Munster Leagues 2006-07 Round-Up Report

    The Munster Leagues Round Up matches were held at the Woodlands Hotel, Adare, on Sunday the 13th May. In theory at least, there were 3 remaining matches in Div 1, two in Div 2, and two in Div 3 to be played, a total of seven. However, in reality, only five matches were contested.

    Div 3:

    The lowest Munster League Division was hit by inactivity for most of the season. Adare had declared its withdrawal early on due to a lack of players. So the other teams had only to play 4 matches to complete their schedule. Up to the 5th May, a week before the round up match, only 4 out of 8 scheduled matches (not counting the round up matches) had been played, with Limerick ‘B’ having played none and Cork ‘C’, only completing one match against Cork ‘D’. However, Limerick ‘B’ managed to play a double header with Dungarvan ‘C’ followed by Dungarvan ‘B’ on Sunday 6th May, winning 5-0 against the DC team and drawing their match with the DB team. Unfortunately, Cork ‘C’ could not manage to play any more matches, as they found it difficult to arrange and travel to matches on a suitable date with a full team and their score was annulled by the arbiter. Dungarvan ‘B’ had already played their round up match with Cork ‘D’ earlier in the season with the CD team winning 3.5-1.5. Limerick ‘B’ rescheduled the match with Cork ‘D’ for round-up Sunday, with both teams on 7.5/10 points. Whichever team won would be promoted up to Div 2. Limerick ‘B’ expecting a hard fight, were surprised at the final score of 5-0 in their favour, helped of course by the fact that LB’s board 5, 10 year old Chris Young, got a walkover. However, Limerick ‘B’ top board, John Alfred, found it hard going against CD’s Michael Bradley, with their game being the last to finish in the round up. The final points table was:

    Points standings:

    Limerick B 12.5 / 15 Winners promoted to Div 2 next season
    Dungavran B 8 / 15
    Cork D 7.5 / 15
    Dungavran C 2 / 15
    Cork C 3.5 / 5 Did not complete matches / scores annulled

    Div 2:

    There was the round up clash between Ennis ‘B’ and Dungarvan ‘A’, and Club 64 and Kerry but the second match was a non-appearance for both teams, thus both scoring nul points (excuse my French). Milford had already played and won their round-up match with Charleville 3-2, so ensuring at least second in the final table with 30/50 points. Half a point ahead were leaders Ennis ‘B’ and it was only a formality for them to head the final table and achieve promotion to Div 1 next season, which they duly fulfilled by beating Dungarvan ‘A’ by a 3-2 margin and finishing on 33.5/50 points. Special mention goes to Michael O’Donnell, who scored 9/10 points for Ennis ‘B’ on Board 3. The final table looked like this:

    Points standings:

    Ennis B 33.5 / 50 Winners promoted to Div 1 next season
    Milford 30 / 50
    Club 64 26.5 / 45
    Kerry 23.5 / 45
    Dungavran A 20 / 50
    Charleville 14.5 / 50 Relegated to Div 3 next season

    Div 1:

    As opposed to the Div 3, the top Div was a hive of activity, with all the matches keenly contested. Douglas left the rest trailing in their wake all through the season, with their glut of top players available giving them 12 wins out of 13, and only 1 loss by 3.5-1.5 to Cork ‘A’. Even without their top boards of IM Alex Lopez and IM Chris Baker for the round up match with Ennis ‘A’, they had the formidable IM Simon Williams and captain Kevin O’Shea on the top 2 boards, with Bd 3 Tom Healy, Bd 4 Paddy McCarthy, and Bd 5 Dave Smith. Their opponents, Ennis ‘A’, had IM Gawain Jones (who recently scored his final GM norm) on Bd 1, IM Thomas Rendle on Bd 2, Rory Quinn on Bd 3, Lorcan O’Toole on Bd 4, and fast improving Nick Larter on Bd 5. Douglas had a massive 6.5 point lead going in to the round up, on 41.5/55 to Ennis ‘A’ lying second with 35/55 points. On Ennis Bd 1, Gawain Jones lost when he blundered his Queen in the middle game, but Ennis Bd 3 Rory Quinn salvaged Ennis’ pride by winning in the endgame. The other 3 games were drawn, although Ennis Bd 5 Nick Larter missed a forced win in 5 moves in his game against Dave Smith. As for the relegation battle, Limerick ‘A’ won their first match of the season against Cork ‘B’ 3-2, but it was not enough to save them from relegation to Div 2. The round-up match scores were:

    Round 14 (ROUND-UP):

    Cork A vs CCYMS 3.5 / 1.5
    Limerick A vs Cork B 3 - 2
    Ennis A vs Douglas 2.5 - 2.5
    Sarsfield - bye -
    And this is how the final table looked:

    Points Standings:

    1 Douglas 44 / 60 Group winners will compete in All-Ireland club championship
    2 Ennis A 37.5 / 60
    3 Cork A 33.5 / 60
    4 Sarsfield 28 / 60
    5 Cork B 27 / 60
    6 CCYMS 20.5 / 60
    7 Limerick A 19.5 / 60 Relegated to Div 2 next season
    And so concludes our Munster League Championship 2006-07 report.