BPFA 'B' and Ports in promotion 'pole positions'

BPFA ‘B’ and Portglenone Community Centre have emerged as favourites to take the two tickets to the first division next season, after both recording five-point hauls.

Broughshane not only furthered their own cause but also had the added bonus of doing so at the expense of Services ‘A’, one of their promotion rivals.

It took until the closing stages of Terry McClintock and Noel Graham’s matches to see off Mark Shaw and Bill Kitson - both, coincidentally, by the same scoreline, 9-7.

But after the interval, Broughshane were able to put daylight between themselves and their opponents, thanks to comfortable wins for Jim Wasson and Joe Campbell, at the expense of Pauline Wilson and George Beattie.

The result wasn’t ideal preparation for Services ‘A’ as they embark upon the second leg of their League Cup semi-final against their ‘B’ team club-mates this week.

Portglenone, while never winning any rink by an earth-shattering margin, still had something to spare in a 14-shot win over Enkalon, at Antrim Rugby Club.

The closest the home side came to a point was when Chris Murray’s rink was edged out 9-8 by Kevin O’Kane.

Portglenone’s other points were secured by Jim Gaul, D McCann and Joe McErlean, who saw off Basil Johnston, Robin Kennedy and Brian Mackle respectively.

It now means there is an eight-point gap between Portglenone in second and third-placed Services ‘A’.

The only real challenge could yet come from Clough Rangers, a further point back but with two games in hand.

Their match against West Church ‘A’ last week was halted prematurely following news of the death of a relative of some of the Clough players and will be rescheduled for another date.

The other Division Two match saw Golf Seniors clamber further away from the foot of the table after they took four points from their trip to Maine.

The Randalstown side were in good shape at the break, as they led by six shots, thanks largely to the efforts of Brian Kerr’s rink.

They notched a ‘6’ on the second end en route to a high-scoring 17-10 win over John Nichols - a result which more than cancelled out George McCrea’s 8-7 win for the golfers over Patsy O’Neill.

But Donald Smyth’s 16-4 win tuned the match back in Seniors’ favour and a ‘2’ on the last end gave Campbell Wade a 10-8 win over Lawrence McQuillan to wrap up a fourth point for the Raceview side.