B&D League - Part 2, Week 4 round-up

Division 1

Fisherwick 3.5-1.5 Belfast South 1

The postponement of this week's scheduled Muldoons 1 vs Lindores fixture meant that Fisherwick had a clean shot at retaking the lead. This they achieved, but not in the most convincing of manners as Michael Waters, John Cairns and Norman McFarland were held to draws by Sam Flanagan, Bruce MacLean and George Jackson respectively - all of whom were rated over 250 points below their Fisherwick counterpart. Wins for Gavin Fong and John Bradley, however, sealed the bonus points for the champions.

Ballynafeigh 1 2.5-2.5 Ballynafeigh 2

The Ballynafeigh derby ended in a draw - a result Ballynafeigh 1 will be happier with, considering the relative strengths of the teams on the night. David Houston kicked things off for Ballynafeigh 1 with a win over Ulster champion Mike Redman. Thomas Donaldson may have had a poor Bunratty - 3/6 despite being second seed in the Major - but his win over Stephen Rush showed that he is right back to top form. To make matters worse for Ballynafeigh 2, Damien Cunningham was held to a shock draw by Mark Hewitt. In the end, it was Brendan Jamison and Robert Lavery to the rescue for Ballynafeigh 2 as they saw off Damien Lavery and Eoin Carey respectively.

Standings

Division 2

Fruithill 2.5-2.5 Ballynafeigh 4

Ballynafeigh 4's third through fifth boards were the same as those of the Ballynafeigh 3 team that memorably defeated Fruithill last week. Indeed, the board 4 contest between John Monaghan and Eoin Carey was a direct rematch from last week. This time it was Monaghan who claimed the point for his team, but this was a highly creditable performance from Ballynafeigh 4, including wins for Paul Devlin over Paul Logan and Bill Lavery, who has seemingly hit a rich vein of form, over Frank Carrothers, as well as a draw for Dennis Wilkinson against Ciaran Marron.

Ballynafeigh 3 0.5-4.5 Muldoons 2

After last week's heroics, it was back down to earth for Ballynafeigh 3. Paddy Maguire got thing started for the visitors by quickly winning Paul Charles' queen, and from then on, apart from Tanya Jones' draw with Stephen Downes, the home side rarely threatened.

Bangor 1-4 Belfast South 2

With NICS not in action this week, Bangor saw this as an opportunity to put further distance between them and their rivals, but Belfast South 2 had other ideas. Paul McGuigan's win over Neil Green meant that the home side would take something from this match, but on the lower boards it was BS2 all the way as their superior strength-in-depth decided matters.

Standings

* - not including game under adjudication