WEDNESDAY June 25 saw an almost record amount of shooters descend on Rathfriland for some practice for the Northern Ireland International squad selection which was to be held on Saturday.
Over the night a total of 24 lines were shot, resulting in eleven shooters reaching the final.
Shoot-off one was made up of Jimmy Rountree, Geoff Dale, Enoch McCauley, George Cowden and Ronald Sloan. From this line it was McCauley and Sloan who fu
rther progressed, shooting two more 20/60 scores.
Shoot-off two consisted of R Peters, Alan Fowler and Aaron Smyth. This line saw Peters shoot his second 20/60 of the night.
The final batch of finalists saw Willie Hughes, Davy Smith and Neville Ferguson go at it with Neville reaching the final stages by shooting another 20/60.
Final results from the Thursday night shoot were as follows: 1st, Enoch McCauley; 2nd= Neville Ferguson and Ronald Sloan; 4th, R Peters; 5th= George Cowden, Davy Smith and Aaron Smyth.
Saturday 27th June saw one of the most important dates in the 100 bird DTL calendar take place at Rathfriland. Nerves were tense as this was the final selection day for the Northern Ireland International squads which saw shooters drawn from across the country to the 100 bird competition at Rathfriland.
The sudden influx of shooters saw an extremely busy day’s shooting, and after a slow start, a total of twenty two squads, and one hundred guns shot the four layouts.
A morning’s dull weather saw some disappointing scores come in but after a much brightened afternoon things began to improve as 19 100 scores graced the scoreboard. These included five 100/299 scores from local shooters such as Aaron and Dean Smyth who painstakingly nicked his final target, narrowly missing out on the illusive 100/300.
There were also some local shooters included in the prizes. Mourne shooter Sandy McConnell finished third in class B, shooting 97/288. Class winners were as follows;
High Gun – Nick McKeown 100/299 (After shoot-off); AA 1st, Aaron Smyth 100/299; A 1st= Dean Smyth, Harry Knox and Harold Stewart 100/299; B 1st, Brian Ferguson 99/294; C 1st, Alan Finlay 98/289.
Of course the main headline of the day was the selection of the Northern Ireland squad. There were numerous local shooters included in the teams.
Aaron Smyth was again successful, making the top five of the 25 man senior squad. Mourne shooter Ronald Sloan was also part of this squad, and was also one of various new caps in the team.
Other new caps included junior Mourne shooters Mark McConnell and David Henning. Banbridge’s Aaron McDowell also made the junior team. Dean Smyth was another of the local shooters who made the five man junior squad.
In other news, numerous local shooters were involved in the recent English Open competition which took place at the Southern Counties shooting ground in Wales.
Aaron Smyth hit the headlines, finishing runner-up in the main English Open competition, shooting an impressive 100/299. Aaron was unlucky to lose out in a hotly-contested shoot-off which was eventually won by England’s Paul Chapman.
Local junior shooters also impressed.
