JJ has had a busy time recently onthe ice rinks of Scotland, but he has finally had time to give us his thoughts on all the excitement in Dumfries recently:

 “So a throwaway remark to (Team Coach) Martin Sutherland that I would be happy to train with and even play a few games, if required, with the Men’s team resulted in another visit to Dumfries Ice Bowl for the Men’s Irish Championship in early March. Only the second time ( I think) that we have had a men’s championship in our short history. Pre-tournament time was short and as always in the ICA our geographical spread meant that we did not have time to play together as a team before the championship, but our rivals hadn’t either. It was no real shock then that the games that unfolded thereafter were occasionally a bit ragged as both teams looked for consistency but in general terms the standard of play was good. We chopped and change our line-up and personnel over the weekend as had always been our plan. The old guard of James Russell, Arran Cameron and John Furey were joined by new recruit Eoin McCrossan and all of them played their part in winning the title. The games are all a bit hazy in my memory now. We won the first game managing just to defend our big half time lead to the end. We then lost games two and three after losing decisive ends in the second half of the games. A strategy rethink was required and we played much more cagey games on Sunday and narrowly squeaked home in both with our share of luck. I think our winning margin in the extra end of game five was about an inch, or so I am told. I threw the shot then left it to the guys and they did the rest. The big winner of Irish Championships is Irish Curling. Let’s hope next season will bring more challengers and a bigger tournament. So now we look forward to much practice before we head to Switzerland in October, we are all looking forward to it. And finally commiserations to Peter, Tony, Alan and especially new recruit Andrew Gilmore. Their is no consolation in losing by the smallest fractions but I am certain their resolve will be strengthened for the future.”