Ports make progress in Irish Cup

It was the home side who made the early running going 16-10 ahead across the green after 5 ends, however Portglenone came close to levelling after 10 when they trailed by just 1 shot ,28-27.

The Gortgole Road side built their winning platform on ends 11-15 as they went 14 shots in front leading 42-56.The next 3 ends saw the visitors edge further in front at 51-70 but a final flourish by the city side left a final score of 63-76 and the prospect of a third round tie for Portglenone.

On rink 1 Patsy Boorman,Frank Jackson, Aaron Foster and Roy Hunter were always chasing the game against Bobby Johnston. Bobby lead 4-2 after 5 ends,6-5 after 10 and a 4,5 on ends 11 and 12 gave him a 15-5 advantage.

A 2,1,3,2,1,response by Roy's rink brought the score to 15-14 after 17 ends but a 1,2,1, for the loss of a single gave the home rink a 19-15 win.

Rink 2 saw a very good contest between Andrew Millar, Mark Pearson, Jim Gaul and Keith Padgett and Jim Kilpatrick's foursome.

A 3 on the 5th end put Keith 4-5 ahead and by 10 end his advantage was 4 shots, 7-11. With 15 ends played Keiths advantage was down to a single shot at 11-12 and the game remained in the balance with Keith holding out for a 17-19 victory.

It was the home rink skipped by Michael Dunlop against Adam Hunter, Kieran Adams, Peter Mc Cann and Eamon Mc Cann on rink 3 who controlled the first 10 ends of this match as they led 4-2 after 5 ends and 9-4 with 10 played, however an unanswered 2,3,3,1,1,5 sequence put Eamon firmly in the drivers seat with 16 played.The remaining 5 ends were fairly even weith the visitors claiming a 13-22 victory.

There was another good result for Portglenone on rink 4 as Jonathan Reid, Stephen Young, Geoff Padgett and Chris Jones played Bobby Walker.Again the home rink held early sway leading 6-4 after 8 ends but a 1,2,3,5,2,2 scoring spree put Chris 6-19 ahead and although the Musgrave men edged the closing ends the nett result was a 14-20 win for Chris.

Portglenone are at home to Ballymoney tonight (Tuesday) in a league fixture. Next round of the senior cup is scheduled for Saturday 5 June.