B&D League - Part 2, Week 7 round-up

Division 1

Ballynafeigh 1 3.5-1.5 Muldoons 1

Muldoons 1's title hopes took a serious blow on Tuesday night away to Ballynafeigh 1. Steve Scannell, on board 2 for the hosts, made a long-overdue return to winning ways at the expense of Danny Mallaghan. On the lower boards, Matthew Chapman (1403) and Thomas Donaldson (1569) did well to draw against the1800-rated pair of Des Moreland and Stephen Wood respectively. With the hosts leading 2-1, Muldoons 1 needed to pull something out of the hat on the two remaining boards, but Gareth Annesley blundered in time pressure to hand the match to Ballynafeigh 1, at which point Damien Lavery and Nicholas Pilkiewicz promptly agreed a draw.

Ballnafeigh 2 3-2 Belfast South 1

Also visiting Ballynafeigh Community House on Tuesday night were Belfast South 1, who pulled off an improbable comeback to beat Ballynafeigh 2 3-2 in the opening week of the season - there would be no repeat this time, though. The first game to finish was between Ballynafeigh 2's Ulster Intermediate Champion Robert Lavery and Belfast South 1's John Bryars on board 4. Bryars had his opponent under intense pressure for most of the game, until Lavery, with few other options, decided to throw his h-pawn up the board and hope for a blunder - which was exactly what he got. 1-0 to the home team. Soon afterwards, Damien Cunningham agreed a draw with Bruce MacLean, as did Mike Redman and Ray Devenney on board 1. On board 5, Martin Kelly was never seriously troubled by Eoin Carey and levelled the match at 2-2. It was left to Soren Jensen and Sam Flanagan to decide the match on board 2; Flanagan lost on time, giving the win to Ballynafeigh 2.

Lagan 0.5-4.5 Fisherwick

Champions Fisherwick recorded an easy win at Lagan to move back into the lead. Only a creditable draw for Dominic Gallagher against Norman McFarland prevented Fisherwick from achieving a whitewash.

With seven games each left to play, Fisherwick are six points ahead of Lindores and 13 ahead of Muldoons 1.

Division 2

Bangor 4-1 Ballynafeigh 3

Bangor further extended their Division 2 lead with a thumping win over Ballynafeigh 3, which would have been a whitewash but for a couple of seriously impressive performances from the away team's top two boards - Bill Lavery (1070) and Paddy Magee (1106) drawing with Alan McConnell (1708) and Paul McLoughlin (1621) respectively.

Belfast South 2 3-2 Fruithill

Fruithill's (already rather shaky-looking) title challenge took a blow at the Bankers' Club as an under-strength team went down 3-2 to "Kelly's Heroes", although Gerry Collins and John Monaghan did well to defeat Neil Green and George Jackson.

NICS vs Ballynafeigh 4 was postponed, while the result under adjudication from the week 1 clash between Muldoons 2 and Belfast South 2 was ruled in Muldoons 2's favour, resulting in a 3-2 win for the Corporation Square side.

Bangor have a comfortable 14.5-point gap in the John Strawbridge Cup chase - barring a loss of form, NICS and Fruithill are realistically playing for second place.