The shield expert Denis McDowell - who invariably shines in the Shield - made the top, along with his trusty partner Philip Dennison, a duo to be reckoned with, and who have the temperament to go far.

Likewise Errol Moorhead and Emmet Nixon, who also amassed 153 points to equal the feat of the McDowell-Dennison pairing, and they, too, will take some beating.

In third qualifying spot are new captain James Magee the consistent George Quinn who scored 151 points over the qualifying duration. And just one points adrift from the Captain and mate were three pairings - Jim Pedlow and Noel Chambers; Geoff Moorhead and Paul Swaffield; and Mark Bannerman and Adrian Maney.

Next in line were five pairings on 148 points - William Moore and Jim Doyle; Stefan McNeill and Garfield Sherman; Geoff Gray and Niall Scarlett; Ross Dutton and Jamie Stothers; and Alan Dunn and Mervyn McCrea.

Meanwhile, Stuart Cunningham and Brian Agnew won the final week of the ‘Ulster Carpet Mills’ sponsored competition. They had a best of competition score of 33 points and won on the last hole with four points from Stefan McNeill and Garfield Grimley who also scored 33 points. In third place was William Moore and Jim Doyle with 32 points.

The draw for the matchplay stages of the competition (to be played on or before March 20) is as follows:

First quarter - McDowell/Dennison v Fox/McCracken; Moorhead/Swaffield v Headley/Latimer; Gray/Scarlett v Harney/Love; Allenby/Lindsay v Thompson/Heslip; L&A Gough v Jameson/Steenson; Guy/Campbell v R&J Conn; Hunter/Cooke v Nicholson/Sherman; Doran/Best v Thompson/Stephens.

Second quarter - Magee/Quinn v Tilson/Forde; Moore/Doyle v Carson/McKillop; Dunn/McCrea v Holland/Moody; L&P Mehaffey v Donaghy/Haire; Thompson/Hamilton v McCann/Livingstone

N&C McGladdery v Fyffe/Paul; McCann/Fleming v Brown/McDowell; Davies/Paul v Brown/Brady

Third quarter - Pedlow/Chambers v Hazard/Baird; McNeill/Grimley v Greenberg/Fearon; Irwin/Calvert v Maguinness/McCarten; McKew/Gillis v Hyndes/Armstrong; Mallon/O’Connor v Sands/McGarry; Johnston/Lockhart v Laverty/Hewitt; Laverty/Calvert v Dickson/Duffy; Black/Hazard v Alexander/Dillon

Fourth quarter - Moorhead/Nixon v McCann/Campbell; Bannerman/Maney v Patterson/Devlin; Dutton/Stothers v Hewitt/Loney; Quinn/McGaw v Black/Clayton; Agnew/Cunningham v Lappin/Redpath; Megaw/Nummy v Cunningham/Buckley; Whitla/Topley v Turkington/McClenahan; Quinn/Headley v Thornbury/Goward.