Peter, Andrew, Alan, Conor and Bob

The winners of the Irish men’s championships have an exciting year ahead of them with the chance to represent Ireland at the European C Division in April 2016, destination unknown – officially.

If they gain promotion there, they will have the opportunity to play at Braehead, Glasgow, in November 2016 in the B league. How exciting is that?

Winning skip Peter Wilson said: “When I came over to curl I had never even met Bob or Conor before! But we got the chance, except Conor, to throw some stones at Stranraer on the Friday before heading to Dumfries. I had played with Andrew and Alan before so that time on the ice together gave us a chance to sort out what the calls would be for weight and things like that.
“I was looking forward to the championships although we were the underdogs as the other team had a lot more time together. But we just got stuck into it, losing the first game narrowly. We were never behind until the last stone was played. We won the second game comfortably and game three was closer and went to Johnjo. In the fourth game we lost a three and then got a four back just out of nothing which changed the game right round in our favour going on to win that game.
In the last game decider we stole for four of the five ends – one, one ,one ,one. I have to say Johnjo played some great shots to not lose more than one in that game. I had a miss and a half shot in the sixth which enabled Johnjo to draw for a four to even up the game. We all played a very good seventh end to get a two then held on in the last end. I was very pleased for the lads at the end.
The plan for me now is to try and play a lot more as my curling has benefited from playing regularly. I have to thank all my team, Andrew, Alan, Conor and Bob, for playing so well and it’s a nice feeling to be an Irish champion again.”