Articles
Mark Doyle Is this year’s
“McKenna Man”
The Sean McKenna Cup is one of the Mill Hill clubs most important shoots in our annual calendar and over the last few years the club has tried to step it up a gear in the hope that this event will stand out from the rest of the shoots we run each year and 2016 was to be no different. This year’s preparation started about 4 weeks ago with a walk to the Mooretown wood to create a plan and try and reclaim some of the shooting areas back from undergrowth of the spring and summer.
As in previous years there was to be 120 targets over 15 stands again but the lads were looking to add something extra to the day so it was decided to run a top 5 scores super final which was run over an additional 30 targets. Unfortunately the weather on the run up to the shoot wasn’t as kind as it could have been but never the less the team got it done on time and what lay ahead for the competitors seemed to be a good mix of targets to suit all skill levels.
This event was eagerly awaited by some as the first of the visitor’s started to arrive up the lane just after 8 for a 9am start, but after the lads finished their course walk to check the targets the first squads started at 8.45. The first half of the morning seemed to pass very quickly and by 11am there was 90 guns registered in and they continued to arrive. The First of the big numbers to be returned was that of Pat Walsh with a 112 X 120 and a lot of steady 90+ scores back in the clubhouse, the weather was to be favourable with only a few short showers over the day so all in all it was fine day for the event.
When the last squads returned a total of 189 competitors had registered scores, leaving six competitors that qualified for the final shoot off.
Joe O’Donnell on 111,Michael J McPhillips on 111, Colin Dunne on 111, Pat Walsh on 112, David Marshall on 113 and Mark Doyle also on 113. All the named except Michael J McPhillips were on the ground at the end of the day so it was to be 5 in for the 30 bird shoot off.
With an eager audience of about 60 who stayed to watch the Super Final the 5 in the hot spot viewed stand 1 which was an orange riser out in front creeping up the Louth Hill and a mid-height crosser from the side of the tower, neither of these caused much hassle for the 5 involved as only 11 were dropped from the 50 thrown on this stand.
SF Stand 2 was a sim pair of high right to left crossers, these were also received well as only 5 in total escaped here.
Heading into stand 3 only 4 targets’ separated the top 5 but SF Stand 3 was a different matter. Here we had a rocket clay dropping from the top of the tower and an on report midi looper. With Joe in first and taking 8 of the 10 offered this was the best score there was to be in this stand as Colin and Pat couldn’t find their consistency here and David and Mark both killing 6. When all was done Mark Doyle held top spot buy a single target over David Marshall’s 136 which awarded Mark the Sean McKenna Cup for the second year in a row.
This year’s SmcK Cup was another successful event and ran nearly pin perfect and we would like to thank everyone who attended and supported this shoot, the ground team (Nigel, Maurice, Derek, David, Bernard & Tony) who put in a huge amount of effort on the run up to the day but they feel it is all very worthwhile when they see the number that turn out to take part and hopefully enjoy their visit.
Thanks also goes to the staff in the club house with Mark, Glenn, Michael, in the office and Yvonne and Denice keeping every one fed from the kitchen and most importantly to Sean, John and the McKenna family for their good will and use of their outstanding land’s without which who knows where we would be today, I hope no one has been forgotten but again a huge thanks one and all.
So is that it for the Mill Hill year?
Not quite!
This year’s 100 Bird Winter Series is planned to start on the 25th September, with round 2 on the 30th October and the final held on 27th November. We will have more info on these events in the next few weeks.
Bye for now
MH.
