Orphir v South Ronaldsay

South Ronaldsay travelled through to The Plout in Orphir last Friday night to play their first round match against Orphir. After the first series of doubles South Ronaldsay led 2-1 going into the singles. Derek Ward Snr won his singles for South Ronaldsay before Orphir’s Kevin Critchlaw, Neil Croy and Francis Ballantyne all won their respective games to put Orphir in the lead for the first time in the match at 4-3. The final two games of the half went South Ronaldsay’s way through Grant Harrold and Pete Mathieson to give their side a 5-4 lead at half time.

Into the second half and this time Orphir got the better of the doubles to level the score at 6-6 before their skipper Neil Croy beat Aaron Edwardson two straight followed by his team mate Adam Savage beating Grant Harrold 2-1 to move Orphir into an 8-6 lead. South Ronaldsay skipper Derek Ward Jnr lead his team’s fightback with a good 2-0 win over Francis Ballantyne followed by his Dad, Derek Snr, scoring the same result over Graham Ballantyne to make it 8-8 with just two games to go. South Ronaldsay’s Keith Bain and Orphir’s Kevin Critchlaw both won their respective matches to make the score 9-9. This meant for the second time in a week a play-off was needed and it was South Ronaldsay that just did enough to secure a home tie with Firth in the quarter final.
The only score of note was a 180 from Aaron Edwardson.

Eday v St.Ola

St.Ola started as strong favourites against Eday on Saturday afternoon but it was Eday that got off to a flyer when Lewis Garson and Bill Robertson defeated the experienced Inter County pairing of Wayne Monkman and Roy Foubister to put Eday 1-0 ahead. That was as good as it got though for the Eday side as a very experienced St.Ola team raced into an 8-1 lead at half time.

Several of St.Ola’s more experienced players stepped aside to give games to some of their fringe players including a debut for Jamie Robertson from the Likely Lads. Once again Bill Robertson assisted by Neil Twatt got another point on the board as they won their doubles but St.Ola won the other two doubles through George Grieve & Derek Manson and ray Butcher & Craig Taylor to make the score 10-8 and put St.Ola through to the quarter final.

Eday battled on though and Eday’s star player Bill Robertson got another point on the board for his team when he defeated George Grieve in the first singles and his doubles partner Neil Twatt beat Jamie Robertson to give Eday their final total of four games. St.Ola’s Craig Taylor, erek Manson, Ray Butcher and Aaron Moar wrapped up the scoring for St.Ola to make the final score 14-4. Ray Butcher scored a 180 for St.Ola.
St.Ola now face Shapinsay at home in the quarter final.

Sandwick v Holm

Saturday afternoon saw a repeat of the last two finals when Sandwick played host to Holm in the Smithfield Hotel in Dounby. Having lost their previous two meetings Holm were determined to change the result this time.

Holm got off to the better start and after the doubles were 2-1 ahead. Sandwick’s Ian Linklater and Juicy Johnston won the first two singles to give Sandwick the lead. Holm’s Leigh Shearer and Bruce Moar won their respective singles as did Sandwick’s Derry Sinclair and Stevie Linklater to give Sandwick a narrow 5-4 lead at half time.

Both teams kept the same six players, albeit in a different order, for the second half. Once again Robbie Stanger and Leigh Shearer won their doubles for Holm as did Sandwick pairing Paul Foubister and Juicy Johnston to make the score 6-5 to Sandwick. Sandwick captain Ian Linklater paired himself with brother Stevie as they took on Holm skipper Bruce Moar and Billy Ward and some good scoring in the final leg just edged it Holm’s way to level the score.

Onto the singles and Paul Foubister gave Sandwick the lead again with a very good 2-0 win over Robbie Stanger before Leigh Shearer levelled things once again for Holm with a 2-1 win over Derry Sinclair. Sandwick’s Craig Grieve beat Tone Stevenson 2-1 before Holm’s Bruce Moar levelled the overall score with a 2-1 over Stevie Linklater after Stevie missed doubles to win. This gave the Holm team a lift with the score now at 8-8 with two games to play however Juicy Johnston edged Sandwick closer to the win with a comfortable 2-0 win over Colin Ross. This left the pressure on Billy Ward as he played Ian Linklater knowing he had to win to keep his team in the competition and using all his experience he held on for a 2-1 win to put Holm into a play-off with Sandwick.

The 1001 play-off leg was close to start with but Holm edged ahead and maintained their lead down to the double and despite a peedie wobble near the end Robbie Stanger was left with double 6 to take the honours and send Holm into the quarter final v Sanday.

It was a really close match that could’ve gone either way but Holm just did enough to deserve their win. The Holm team were fully appreciative of their ‘neutral’ Birsay supporters on the night.

Sandwick’s Stevie Linklater had 2 x 180s, Robbie Stanger had 1 x 180, Bruce Moar had a 120 checkout and Leigh Shearer had a 115 checkout.

Birsay v Burray

Burray had an away trip in the Parish Cup for the first time as they set off for the Smithfield Hotel in Dounby to face Birsay last Sunday afternoon. Father and son pairing Wilfie and Ryan Tulloch got Burray off to a great start as they won the first doubles match but Birsay came back to lead 2-1 after the doubles. Onto the singles and Linda Ratter, Robert Gatt and Ryan Tulloch won their games for Burray while Gary Johnston, Stuart Kirkness and Shane Sinclair won their games for Birsay to make the half time score 5-4 for Birsay.

This time Burray had the better of the doubles with Wilfie and Ryan once again winning as did Burray captain Robert Gatt and his partner Linda Ratter to make the score 6-6. Burray went 8-7 ahead after the first three singles of the second half through Kevin Sinclair and Ryan Tulloch however Birsay dug deep and Robbie Norquoy, John Norquoy and Shane Sinclair all won their remaining games for Birsay to give the home team a 10-8 victory and an away tie against Stronsay.

John Norquoy had a 180 and a 104 checkout and Robert Gatt had a 115 checkout and Ryan Tulloch had a 111.