the division one grand final defeating top side Allansford Cats, coming back from an early 1-10 scoreline to win 22-19.
James Ruddle’s Allansford Tigers will meet Jacinta Marney’s Cats in next week’s preliminary final, having defeated the Maureen Drennan skipped Wannon Park Dogs 14-10 in the first semi.
In division two, top side Allansford Leopards (Brad Murphy, Julie Shiels, Andrew Lackie and Colin Ruddle) was too strong for Liz Lenehan’s Allansford Cougars, winning 25-15 to progress to the grand final.
The Cougars will meet Gill Phillip’s Port Fairy in the preliminary final next week.
Port had a solid 22-10 win over Karl Keegan’s Wannon Park Hounds.
Division three had the crowd entranced with two very exciting conclusions.
The first semi-final between John Keane’s Koroit Choppers and Lorraine O’Keefe’s Cooramook Saints was tied after 18 ends, requiring an extra end.
After an umpire’s measure, the extra end was declared a tie, which resulted in a second tie break end.
The Koroit team eventually emerged victors by a single shot.
The second semi between Rylan Pech’s unbeaten Grangeburn looked headed for an upset win over Dennis Brook’s Wannon Park Barkers.
However, with the scores tied and down in the head, the Grangeburn skip knocked the kitty from the mat in a desperate attempt to make shot.
That resulted in a four shot penalty and a replayed end.
Grangeburn made five shots on the replay to steal the passage straight to the grand final.
