Irish Senior Cup dream over at first hurdle for Ballymena

Ballymena Seniors fell at the first hurdle in the Irish Senior Cup for 2014 when they were defeated by Ballywalter last Saturday.
Michael Wilson, David Duncan and Jimmy Hodges don't appear too animated as the watch a head develop during Saturday's Irish Senior Cup game with Ballywalter. INBT-22-163CSMichael Wilson, David Duncan and Jimmy Hodges don't appear too animated as the watch a head develop during Saturday's Irish Senior Cup game with Ballywalter. INBT-22-163CS
Michael Wilson, David Duncan and Jimmy Hodges don't appear too animated as the watch a head develop during Saturday's Irish Senior Cup game with Ballywalter. INBT-22-163CS

This was a very disappointing performance from the Ballymena men and the visitors were well worth their victory.

Michael Wilson, David Duncan, Jimmy Hodges and Andi Duncan appeared to have the edge against E Lowry and at the half way stage of the game the Braid men led by 4 shots. Eight ends later the advantage was down to a single shot and as the Ballymena men chased the game the visitors picked up counts of 5 and 3 to claim victory by 23 shots to 17.

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Steven Shields, Sammy Allen, Andrew Morrison and Andy Kyle were not finding conditions to their liking and they were on the back foot right from the start. Over the opening ends the Ballywalter rink opened up a 6 shot lead, however with 12 ends played the Ballymena men were back in the game with the scored level at 8-8. That was as good as it got for Kyle’s men as the visitors had much the better of the closing ends to record a 19-11 victory

Ballymena Bowling Club's Andy Duncan in action during the Irish Senior Cup game with Ballywalter. INBT-22-161CSBallymena Bowling Club's Andy Duncan in action during the Irish Senior Cup game with Ballywalter. INBT-22-161CS
Ballymena Bowling Club's Andy Duncan in action during the Irish Senior Cup game with Ballywalter. INBT-22-161CS

There was little to settle the Ballymena rink of James Gaston, Graham Wilson, Steven Falls and Nigel Robinson and the Ballywalter rink skipped by G Robson. The scores were level after 16 ends with the score board reading 14-14 however the visitors outscored the Braid men by 6 shots to 3 over the remaining ends to win by 20 shots to 17.

J R Nicholl, Mark Torrington, Alistair Coleman and Steven Coleman made a solid start against A Davidson when they picked up 6 shots over the first 2 ends. They were able to keep their noses in front until the 11th end when successive 2’s saw the visitors level the game at 11-11. The lead changed on several occasions over the next 9 ends but scores were still level at 18-18 going in to the final end and a single on the 21st end gave the Ballywalter men victory by 19 shots to 18.

NIPGL SENIOR CUP

Ballymena Seniors (92) Larne (56)

Ballymena Seniors progressed in to the quarter final of the NIPGL Senior Cup last Thursday night when they defeated Larne. The visitors had started the season well so the Braid team were all set for a tough time, however the Ballymena men had not read the script and with only 7 ends played the hosts were nearly 30 shots to the good and in reality the game was never in doubt from then on.

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Michael Wilson, David Duncan, Jimmy Hodges and Andi Duncan made steady progress against M Murphy and with 12 ends played they had opened up an 11 shot lead. Over the next few ends the visitors gradually reduced the Ballymena advantage however it was the Braid rink who came out on top by 21 shots to 14.

The closest game of the evening came on rink 2 where J R Nicholl, Mark Torrington, Alistair Coleman and Steven Coleman took on A McLean. With 5 ends played the scores were level at 4-4 however the visitors won 5 of the next 6 ends to open up a 5 shot lead. By the time the game reached the final end it was the Larne men who held a 3 shot advantage, however the Ballymena men levelled the game when they picked up 3 shots to leave the final score 14-14.

James Gaston, Graham Wilson, Steven Falls and Nigel Robinson started well against D McRandal and with 10 ends completed the Braid men were well worth their 8 shot lead. The Ballymena rink was playing some very good bowls and could have been much further ahead but the Larne skip was in excellent form and made sure the Braid rink did not get too far ahead. In fact the visitors did cut the deficit to a single shot however in the end it was Robinson’s men who won by 24 shots to 20.

If the game between Steven Shields, Sammy Allen, Andrew Morrison and Andy Kyle and the Larne rink skipped by P Robinson had have been a boxing match then the game would have been stopped well before the final end.

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The Ballymena men were in imperious form and with 10 ends played they lead by 14 shots to 2. Six ends later the margin had increased to 24 shots and by the time the game had reached it’s conclusion the Larne men were glad to get off the rink with the Ballymena men claiming an excellent victory by 33 shots to 8.

Ballymena Seniors travel to Ewarts on Tuesday night (tonight) in the next round of matches in the NIPGL Senior League Division 1.

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