Wirral teams through to final of league competition (From Wirral Globe)

Wirral teams through to final of league competition

10:06am Monday 4th June 2012 in Sport By Bill Atkinson

THE final stages of the Bebington and District League's George O'Neill Pairs was played at Albany on Saturday afternoon and the two teams who got through to the final were Levers and Gladstone.

After the first game in the final, which resulted in a 15-00 win for the Gladstone pairing of James Whalley and Liam Ryan, it looked as though they were the odds on favourites to take the title but Levers fought back with two 15-02 wins of their own by the pairings of Chris and James Motley and Keith Wharton and Bob Seymour and in the end Levers ran out winners by a margin of 10 points.

Results: Semi-Finals: Levers (-5) beat Bebington Park (20); Gladstone (Scr) beat Neston (25).

Final: Levers (-5) beat Gladstone (Scr) by 10 shots.

At the same time on Saturday afternoon the final stages of the prestigious Heswall RBL Singles Tournament were being played at the green in Heswall. Though four local players had won through to the quarter finals it was two 'foreigners' who reached the final; Glynn Cookson from Winsford and Martin Gilpin from Kendall.

In the quarter finals Cookson beat Dave Jackson of Macclesfield (the winner of the recent New Brighton Classic) while Gilpin was too good on the day for Gladstone's John Finch (who won the Merseyside Merit last weekend).

In the semi finals Cookson had a comfortable win over Calum Wraitht from Shropshire while Gilpin got the better of Tixall's Mick Andrews.

The final was very close but Cookson clinched it by the closest of scores, 21-20.

Results: Quarter Finals: C. Wraitht (Shropshire) 21, N. Burridge (Gladstone) 11; G. Cookson (Winsford) 21, D. Jackson (Macclesfield) 13; M. Gilpin (Kendall) 21, J. Finch (Gladstone) 10; M. Andrews (Tixall) 21, J. Hignett Jnr (Kings 2000) 17. Semi Finals: Cookson 21, Wraitht 07; Gilpin 21, Andrews 16.

Final: Cookson 21, Gilpin 20.

This Saturday, June 9, the Wirral Veterans Handicap tournament is taking place at Royden Hall with play getting under way at 11am.

At this early stage in the season the top positions in all the local leagues are as follows.

In Division 1 of the Birkenhead and Wirral leagues West Kirby Victoria and Gladstone share the top spot while in the second division Kings 2000 lead the way from Heswall RBL 'B', though Kings have played 2 more games.

In division three ESWA are leading from Upton Victory Hall and Our Ladys have a narrow lead over Penketh Argyle in division four.

In the Afternoon League the first division is led by Heswall and Higher Tranmere and the second division by Levers and then West Kirby Victoria 'B'.

Division three is very close with Oxton Cons 'B' in first place followed by Cammell Laird, Thingwall 'B' and Bromborough Pool 'B'. Higher Tranmere 'C' lead the way in division four with the Bronze close behind, finally division five sees an early lead for Capenhurst 'C' followed by Poulton.

In the Bebington and District League the A division has joint leaders Levers and Gladstone, though Gladstone have played one more game.

Pensby have a lead over Heswall 'B' in the B division while Heswall 'C' lead the way in Division C over Bebington Park.

Queen's Royal are top of the first division in the Wallasey Association leagues but the team in second place, West Kirby Victoria, has played one fewer games. Moreton RBL lead the way in division two with Magazine in second spot while in division three Grange and Bronze lead the way.