Seniors stunned by opening day defeat

BALLYMENA Bowling Club got their competitive season under way this week, with a stunning upset for the Old Ballymoney Road club's senior side at the hands of Civil Service.

SENIORS

Ballymena 62, NICS 63: Last year Ballymena Seniors lost only one game during their league campaign and it cost them the league title so it was vital that they got their season off to a good start.

Unfortunately the Braid men did not get the result that they desired, claiming only 2 points as they lost the overall score by a single shot.

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Steven Shields, Graham Wilson, Andrew Morrison and Nigel Robinson shared single shots over the first four ends against the NICS rink skipped by J J Leonard, with Robinson in particular playing a couple of excellent bowls to keep the scores level.

The Ballymena men then settled down in to a good line and length, winning the next six ends to open up a 13-2 lead after 10 ends. The Braid four continued to dominate the game and in the end they ran out convincing winners by 28 shots to 7.

There was a very close game on rink 2 where Steven Falls, JR Nicholl, Jonathan Millar and Steven Coleman were drawn against F Murdock.

The lead changed hands on several occasions, however the decisive period of the game came between ends 14-20 which saw the Ballymena rink come from a shot down to lead by 6 shots with only one end to go. The Belfast men scored a single on the last end, but it was not enough to stop Coleman's men from recording a hard fought 21-16 victory.

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David Duncan, Mark Torrington, Jimmy Hodges and Sammy Allen were not having the best of days against D Hunter.

It was the NICS rink who won the first 4 ends to open up a 6-0 lead. A score of 2 shots on the next end saw Allen's men finally get on the scoreboard, however it was the NICS rink who continued to have the upper hand, winning 12 of the first 15 ends to open up a 14 shot lead.

To their credit the Ballymena men didn't give up and they outscored their opponents by 7 shots to 3 over the remaining ends to leave the final score reading 21-11 in favour of the visiting rink.

David Torrington, Andrew Bonnar, Andrew Duncan and Jim Baker made an encouraging start on Rink 3 opening up a 6 shot lead against A Montgomery after only 3 ends.

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The Ballymena charge was then halted as the visitors hit back winning the next 6 ends to take a 15-6 lead. Scores of 1 and 2 saw the Ballymena men stop the rot, but it was the NICS rink who continued to keep up the pressure and going in to the final end they held a 13 shot lead.

More importantly this was the last rink off the green and at this stage Ballymena held an overall 3 shot lead. The final end did not build up well for the home rink and in a disappointing finish the Braid rink lost a count of 4 shots to lose their game by 29 shots to 12 as NICS claimed the overall match by the narrowest of margins 63-62.

Ballymena Seniors will have to put this defeat behind them and regroup next week, when they travel to PSNI in their second league match of the 2010 campaign.

JUNIORS

Ballymena 113, Forthriver 52: Ballymena Juniors, last year's NIPGL Junior Division 1 winners began this year's title bid by demolishing Forthriver.

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Alistair Coleman, Joe McKeown, Ivan Lynn and John Coulter made a great start against S Mullen. The visitors scored heavily during the first period of the game and after 12 ends they had opened up a 19 shot lead. The remainder of the game was more evenly matched with the Ballymena rink going on to record a 28-17 victory

Billy McCandless, Stephen Coleman, JJ Robinson and Roy Torrington were in total command of their game against T Upritchard right from the first end when they scored a count of 4 shots.

The Braid rink had doubled their lead by the seventh end and then on the next end they claimed a further 7 shots. The visitors continued to score heavily for the remainder of the game on their way to an emphatic 40-7 win.

The closest game of the day saw Alan McAuley, Leslie Barr, Danny McCullough and Jimmy Larkin take on the Forthriver rink skipped by W Brown.

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Larkin's men got off to an excellent start when they won the first 3 ends scoring 8 shots without reply. The Forthriver rink settled down over the next few ends and three consecutive counts of 3 shots saw the home rink edge ahead by 13 shots to 11 on the tenth end.

The home rink still were 3 shots ahead after 16 ends, however the Ballymena men finished strongly to win by 23 shots to 17.

Michael Wilson, John McFall, James Gaston and Andrew Armstrong were all square against D Smyth after 7 ends.

A single on the next end saw the Forthriver rink take the lead for the one and only time in the game as the Braid men drew level on the next end. The next 10 ends belonged to the Ballymena rink as the score went from 7-7 to 22-9 in favour of the visitors.

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Two singles on the last two ends saw the home rink get in to double figures, but it could not take the gloss off an impressive Ballymena victory by 22 shots to 11.

This was an excellent start for Ballymena Juniors who will have a much sterner test this week when last year's runners-up Downpatrick are the visitors to the Old Ballymoney Road green.

PARK SENIORS

Ballymena 80, Shaftesbury 99: Ballymena Senior Park played their first match of the season when they travelled to Shaftesbury and came home with 1.5 points of the seven points on offer.

Andy Hill, Roy Hutchinson, Eddie Leckey and Tommy Hill had a tough time against F Thompson on rink 1.

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Scores of 4,5 and 6 over the first 7 ends saw the Shaftesbury rink take an early 17-5 lead, however 5 ends later the Braid rink had hit back and reduced the deficit to 3 shots.

Unfortunately for the visitors the Shaftesbury men dominated the remainder of the game outscoring the Ballymena men by 18 shots to 4 on their way to a comfortable 35-18 victory.

There was a very interesting game on rink 2 where Keith Burnett, Neal Garrett, George Beattie and Bill Crockard took on P Smyth.

After 4 ends the Ballymena rink lead by 6 shots to 3, however 7 ends later it was the Shaftesbury rink who had seized the initiative to lead by 18 shots to 7. Crockard's men then won 4 of the next 5 ends to trail by only 4 shots, but scores of 3 and 2 to the home rink over the next 2 ends saw them establish a 9 shot lead with only 3 ends remaining.

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The Ballymena men however did not give up and in an exciting finish they scored counts of 4,2 and 3 to leave the final score 24-24.

Gary Shaw, Dessie Shaw, Robert McCready and John Elliott made a good start against the Shaftesbury rink skipped by K McCeight and after 8 ends they had established a 5 shot lead.

One end later however the scores were level as the home rink scored a count of 5 shots. This turned out to be the turning point of the game as the Ballymena rink could only win two of the remaining ends, slipping to a 26-12 defeat.

On rink 5, Artie McAuley, Derek Greer, John Millar and Arnold Kenny lost the first 2 ends of their match against F Simpson, however 7 shots over the next 4 ends saw them establish a 4 shot lead.

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Seven ends later the Ballymena rink still held a 3 shot lead, but 8 shots over the next 3 ends saw the visitors take a commanding 11 shot lead. This was still the margin with only one end remaining and a single shot on the final end gave the Ballymena Senior Park team the first point of the season by 26 shots to 14.

PARK JUNIORS

Ballymena 84, Shaftesbury 78: Ballymena Junior Park got their 2010 campaign off to a wining start, when they defeated Shaftesbury on the 'upper' green on Saturday.

Roy Kernohan, Sammy Small, Leslie Jackson and Robert Mark did not make the best of starts against J McKinney.

The Ballymena men could only score 2 single shots over the first 10 ends as the visitors opened up a substantial 16-2 lead. Seven ends later the Braid four were back in the game having reduced the deficit to 8 shots, but conceding a count of 5 shots on the next end left the home rink 13 shots adrift and even though the Ballymena rink won the last 3 ends they could not undo the earlier damage as they slipped to a 24-10 defeat.

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T Glass, Edwin Donaghy, Alan McCombe and Don McKee were involved in a close game against T Patterson. A count of 5 shots on the seventh end gave the Ballymena rink a 4 shot lead and this was still the difference in the 2 rinks six ends later.

Unfortunately for the Braid men it was the visitors who dominated the next 7 ends, scoring 10 shots without reply and even though the home rink won the remaining ends, it was not enough to avoid defeat by 19 shots to 16.

Joe McKernan, Jordan Millar, John McAnally and Billy Scullion took on N Waterworth. The visitors took an early lead, but the Ballymena men hit back and after 10 ends the score was 13 shots to 7 in favour of the home rink.

Scores were level after 13 ends but the Ballymena rink scored counts of 3 and 4 to lead by 20 shots to 14 with only 5 ends left, but that was as good as it got for the Braid men as they lost all of the remaining ends to go down by 24 shots to 20.

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The final game of the day was on rink 4 where Sammy Rainey, John Houston, Liam Lyness and Davy Balmer were drawn against J Cluff. It was the visitors who made the better start and after 4 ends they held a 4 shot lead.

Four ends later however it was the Ballymena men who had turned the game in their favour as they lead by 12 shots to 6. There was only 5 shots in the game after 12 ends but the Ballymena men hit a purple patch as they collected 12 shots over the next 6 ends to lead by 17 shots on their way to an excellent 30 shots to 11 victory.

Not only did Balmer's men win their point, but the margin of victory also meant that they were also able to claim the extra 3 points on offer of the overall score.

NIPGL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Ballymena players will be defending three of the six titles on offer in the NIPGL Championships for 2010.

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NIPGL Singles: Nigel Robinson is the current NIPGL singles champion, however he has received a bye in to the second round which is due to be played on Friday 7th May 2010

NIPGL Pairs: Three Ballymena pairs are in the first round this Friday, April 30, with the following ties: At Ballymena - Roy Torrington/Mark Torrington v Robb/Barclay (Old Bleach) and Michael Wilson/Christopher Wilson v Montgomery/McKernan (Mossley). Away Andrew Duncan/David Duncan v Canavan/O'Neill (Cliftonville).

NIPGL Triples: Bryan Magrath, Graham Wilson and Andrew Bonnar are the current NIPGL Triples champions, however Bryan has opted not to play for Ballymena this year so Sammy Allen joins the other two members of last year's winning triple and they find themselves with a first round trip to Cliftonville.

Three other triples are also involved in first round ties on Tuesday, May 4: At Home –John Elliott/Tommy Hill/Andy Hill v W Patton (Old Bleach) and Jimmy Hodges/James Gaston/Steven Shields v G Eaton Jnr (Salisbury). Away – Michael Wilson/Arnold Kenny/Derek Greer v R Horner (Belmont) and Sammy Allen/Graham Wilson/Andrew Bonnar v P Donnelly (Cliftonville).

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NIPGL Fours – No Ballymena rinks are involved in the first round of this competition.

NIPGL Junior Singles (Under 25): Steven Shields is the current holder of both the NIPGL and IBA Under 25 Singles champion. Steven has received a bye in to the second round, however the following players have first round draws this Thursday: At Ballymena - Andrew Bonnar v A Sloan (Belmont) and James Gaston v D McKeating (Salisbury). Away – David Torrington v N Sands (Cliftonville), Michael Wilson v I Harrison (Old Bleach), David Duncan v C McCall (Ulster Transport).

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