Cahill bags his first Nugget
It was an even split with this year’s Junior Golden Nugget titles with Bargara’s Nick Cahill taking one for Queensland and the other going across the border with NSW’s Louise Cronan. (Pictured left: This year’s winner of the 2017 Junior Golden Nugget boy’s title Nick Cahill. Pic by Krist Thatcher, THBC.)
It was a standout performance from Bargara’s hot shot junior bowler Nick Cahill at the 2017 Junior Nugget (July, 22-23), Nick trumped the competition to walk away with his first junior nugget title and $1,000 in prize money.
It was only Cahill’s second appearance in the competition after his first foray into the 32 player invitational event in 2016 where he was unable to secure a spot in the final after losing his section to Belmont Services’ Jacob Nelson.
However, the talented 15-year-old bowler returned to claim some impressive scalps in an equally tough section at this year’s nugget which pitted him against fellow Queenslander Kane Nelson (Belmont Services), Corey Hedges (NSW) and Victoria’s Lauchlin Davies.
Cahill produced a win in all three of his sectional games finish the section with six points and a margin of 58 shots to put him ahead of second place Hedges who held two wins (four points) and a shot margin of -12.
This enabled Cahill to line himself up a date in the quarter-final with section A’s runner-up Sean Gillis (Jindalee), the young gun from Bargara beat Gillis 21-9 to take himself through to the semi-final against South Tweed’s Jayden Cottell, who had beaten Corey Hedges in his quarter-final 21-10.
The semi-finals turned out to be a mostly Queensland affair with Enoggera’s Indi Conlan facing off against Victoria’s Jarryd Davies in a close 21-19 game in the Victorian’s favour, while Cahill and Cottell squared up to finish their game 21-14 to Cahill.
The Grand Final was the last hurdle for Cahill who was composed throughout the game against Davies, despite the pair playing blow for blow for the majority of the match, when the dust had settled four shots was all that separated the two.
In the end, it was Cahill’s calm demeanour on the green which allowed him to secure the title with a 25-21 win over Davies who claimed second place, while third and fourth place went to Jayden Cottell and Indi Conlan respectively after Cottell beat Conlan 21-15 in the minor final.
In the girls’ competition three of the five Queenslanders competitng made it through to the quarter-finals, it was unfortunately only Jessie Cottell who would survive through to the semi’s after she defeated Kawana’s Rebecca Rixon 21-10, while Tweed’s Jess Srisamrauybai fell victim to the eventual victor Louise Cronan 21-14.
Broadbeach’s Cottell returned for her third crack at the Nugget after finishing in third place in her last two Nuggets (2015 & 2016), it must have seemed like déjà vu for Cottell after losing the semi 21-15 to Kira Bourke (VIC) and beating Natasha Russell 21-12 to claim third place yet again.
The main prize in the girls’ competition would be claimed by New South Wales U18 representative Cronan who converted her second place finish in last year’s nugget to a title win in 2017 after she defeated Victoria’s Kira Bourke 21-7 in the final.
This year’s field featured 13 Queenslanders including five girls at this year’s nugget, Jade Clarke (Tweed Heads), Jessica Srisamruaybai (Tweed Heads), Rebecca Rixon (Kawana), Jessie Cottell (Enoggera), Brittanny Wiley (Binjour).
The Queensland boys in the Junior Nugget 2017 field were Max North (South Tweed), Jayden Cottell (South Tweed), Sean Gillis (Jindalee), Nick Cahill (Bargara), Kane Nelson (Belmont Services), Jake Rynne (Nth Toowoomba), Indi Conlan (Enoggera), Shane White (Helensvale).
To view the full draw and results from the 2017 Junior Golden Nugget click on the link below:
http://thbc.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/2017-Junior-Golden-Nugget-Power-Point.pdf
