Ballymena ladies impress at Provincial Towns Women's Bowling Association championships

Ballymena ladies had players in three of the finals and it turned out to be an excellent couple of days for the Braid ladies who returned home to Ballymena with the Pairs, Triples and Fours titles.

In the Pairs Final Jennifer Dowds and Donna McCloy took on P Curry and B O’Neill (Portstewart).

This turned out to be a close game and at the halfway stage of the contest the Braid ladies lead by 13 shots to 11.

Six ends later the margin was still just two shots, however the Ballymena pair won the next three ends to extend their advantage to six shots with only two ends left to play.

The Portstewart ladies picked up two shots on the penultimate end however the Ballymena duo matched this score on the final end to claim victory by 22 shots to 16.

In the final of the Triples Erin Smith, Jennifer Dowds and Sarah Jane Curran took on E McClements, M Elder and L Evans (Coleraine).

The Coleraine ladies made the better start and with 8 of the 18 ends completed they lead by 8 shots to 5.

The game changed over the next 5 ends when Curran’s trio outscored the Coleraine ladies by 14 shots to 1 to take control of the game. There was no way back for the Bannsiders and they eventually went down by 23 shots to 15.

In the Fours Final Erin Smith, Sarah Jane Curran, Barbara Cameron and Donna McCloy started well against M McIlmoyle, N Graham, N Marshall and D Baird (Limavady) and with 3 ends played they led by 5 shots to 2.

The Limavady ladies hit back and 5 ends later they got their noses in front with the score board reading 7-6. The lead did not last long and a count of 5 shots on the next end saw the Braid ladies re-establish their lead.

The remainder of the game was well contested but the Ballymena rink were not to be beaten and at the end of the game they were still in front with the final score 21-17.

* Ballymena B claimed maximum points when they entertained Cliftonville in last Thursday night in the latest round of games in the NIPGL Division 2.

* Ballymena C travelled to Larne last Saturday where they took on Belmont C in the semi-final of the Irish Junior Cup. The Braid men made an excellent start but Belmont responded and claimed the overall victory by the narrowest to margins and book their place in the final.

* Ballymena Midweek took on a strong Belmont side last Wednesday night. Both teams had 2 rink wins but the overall victory went to the visitors who picked up 2 shots on the final end of the game.

* Ballymena Vets suffered a 34-24 defeat to Carrickfergus Vets.