The 2022/23 season came to a close on May 25th,with the finals of the Irish Distillers competition at The Sedgemoor Inn.

The 1st semi final between Mikes Boys and Crown Fivehead saw the group 2 team with a 9 pin lead after the 9 pin but Mikes Boys led by 2 after the 8 pin,a 27 on the 1st hand of nomination saw the lead stretch to 9 and a 29 on the last hand proved too much for the Fivehead team and Mikes Boys won by 16.

The 2nd semi between Henley Gunners and Old Pounders saw Gunners never behind but also not running away with the game. Leading by 7 after the 9 pin and by 11 going into nomination and 2 hands of 25 saw Gunners win by 18 pins.

On to the final............... this proved to be one of the closest finishes possible. Gunners led by 15 after the 9 pin thanks to two 1st ball floppers (16 & 15) from Dave Peppard and they extended their lead to 19 after the 8 pin. A hand of 39 from Mikes Boys and a 20 from Gunners saw the scores level after 5. A 32 hand from the boys looked likely to be enough but with "that man" Dave Peppard needing 9 to tie and any counting spare to win. Dave had to hit the front with his 1st ball and did so leaving the landlord and back up. STILL needing 9 to tie he carried the difficult spare to level the game. With 1 ball to go, AND, needing to hit the front to win. Dave managed to knock down 3 pins to win the game by 3 pins.

This really was a case of "the game is not over until the last ball is thrown"

Congratulations Henley Gunners (especially Dave Peppard) on a fantastic finish to this popular competition.

Also I think we would all like to say "thank you" to Trevor Boon for reviving this competition.