Bowlers ready for off this weekend

MIDWEEK PARK

Ballymena Midweek Park 40, Portstewart 70: Ballymena Midweek Park made the trip to Portstewart on a sunny evening last Wednesday; however they did not enjoy their visit to the seaside as they were well beaten on all four rinks.

The best performance of the evening was on Rink 1 where John Houston, Keith Burnett, Liam Lyness and Paul Davidson were in action against J Kerr.

There was never much in the first part of the game with the Ballymena men only one shot in arrears after 8 ends. Scores of 3 and 2 over the next two ends saw the visitors take a 4 shot lead, however they were only able to score on one of the remaining ends as the Portstewart men ran out winners by 19 shots to 13.

It was quite a different story on Rink 2 where Roy Kernohan, Artie McAuley, John Greer and Billy Scullion took on N Linton. The Ballymena rink was never really in the game. The opening two ends set the tone for the evening as Portstewart took a 5-0 lead.

The Braid men won the next 2 ends to reduce the deficit to 2 shots, however it was seven ends later before the visitors scored again and by that time the Portstewart rink had opened up a 13 shot lead. The final ends went to the Ballymena men with the final score reading 16–5 in favour of the home rink.

The match on Rink 3 was also a close affair with Eddie Leckey, Leslie Barr, George Stewart and Robert McCready in action against M Hemphill.

The visitors got off to an encouraging start when they scored a count of 4 shots on the first end, however three ends later the Ballymena rink trailed by 7 shots to 4. Scores were level at 8-8 after 8 ends and two ends later the Ballymena men lead by 2 shots.

This however was as good as it got for the Braid rink and they didn't trouble the scorers over the remaining ends on their way to a 16-11 defeat.

Rink 4 was a game of two halves as Robert Mark, Jackie Barr, Don McKee and Jim Cameron took on the Portstewart rink skipped by S Mitchell. The visitors could only manage a single shot in the first part of the game as the Portstewart men took control of the game, opening up a massive 17 shot lead.

To their credit the Ballymena men did not give up and it was the visitors who dominated the later part of the game, however they ran out of ends and eventually they had to concede defeat by 19 shots to 11.

This was a disappointing result for the midweek men and they will be looking for a better performance when they start their league campaign on Wednesday 5th May with a home match against Cliftonville.

JUNIORS

Ballymena Juniors 64, Coleraine 42: Coleraine were the visitors to the Old Ballymoney Road green last Friday where they took on the current NIPGL Junior champions.

Alan McAuley, Alan Stewart, Danny McCullough and Jimmy Larkin were Ballymena's big winners on the night when they took on the Coleraine rink skipped by M McColgan.

The early exchanges were even with scores level after 3 ends, but the Braid men went on a scoring spree over the next 6 ends when they scored 15 unanswered shots to open up a 17-2 lead. The Coleraine rink was only able to score on 3 of the regulation ends and in the end they ended up on the wrong side of a 24-9 score line.

Rink 2 was a low scoring match where Billy McCandless, Stephen Coleman, David Torrington and Roy Torrington took on L Hickey.

It was the visitors who made the better start opening up a 9-3 lead after 8 ends, however the Ballymena rink finally got in to their stride and four ends later they had their noses in front by 2 shots. The Braid men restricted their opponents to only two single shots over the remainder of the game eventually securing a 16-11 win.

The tightest game of the night was on Rink 3 where Michael Wilson, John Houston, Steven Shields and Andrew Armstrong took on J Elder. At 6 ends the Ballymena rink trailed by 2 shots, however with only 2 ends remaining the scores were tied at 10-10.

The penultimate end was a no score with both bowls equidistant from the jack and there was disappointment for the Braid rink on the final end as it was the visitors who scored a single shot to claim the narrowest of victories by 11 shots to 10.

John Coulter’s rink of Alistair Coleman, Joe McKeown and Ivan Lynn made a good start against J Logan and at the half way stage of their match they held a deserved 10-3 lead.

The Coleraine rink however hit back over the remaining ends outscoring their hosts by 8 shots to 4 but it was not enough to claim victory as the Ballymena men finished ahead by 14 shots to 11.

This was a good win for Ballymena Juniors and will have given the new rink combinations a chance to settle down before the league begins in earnest next week. The Juniors travel to Forthriver this Saturday in their first game in defence of their NIPGL Junior League title.

SENIORS

Ballymena Seniors 68, Portrush 52: Ballymena Seniors also made a trip to the sea side last week with a comfortable win at top Provincial Towns outfit Portrush.

On Rink 1 David Torrington, Andrew Bonnar, Jimmy Larkin and Andrew Duncan were in action against Kevin O’Neill.

The first 5 ends were evenly contested with the scores level at 3 shots each. Portrush then won the next four ends to establish a 7 shot lead and even though the Ballymena rink replied with a couple of singles the home rink continued to pull away and at the conclusion of the game the score board read 18-7 in favour of the Portrush rink.

David Duncan, James Gaston, Mark Torrington and Jimmy Hodges had an interesting game against Jackie Smyth.

It was the visitors who made the better start and after 5 ends they had established a 6-1 lead. The next 8 ends were dominated by the Portrush men as they outscored the visitors by 7 shots to open up a two shot lead, however the Braid rink finished strongly and won the last 5 ends, scoring 13 shots without reply on their way to a 21-10 victory.