THE Northern Ireland Polo Club tournament which fell foul to the July heatwave finally took place at Tyrella Beach, the 4-Goal Ulster Cup going to Rhone Hill while the newly christened -1 Goal Workpal Cup was won by its namesake team.

The scorched earth had recovered well in time for the two-day tournament with winners emerging on cumulative scoring. Rhone Hill’s Charles and Jemima Heffron, Thomas Richardson and Gonzalo Vargas Lopez were ahead by just 1.5 goals at the halfway point, the overnight rain delayed the start of the last four chukkas with Rhone Hill hanging on to a slim lead on four goals to 2.5 from Tyrone.

Tyrone’s bid for the tournament win was tenacious, at times slipping further behind by as much as 4.5 goals but always recovering enough to make a real game of it. In the end that 1.5-goal gap was too much for the team, and the win went to Rhone Hill on seven goals to 5.5 from Tyrone in eight chukkas. David Corbett presented the Cup to Rhone Hill.

Workpal won their round-robin tournament through 12 chukkas over two days on cumulative scoring, defeating KM Mallets and Tyrella to claim their newly sponsored trophy. The Most Valuable Player was Charles Heffron, presented with a KM Mallet, while Tyrone’s Minetta, ridden by James Donnelly for KM Mallets, earned the Best Playing Pony Award, sponsored by Polo Times.