Full points for B team

LURGAN B put their Newry defeat behind them and won through with flying colours at home to fellow Division 5 side Moat Park and collected a handsome full seven points to shoot them up to fourth place in their league.

Three of the home rinks made a cautious start but with Sam Neill’s rink taking a compensating lead by 9-1 after five ends they led 17-16 after at that stage and went on to be continuously ahead throughout to win the match by an excellent score of 96–57.

On rink one for Lurgan B were Ronnie McCullough, Derek Henderson, Wilfie McCullough and Eamonn Quinn, skip against a determined Moat Park four skipped by A McGarry.

Quinn’s rink was down 6-4 after five ends but they brought the score to 6-6 by collecting a useful four shots on the next end. However the home rink faced stern opposition over the next nine ends to trail 17-11 but they turned the game in their favour with a brilliant and crucial six-shot win on the sixteenth to square the rink score at 17-17. A strong finish by Quinn’s rink by collecting eight shots over the remaining ends saw them and dry with 25-20 win.

Roy Poots, Bobby Livingstone, Gerry Stewart and Gordon Bell, skip, played on rink two against a Moat Park rink skipped by T Simpson. Bell’s rink had a lead of three shots after the sixth end but the next few ends were slightly in favour of the visitors which resulted in the rink score bring just 8-7 after the tenth, but the home rink held their nerve to go ahead 12-10 after the fifteenth end. Bell guided his rink well to win the next four ends and to take the lead to 17-10 after the eighteenth end but Simpson’s rink came back to strongly to win gain six shots off the last two ends. However it was not enough and Bell’s rink had a hard fought and deserved win by 19 shots to 14.

On the rink three seasoned bowler and club veteran, Bobby Jones skipped his rink well and was ably assisted by Vincent Devlin, Brian Brown and Dan Dempsey.

It took the home rink a few ends to settle being down 10-6 after nine end against the visiting rink skipped by B McCoy, but Jones’ rink picked a valuable four shot win on the next end to bring the score to 10-10 each and then to 11-11 after the twelfth end. Jones’ urged his men to take positive action. They responded well to win seven of the remaining nine ends and in doing so collecting an amazing rink winning fifteen shots, including a four and three shot wins on the thirteenth and fourteenth ends, to win the rink 25-16.

On rink four for Lurgan B were Neil Sloan, Jeffrey McCullough, Declan McCabrey and Sam Neill, skip. Neill’s rink performed extremely well and their twenty shot victory over T McConnell’s Moat Park team was a very valuable contribution to Lurgan B’s victory.

The home rink took a commanding lead 18-1 after the twelfth end which was greatly influenced by Neill getting his lead, Neil Sloan to bring the mat well up the rink to bamboozle the visitors who were obviously not used to that game situation. The home rink never lost their grip on the game, winning seventeen of the 21 ends and thus recording a 27-7 win.