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‘Original moonshiner’ honoured by Mullumbimby Ross Kendall
The Mullumbimby Moonshiners beat Casino on the weekend maintaining their undefeated run in reserve grade in 2017, and also honoured one of the club’s founders Darryl Quigley. Before the game a minute silence was held for Darryl, one of the ‘original Moonshiners,’ who passed away on May 13, according to club president Teale Pyne. A plaque from the Moonshiners was also presented to Darryl’s wife Julie and her family. ‘There was a lot of respect for Darryl, he helped a lot of people,’ Teale said. The Moonshiners got off to a great start in the match and were able to claim the first half easily, but Casino came back strongly and were able to draw ahead by 0ne point after scoring a series of unanswered tries.
The Moonshiners remembered founder Darryl Quigley with a win against Casino last weekend. Photo supplied
The Mullumbimby side was awarded a penalty kick with minutes to go and the successful conversion gave the side a thrilling 20–19 victory. The win keeps the Moonshiners on the top of the table and leaves them undefeated after six games in 2017. ‘Everything is going smoothly, we have had some tight games but have come away with the win,’ Teale said. The good form bodes well
and follows on from the side’s premiership win last year. ‘The side is largely unchanged from last year, but we have picked up a couple of new players,’ he said. Next week the Moonshiners take on the Byron Sandcrabs in the game known ‘the ashes’ that hasn’t been played for five years while the coastal side was without a reserves grade side. ‘Everyone is really looking forward to the game,’ he said.
News Extra Stone & Wood named champion brewery
Byron wins another FFA Cup round Dogwhistle
The Northern Hotel Byron Bay Rams came out firing in Saturday’s FFA Cup qualifying final at Lismore’s Southern Cross Football Centre. The in-form Byron squad met Coffs Coast Tigers on the synthetic turf in the battle for a place in the next round of the FFA Cup Championships. The Rams hit the Tigers hard from the opening whistle, with two dangerous runs on the Tigers’ goal and two corners within the first two minutes. Five minutes in and the Rams took their first point with a free kick from Thiago Priori finding the head of Gianluca Bongiovanni, whose perfect deflection left no chance for the Coffs keeper. Despite completely dominating the play, the rest of the opening session was a frustrating affair for the Rams, with countless attacking moves failing to find the net. The drought broke early in the second half when a hard tackle brought down Sam Shepherd in the Tigers’ box. Bongiovanni stepped up and scored the penalty to take a 2–0 lead. Some clumsy passing from the Byron boys turned attack into a scrambling defence
Midfielder maestro Thiago Priori fought a tough battle for control of the park. Photo Dogwhistle
shortly after. The Tigers took advantage of the lapse and gained glimmer of hope with a surprise goal. The Rams quickly regained control of the match and turned up the heat on the hapless Tigers. Midway through the second half, Sam Shepherd broke through the Coffs defence with a 40-metre run before crossing to Bongiovanni who smoothly slotted in his third. Jono Pierce came off the bench to lob a spectacular shot from near the halfway that cleared the keeper to make it 4–1. A corner from Pierce in the final moments of the match reached Simon
McCarthy on the back post, who headed the ball back across goal onto the boot of Bongiovanni, who tapped in his fourth and sealed an emphatic 5–1 victory for the Rams. The win takes the Rams through to the Newcastle round of finals over the June 10 long weekend and a chance to take on some heavy hitters from the National Premier League. In the meantime, the busy Byron squad heads to Lismore this Saturday to meet traditional rivals Richmond Rovers in the regular season comp. Reserves kick off at 1pm and the Prems at 3pm.
Sloppy defence ends Bangalow’s run
Independent northern rivers brewery Stone & Wood has been named Champion Large Australian Brewery for the second year in a row, as well as receiving several medals for their beers, at the Australian Independent Beer Awards. Head brewer Caolan Vaughn said that while they don’t brew for awards, it was great to receive acknowledgement for the team’s passion for their craft. ‘From production to sales, we are forever striving to do better. To achieve this two years in a row refuels the fire to keep on going.’ Gold was awarded to the Jasper Ale, Stone Beer and The Gatherer, with Stone & Wood receiving a further four silver awards and five bronze
awards for other beers. ‘It’s an incredible pat on the back to be awarded the three golds, as well as receiving recognition for our other beers and Pilot Batches brews, including the Murbah Swamp Beer that we released at our annual Open Day back in March’, Caolan said. The brewery recently received DA approval to increase production capacity at their Murwillumbah site, and will soon commence the work of upgrading their brewhouse and fermentation capacity, along with cellaring space. Managing director Ben Summons said the awards were, ‘an affirmation of the consistent quality across our
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beers’ as well as being ‘reassuring given the recent decision to press go on the brewery’s latest expansion’ that he believes will be sufficient to meet demand for the next 3–5 years. ‘A lot of planning went into the site’s further upgrade and the decision to commit the capital required. We see this as a long-term investment in our future and our local community. We’re proud to be in the position to contribute to the region’s economic growth and to support local employment.’ ‘These awards recognise our incredible team who continually strive to make quality beer that is simply good to drink’, he said.
The Bangalow Premier division means soccer side has bowed out of the FFA Cup after losing their fifth round clash with Coffs City United 3–0. The side, playing at the SCU grounds in Lismore after their home ground was closed due to the rain, were just too ‘slow out of the gate,’ according to coach Neil Fuller. The poor start saw the side
facing a 2–0 deficit after just five minutes. The poor start weighed on the side and a further defensive lapse in the twentieth minute put them three points behind. The second half involved a much better effort from the Bangalow side but despite many chances to trouble the scorer they just couldn’t find the final touch they needed. ‘We didn’t score in the
second half, but we should have, and we played well so we will be taking that out of the game,’ the coach said. The loss brought to the end the team’s run in the FFA Cup, Australia’s country-wide knock-out competition. The side is now free to concentrate on the regular Far North Coast competition where they will be busy catching up on the four games they have missed this year.
New archery event for Byron this weekend Byron Shire Archery Club is hosting the first annual South of the Border Matchplay Competition for young archers this Saturday at the Cavanbah Centre. The SOBS is a unique tournament held for the region’s youth archers, Club president Vinnie Bleakley said. ‘The format of the event is a 72-arrow ranking round followed by knockout matches. The event attracts archers of all levels from new beginners to national and state champions,’ he said. ‘The event is attracting a
lot of attention and is looking like being a great day. ‘Everyone is more than welcome to come down and watch the action from 9am, you will be able to witness some of the region’s best young archers competing head to head,’ he said. Entries close on Thursday night (May 25). The Club also needs ‘a small army of volunteers to help the event run smoothly, so if you are free to lend a hand in any form for any amount of time please let me know,’ Vinnie said.
Junior archers will be eyeing the target this Saturday. Photo Scott Brossman
The Byron Shire Echo May 24, 2017 45