Bowls: Back-to-back defeats for District League champions

Michelin certainly wouldn’t disagree after a chastening start to the defence of their Ballymena & District League title.

Beaten at home by Old Bleach in their opening game, the Woodside Road outfit tasted defeat for the second league game in succession, when they lost by four shots to last season’s runners-up BUSC.

It was Stephen Shields’ rink which struck the decisive blow for Social Club with the Irish international - who has joined from Clough Rangers - leading his foursome to a seven shot win over Wesley Caldwell.

Elsewhere, there was little to choose between the sides with Nigel Robinson’s two-shot win over Graham Wilson rubber-stamping Social’s victory, while Michelin’s brace of points came via narrow wins for Grant Robinson and Matthew Boyd.

An unusual statistic of this result is that Michelin have already lost twice as many league matches as they did in last season’s entire campaign, but there’s no doubt they possess the quality to get their season back on track.

Old Bleach failed to build on that opening week win over Michelin when they went down to a surprise home defeat by BPFA ‘B’ on Friday night.

Nigel McNally and Neil Booth skipped winning rinks for the Randalstown side but bigger winning margins for Joe Campbell and Noel Graham’s rinks gave Broughshane the extra point for overall shots total by two shots.

And to cap a good Friday night’s work for the Broughshane club, their ‘A’ team took all five points from their visit to Ahoghill to face JTI.

It was somewhat harsh on the Lisnafillan side as three of BPFA’s rink wins were decided on the final end - Alan Cahoon, Richard Rodgers and Doran Turtle the winning skips - with William Morrison’s the only Broughshane rink to win with any degree of comfort.

Golf Club have enjoyed a bright opening to the season and they claimed four points at the expense of top-flight newcomers Services ‘A’.

There was only one shot between the sides at the break at Raceview with David McCullough’s rink winning for the home side and George Beattie’s foursome victorious for Services.

But the golfers got into full swing after the break, with Sean McGarry and Johnny Lynn leading their rinks to comfortable victories.

BUSC 36 (3), Michelin 32 (2): S Shields 13, W Caldwell 6; J Millar 8, G Robinson 11; N Robinson 9, G Wilson 7; A Duncan 6, M Boyd 8.

Golf Club 42 (4), Services ‘A’ 28 (1): D McCullough 9, B Kitson 6; J Jamieson 6, G Beattie 8; S McGarry 14, D McNeill 7; J Lynn 13, M Shaw 7.

Old Bleach 36 (2), BPFA ‘B’ 38 (3): A Scott 8, J Campbell 11; N McNally 8, A Chesney 7; N Booth 14, T McClintock 7; W Fullerton 6, N Graham 13.

JTI 24 (0), BPFA ‘A’ 43 (5): T Rock 8, A Cahoon 9; B Russell 6, R Rodgers 10; I Craig 4, W Morrison 17; B Lynn 6, D Turtle 7.

DIVISION TWO

Moneyglass are targeting a return to the top-flight after a two-year absence and they are the early pacesetters in Division Two, with their third win in three outings a 23-shot triumph over Golf Seniors.

Sean McNeilly, Kieran Teague, Henry Marron and Tommy Magee all skipped their ‘MG’ rinks to victories with plenty to spare.

Ballymena Indoor Bowling Club are another side with designs on reaching the top flight and they have carried on the form which saw them storm to the Division Three title on their return to league bowls last season.

They recorded their second successive victory in the second tier by seeing off Harryville Community Centre by 14 shots, taking three-and-a-half points in the process.

The Wakehurst side actually led at the interval with Harold Smyth’s impressive 11-shot win over Roy Torrington more than cancelling out Tommy Hill’s success for ‘BI’ against Wilson Burgess.

However, David Torrington’s rink dished out the rarely-seen ‘whitewash’ treatment to Bertie McBride in a 21-0 scoreline to put BIBC in a virtually unassailable position, although Harryville stuck to their task with Stewart Wilson’s foursome claiming a half-point in a 9-9 stalemate with Danny McCullough.

Portglenone Community Centre have made a good start to their bid to regain their Division One status with a second straight win, this time at Maine, where they took three-and-a-half points from a 21-shot win.

Two big wins from the riks skipper by Gerry McLarnon and Jim Gaul - each of whom restricted their opponents to just a single shot - did the spadework for the Ports, whose other half-point came when Joe McErlean shared six shots with Brian Kerr. Laurence McQuillan scored Maine’s other point.

Moneyglass 44 (5), Golf Seniors 21 (0): S McNeilly 12, I McMaster 7; K Teague 7, G McCrea 4; H Marron 13, I Lecky 6; T Magee 12, D Smyth 4.

BIBC 44 (3.5), Harryville CC 30 (1.5): T Hill 10, W Burgess 6; R Torrington 4, H Smyth 15; D Torrington 21, B McBride 0; D McCullough 9, S Wilson 9.

Maine 21 (1.5), Portglenone CC 42 (3.5): L McQuillan 13, C Reid 10; M O’Neill 1, G McLarnon 15; B Kerr 6, J McErlean 6; P Kerr 1, J Gaul 11.

DIVISION THREE

Like Portglenone in the division above, West Church are finding the going much more to their liking after dropping down a level at the end of last season.

They notched their second win with a 19-shot win over Eaton Park, aided largely by two sizeable winning margins from the rinks skipped by Jim Rainey and Tommy Wilson, which also ensured a third point for the home side for the overall shots total. Ruth Kelly and George Reid guided their rinks to victories for the rugby club outfit.

Antrim Bowling Club, with a season’s experience behind them, will fancy their chances of pushing for promotion and they took four points from a six-shot win at First Ballymena.

Antrim’s victory was more comfortable than the overall scoreline suggests, with wins from Darren McCullough, Robert McCullough and John Logan before Matt McPeake’s foursome did their best to overturn the shots deficit with a 13-shot second half win over Irene McCullough.

In the other game, Services ‘B’ were 26-shot winners over Round Tower thanks to rink wins from Sheila Smith, Greta Coulter and John O’Neill, with Michael Teer notching the Antrim side’s lone point.

Services ‘B’ 55 (4), Round Tower 29 (1): S Smith 15, G Campbell 5; G Coulter 23, H Totten 6; E Smyth 8, M Teer 10; J Smith 9, J O’Neill 8.

First Ballymena 36 (1), Antrim LBC 42 (4): L McQuitty 7, D McCullough 14; D McQuitty 7, R McCullough 11; R Woods 4, J Logan 12; M McPeake 18, I McCullough 5.

West Church 46 (3), Eaton Park 27 (2): J Rainey 19, B Hill 3; D Aicken 3, R Kelly 11; M Livingstone 4, G Reid 10; T Wilson 20, J Carruthers 3.