Good morning from a sunny Carrickmines.
The courts dew is beginning to leave the courts and the mornings championship games are underway.

The only championship action so far has been Gerard Healy withdrawing due to back trouble and Jack Clingan scratching his subsequent match vs David Bent of the USA. Lets hope for some results today...

This mornings matches:
Lawn 1: Defending champion Andrew Johnston plays Evan Newell
Lawn 2: Visiting Kiwi Jarrod Coutts plays Nathaniel Healy
Lawn 3: Former winner SImon Williams plays Patsy Fitzgerald

Lawn 1: Andy and Evan getting underway. Evan plays U+K, starting with K off the East boudary. Andy puts R just out of CII. Evan shooting at CII ball... Misses.

Lawn 2: Cagey opening here followed by some missing of shortish roquets has resulted in Nathaniel getting the first attempt at a break. Through hoop 1 with partner in CII and the second oppo ball in CIII

Lawn 3: Supershot opening from Williams playing U and K. Patsy misses his trickle at U with R and Simon his with K on turn 3. Currently approaching hoop 3 on a three ball break.

Lawn1: Andy misses shot into CII giving Evan the first chance of a break. Currently lining up the cannon in CII, looks like he's trying to get a rush to the ball on the East boundary. Played it reasonably, but croquet stoke need to be good to get a rush. And it is, gains a rush to 3y north of hoop 1 which he plays to 7y north of hoop 1...

Lawn 2: Game 1 dripping with interaction here. Nathaniel stopped after hoop 1 and after at least 3 errors Jarrod has ended up in front of hoop 1. Runs it clean and misses his short forward rush... I'm looking away for a while.

Lawn 2: Nathaniel takes on 7y shot with hoop 2 ball, missing Jarrods hoop 2 ball. Jarrod hits resulting 6y on E boundary and should have an easy break with partner waiting at hoop 2. Fingers crossed...

Lawn 3: Simon fails to make it through hoop 4. Patsy shoots from A baulk (turn 4) missing to E boundary. Simon continues break with hoop 4 ball promptly.

Lawn 1: Not sure what happened to Evan, but Andy is now on the lawn. Looks to set up a break, leaves and oppo ball a few yards south of hoop 2 getting a rush on partner to the other oppo ball 2y north of CIV. End up 3y north and take off for rush to hoop 1 hills on to the ball roqueting it. Rolling off hoop 1 from CIV. Doesn't fancy it, running away to partner north of CIV.

Lawn 2: Jarrod has nice break and is approaching 1-back with both oppo balls in close proximity, presumably he'll try for and NSL/MSL with the hoop 2 ball providing polarity. Nope, keeping it simple and plugging the hoop 1 ball to the peg after 1-back for the spread.

Lawn 3: Simon around to 4-back, Leave is a diagonal spread, peg ball 8" off the peg and other oppo ball on WB. Patsy lifts peg ball to B- baulk and will shoot down the line... Misses to just north of CIV.

Lawn 1: Evan missed and Andy it attempting to pick up the break once again. Will be approaching 1 from 3y north on the West boundary after a poor take off which left an angles rush. Has a decent position in front of the hoop. Pressures on as he's left oppo very close to partner up at hoop 2. Makes is and has 7 yarder to continue break.

Lawn 1: Hits. Should be around off this.

Lawn 2: Jarrod ends with a sort of DSL/OSL hybrid. The peg ball is open to partner 10y away so Jarrod joined up in CIV with yardline rush on the south boundary. Nathaniel Misses shot at the peg ball. Good chance for Jarrod to dig out a triple here. Takes his rush towards 1, runs 1 to hampered position and cannot see reception ball 6y north of hoop 1. Misses shot at the ball at the peg in to CIII. Nathaniel shoots from the peg at parter level with hoop 4 on EB.. misses. Coutts walking around his 4-back ball. Decides to knock it off the EB ~level with the peg leaving all the balls on that boundary and Nathaniel with a rush with his hoop 1 ball.

Lawn 3: Simon has has 4-back peel most of the way through before 6 on delayed tp. Gets rush to CIII after 6. Pauses to bat away hover flies in irritated manner. Takes rush and sends out 2-back pionner going to peelee. Might get a go at a death roll going to 2-back.

Lawn1: Andy through 6 on break to 4-back. Will probably have an NSL, he rarely does anything else except the occasional foray into the spread world.

Lawn 2: Nathaniel making ground. through hoop 2 with a rush towards oppo in CIII. Cuts it into hoop 3 by accident. May use oppo ball on EB level with the peg to make hoop 4. Need for some precision in this so far imprecise game.

Lawn 3: Simon laid up for penult peel going to 4-back. Underhits croquet stroke and will have delicate rush on peelee to keep it in position. Plays it well, peels straight-ish leaving 2y rush to 4-back. Through 4-back.

Lawn 1: NSL coming from Andy. In good shape.

Lawn 2: Nathaniel rolls oppo out of CIII leaving partner behind. Hits second oppo ball in lawn, nearer 5 than 4 and tries to scoop off 4. Fails position retires to CIII leaving a rush to nowhere. Jarrod plays with hoop 2 ball (other ball for 4-back), shooting at Nathaniels hoop 4 ball in CIII. Misses.

Lawn 3: Simon rushing peelee in front of rover, deep ball in place and second reception ball a bit south of ideal position. Decent rush. Playing stop shot peel. Clean through leaving 1 foot hoop. Awkward. Runs it with control and roquets reception ball near the hoop.

Lawn 1: NSL seems succesful. Evan looking at the ball on hoop 4, calling a ref to have a sweep at the oppo balls. Dave Bent dutifully stomps out and marks everything possible. Evan now lining up a shot standing up, probably wise. Plays it, missing by a few inces on the likely side.

Lawn 2: Nathaniel on a break. Through 5 with all the balls.

Lawn 3: Simon finishes Game 1 +26tp in about 40 mins.

Recap!
Lawn 1: Evan 1&1, Andy 1&4-back with break for hoop 1 ball
Lawn 2: Nathaniel 2& break , Jarrod 2 & 4-back
Lawn 3: Simon Game up, game 2 about to commence

Lawn 2: Nathaniel comes through 1-back with a bit of pace. has 5y back at partner. Misses in to 4 y out of B-bauilk! Good chance for Jarrod with a ball at his hoop and a lift. Misses from B-baulk, not good.

Lawn 3: Patsy plays first putting a ball on the EB. Simon responds with a ball out of CII. Patsy misses the ball near CII. Simon misses on turn 4. The shooting this morning has been 95% terrible.

Lawn 3: Patsy lays up with partner on EB, leaving oppo near CII on the west boundary and north of hoop 1. Simon puts the ball near hoop 1 in to CIV.

Lawn 1: Andy makes hoop 2 and has rush on partner pointing at hoop 4, already has a pioneer down there so should be able to get it across to 3 to start the tp.

Lawn 2: Nathaniel misses Jarrod's ball near CII with partner on north boundary and other oppo ball in front of 2-back. Jarrod walks on to the lawn... Oh no he's played to wrong ball... Nightmare.

Lawn 3: Lots of interaction, balls in all sorts of strange places. Simon to play, he's still for 1&1 vs Patsy on 1&2. Lags to partner on EB leaving a rush towards 1. Patsy shoots at partner with hoop 1 ball from hoop 2 to 3. Misses in to CIII. Would expect Simon to go round from this.

Lawn 1: Andy gets 4-back peel done after 3, look in good control with peelee over at 6 and a good take off down to 5.

Lawn 2: Nathaniel missapproached 3 and ran away. Jarrod hit with backward ball and is now through 2 with all the balls available. Chance for standard tp but I think he'd ba happy with a ball to the peg.

Lawn 3: Simon in control, has all the balls out and apporaching hoop 2 on his first break of the second game. Game down Patsy needs to hit and take his next chance or he could be out before noon.

Lawn 1: Utterly standard from Andy. Peels penult to south of the peg after 6. Will probably have a gratuitous peel attempt before 2-back I suspect.

Lawn 2: Jarrod still on the lawn, had long 4-back peel attempt after 3 which bounced off. That'll be a ball to the stick for sure.

Lawn 3: Simon cruising. Up to 6, looks like he'll bring a ball to 4-back again. Himself and Andy looking to be the most likely contenders if their shooting improves a touch from what we've seen so far.

Lawn 1: Andy jawsed the peelee on the way to 2-back with decent split.

Lawn 2: Jarrod approaching 3-back on a break to leave Nathaniel on 3 and 2-back vs 4-back and peg.

Lawn 2: Simon pops oppo ball through hoop 2 to leave oppo for 1 and 3. Should give the leave some slight polarity. Approaching 3-back now but the position of the balls doesn't show an obvious leave set up.

Lawn 3 cont: Simon doesn't seem to know what he's up to either, lots of thinking going on. Big heavy take off coming to try for a reverse spread. Leaving the oppo hoop 1 ball near 4, ahead of the oppo hoop 3 ball's break if it hits... This is fast becoming a reverse OSL. Nope, recovered with an excellent croquet stroke leaving oppo wired across the peg in a fairly flat reverse spread.

Lawn 1: Andy Pegs out game 1, wins +26tp.

Lawn 2: Jarrod to the peg. Leaves flat reverse spread, peg ball (for hoop 3) is half open for the ball near 4. Fairly short shot for Nathaniel's 2-back ball if he wants it. Nope lifts peg ball to A baulk..... misses. Should be game 1 over really.

Lawn 3: Simon wasn't fully happy with the leave and had a wide join near CII. Patsy lifted the hoop 1 ball to B-Baulk and missed the shot at Simon's backward ball. Simon lays the forward ball and hits. Has a ball waiting at the peg to rush to 1. Should be the match over I imagine.

Lawn 2: Jarrod through 4-back happily.Plays nice croquet stroke and has tiddle of a rush to penult.

Conditions are fairly easy in Dublin this week so far. There was a deluge for the first couple of days which slowed the courts down, but they are starting to get interesting in the mid day sun when the hills come out and they dry out. Running at about 11 this morning but will speed up around midday and might reach 13 if we're lucky.

Lawn 2: Jarrod pegs out to game 1 win +15.

Lawn 2: Straight in to game 2. Jarrod plays first and puts a ball outside of CII. So young, so young, something so dour from someone so young... Nathaniel puts a ball off the EB level with CIV so that the court looks familiar on turn 2. Jarrod misses oppo from A baulk. Nathaniel hits Jarrod from A baulk. Will have work to do to construct a break.

Lawn 3: Simon being a bit cavalier here - he's croqueted his peelee south of 4 to rush back to peel before 5. He has left an escape ball up at 4-back to achieve this. Stops his reception ball over to hoop 5, nope so cavalier really then when you have a ball at your hoop!

Lawn 2: Nathaniel makes 1 and rushes partner into CIV. Plays and excellent croquet stroke loading 3 and holding for a rush to 2 on the yardline ball. Takes his rush and has a 2 y hoop 2... Clean through. Will he take on the 6 yard shot at Jarrod in CII for all the balls?
Yes, and he middles it. Has all the balls. Good play on lawn 2.

Lawn 3: Simon called on a ref for some reason. Didn't see why, might make been nervous of a the peelee coming back on his mallet as he tries the 4-back peel before 6. Peel failed, but 1-back pioneer is in good northern position for a go at the peel on the way. Peelee in front... Heavy take off played well, and the peel goes through with the strikers ball landing just short of the pioneer.

Quick note to say my battery is about to die so if anyone is reading this and it stops abruptly that's why.

Lawn 2: Nathaniel approaching 4 in full control. Play on Lawn 1 about to restart after some sort of coffee break.

Lawn 1: Andy plays first sending a ball off the EB level with 4. Evan replies with a WB tice level with hoop 5. Andy shoots at partner down the line from B baulk. Not a great shot and it hills badly for good measure. Andy is joined up 6y aprt on EB. Evan shooting up the line from A baulk. Looks away in disgust as his ball sails by...

Lawn 3: Simon jawsed the penult peel on the way to 4 back. Had to approach with a backward take off but copes. In position to rush the peelee through and croquet down to rover before making penult. Does so, peelee is ~2y directly north of rover.

Lawn 2: Nathaniel continues tidy break to 4-back. Has jittery roquet on partner at the peg before 2-back. Will lay up a spread I imagine.

Lawn 3: Simon has ended up ith 2 deep balls somehow. Good rush on peelee, should be able to stop it through and jump over it. No, plays it Irish with a roll!! Peelee sticks and strikers ball bounces off! Peelee is through and strikers ball is sitting beside rover impotently. Simon contemplates his options in quiet fury. Corner in CIV as there was no helpful scatters there. Mad stuff there.

Lawn 2: Nathaniel approached 3 back sending his reception ball well but ran it very deep. Has choice of 4 y roquet on oppo ball at the peg of 1 y roquet on partner. Tkaes 1 y roquet and will try to make spread retrospectively. Probably wise really.

Lawn 2: Andy got the break together with loads of big croquet strokes and is approaching 2 with all the balls in play. Good stuff so far.

Apologies that was Lawn 1.

Lawn 2: Nathaniel has made a good fist of this spread , has remaining continuation stroke. Chooses 4 y join over a lag for a rush. Not bad as the ball by hoop 2 is well in lawn so he should be able to get a good rush to 2 with one god roll. All academic as Jarrod hits from B Baulk.

Lawn 3: Patsy approaching 2 off Simon's error. Fails 2 badly. He's been a bit absent in this match really. Simon contemplates options. Hits his ball for rover off the south boundary at the end of a baulk, partner is still in CIV.

I'm going to try and source a charger/alternative laptop as my battery is going. Will continue soon I hope!

I have sourced a new laptop so we're back in business.

Simon beat Patsy eventualy. Patsy got a ball to 4 back but had a very poor NSL attempt. He scattered the peg ball to the north boundary leaving Simon a 6 yrd hit in with his rover ball. He duly hit, and then took off into hoop 6 requiring him to hit a lift length shot at Patsy's balls to finish. He duly hit once more and finished in a susequent turn. Williams wins +26tp, +15.

Back to the other courts.

Lawn 1: Evan hit Andy's NSL and made it to 4-back with his own NSL. Andy is currently shotting with his hoop 1 ball from B baulk... hits! Possible finish on.
Lawn 2: Nathaniel had a ball around to peg hitting 6th turn arfter Jarrod went around on turn 5. Jarrod missed and Nathaniel had an attempt at finishing, but broke down leaving a ball close to A-baulk. Jarrod is currently on a TP approaching hoop 6 with the peelee jawsed in 4-back.

Lawn 2: Jarrod attempts penult peel after 6, pulls off the outside of the near wire. It'll have to be later.

Lawn 1: Andy is taking his time making hoop 2. Has made it and has everything organised to begin his tp.