Irish Open 2016
Fitasc Irish Open 2016
When a group of lad’s get together over a few wet Saturday’s and pull a handful of traps into what is on a normal day a working dairy Farm, they can only hope for an outcome like the one we witnessed this weekend.
146 competitors, 12 pegs, two days and one FITASC Irish Open Cup up for grabs over a course that seemed to have something on offer for all levels of shooter that decided to visit Mill Hill over the last few days. The course was a mix of new & old system with the first two pegs of layout one set around the tower and in turn taking advantage of the height on offer, Squad one set off on time at 9.30am in glorious sun shine and this was a trend that would continue for the day. Peg three was a total revers of the first two with everything being under the shooter as they stood on the roof of the old ball trap house.
The layout next was the Cherry Tree corner which held a colourful mix of targets with a low battue to get things started and a mini thrown into the mix for good measure, this layout seemed to suit most competitors as there were a lot with +20 on the cards after it.
Layout 3 was in the Gallows area and again advantage was taken of the height on offer with the hidden tower in the wood and the rising field level to the left which was home to the clubs new super sporting Battue trap, a target that had a few asking questions of themselves after peg one and two.
The last layout was in the” Bull Field” where the lads made good use of their two boom lifts to give a good variety of targets and levels that could be offered. On the third peg of this layout was a low looping target under very little power but still managed to catch a good few out.
14 of the 26 squads of the weekend shot on Saturday and some very respectable scores were returned on over the day but it was Denis O'Sullivan that held the top spot with a 93 and being closely followed by Andrew McKeown on 92.
After a quick run around to top traps and empty a few bins they closed the door and headed home at 9pm with all set and ready to go for day two’s first squad. Sunday morning’s weather started off a little overcast but soon the May sunshine broke through and it was set to be every bit as good as Saturdays. Over the day the score board gathered a number of new names with totals in the 90’s but Dennis’s was holding tight in top spot…. That is until the card for squad 23 was handed over and the leader board had a new number on top, a superb 95 from Wexford’s Roland Morris, with only three squads left on the course everyone wondered if there was a 96 out there somewhere? but fortunately for Roland the best to return was a very respectable pair of 94’s from Michael Best and Cliffy Porter. When all competitors were finished and cards handed in there was one final piece if business before the prizes could be awarded and that was to hold a shoot off between Aiden Fogarty and Mark Doyle who were tied for second in class, so another 25 targets were set around the tower to find a winner but as form had shown these two were going to be hard to split and finished level after the three pegs, so a hoop was placed on the lane and sudden death was required, but as we know someone has to finish on top and this time it was Derry’s Mark Doyle who claimed the advantage.
Tony Ward was asked to make the presentations, but firstly the thanked everyone who supported the club and what was a very successful event and there was a great buzz around the ground, he also mentioned that it was the first ICPSA shoot that had been in Mill Hill for a number of years and it was great to see so many familiar faces around the ground again and looked forward to seeing the again in the future, he then presented the awards those who stayed for the prise giving and handed over the FITASC Irish Open Trophy to its 34th winner Roland Morris. Well done to all the prize winners a few of which were our own members, it’s great to see the level of shooting talent there is in this country.
Once again we would like to thank everyone who took part in the event as there is no event without your support, especially to the members and friends who took on the task of refereeing a layout this is hugely appreciated and helped massively with the smooth running of the event,
Kerry and Amy for putting together the lunch goodie boxes another big thanks they went down a treat with all.
Michael and Mark in the office for the two day’s,
Derek, Ultan, Maurice and Nigel for putting together the course each weekend and evenings over the last month and finally again we thank Sean and John McKenna and the McKenna family for the use of their ground.
See you on the 24th July for our next event (100 Sporting)
MH
www.millhill.ie
