Champions make heavy work of Fruithill

Division 1

Muldoons 1 2.5-2.5 Lindores 1

Lindores 1 took second place after drawing with Muldoons 1, who were without Gareth Annesley. Gabor Horvath and Richard Gould got wins for the visitors, while Nicholas Pilkiewicz and Stephen Wood won for the home side. Danny Mallaghan drew with Ross Harris on board 4.

Ballynafeigh 1 3-2 Fruithill

Bottom side Fruithill, despite being a player short, held the champions to a 3-2 win. John Monaghan defeated Paul Anderson, while Damien Lavery was victorious over Gerry Collins. The top two boards both saw Fruithill players pull off remarkable draws, as Sean Linton and Tony Parker shared the points with Soren Jensen and David Houston respectively despite being rated over 400 points lower on each board.

Belfast South 1 2.5-2.5 Ballynafeigh 2

Belfast South 1 secured fourth place with a draw against a four-man Ballynafeigh 2. John Bryars had a strong attack against Thomas Donaldson, but he blundered a piece at a crucial moment and never recovered. Ray Devenney then restored the home side's lead as he beat Damien Cunningham, and Bruce MacLean shared the point with Ian Woodfield. John O'Doherty beat Chris Armstrong to draw the match, cruising to victory after winning two pawns early on.

Final standings

Division 2

Ballynafeigh 3 3-2 Lindores 2

Ballynafeigh 3 took second place in Division 2 after beating Lindores 2. Tyrone Winter quickly defeated Andy Hughes to put the home side in front, before Iza Bujak equalised with victory over Norman Rainey. Eoin Carey and Stephen Rush then put the match out of reach with a win each, but Ian Kilpatrick defeated Robert Lavery in a game that demonstrated the power of a centralised king in the endgame.

Ballynafeigh 4 1-4 Belfast South 2

David Seaby and Barney McGahan achieved draws against opposition rated over 400 points higher, but it wasn't enough to prevent John Strawbridge Cup winners Belfast South 2 from finishing their season with victory as Robert McDonald, Bernard Jaffa and John McKenna all won.

QUB 1.5-3.5 Muldoons 2

On the night, QUB matched Muldoons 5 over the five boards, but afterwards it was discovered that their board 5, Samuel Ngieng, held a Malaysian rating of 1483. As a result, he was deemed to have been played out of order, and his win over Pat McKillen was reversed, giving victory to the visitors.

NI Civil Service 5-0 Ballynafeigh 5

NICS (Newman/D. Jackson/Ferguson/Hindley/Dornford-Smith) ended their season on a high as they whitewashed Ballynafeigh 5 (E. Doak/B. Jackson/Weir/J. Doak/Rainey).

Final standings