Junior bowlers celebrate Irish Cup and league title wins on same day

They travelled to Belmont to take on Letterkenny in the final of the Irish Junior Cup and although the first part of the game was quite close, the Ballymena men turned up the heat over the closing ends to claim a comfortable victory by nearly 30 shots and get their name back on the trophy which they last won in 2009.

Meanwhile in the NIPGL Junior League Division 1, second placed Dunbarton travelled to Downpatrick in their penultimate game of the season.

The Dunbarton team could only claim a single point which meant that they could no longer catch the Braid men so Ballymena Juniors claimed the league title - without having to play a bowl - for a record breaking seventh consecutive year

IRISH JUNIOR CUP FINAL

Ballymena 91, Letterkenny 63: Stephen Coleman, Neal Garrett, Tommy Hill and Roy Torrington had a close game with J Quinn on rink 1 and over the first 12 ends only 15 shots were scored with the Braid men holding a slender 8-7 lead.

Both teams each scored 3 shots over the next 2 ends but the turning point in this game came on the 15th end when the Ballymena rink scored 4 shots to lead by 5.

Over the remaining ends the Ballymena men still held the upper hand and when the 21 ends had been completed the Braid rink had recorded a fine 19-14 win.

Allen Stewart, Jimmy Larkin, Andrew Morrison and Jimmy Hodges made a very slow start on rink 2 against L Jacob and after 3 ends they found themselves 7 shots in arrears and 5 ends later the deficit had increased to 9 shots with the men from Letterkenny leading by 13 shots to 4.

The Braid men did not let their heads drop and over the next 11 ends they clawed their way back in to the game and 3 shots on the 19th end saw the Ballymena men get on level terms for the first time since the opening end with the scores tied at 19-19.

A count of 4 shots on the next end gave them the lead for the first time and even though the opposition scored 3 shots on the final end it could not take away from a superb comeback by the Ballymena men who claimed victory by 23 shots to 22.

On rink 3 Leslie Barr, Michael Wilson, Ivan Lynn and John Coulter lost the first 2 ends against J Marshall when they conceded 2 singles, but if the Letterkenny rink thought that the Ballymena men were there for the taking they were far mistaken.

The Braid rink hit right back over the next 2 ends and with scores of 4 and 3 the Ballymena men announced that the men from across the border were in for a tough time.

With 12 ends played the Braid men lead by 8 shots but Coulter’s men moved up a couple of gears over the next 7 ends as they scored 16 shots without reply. Both rinks scored 2 shots over the final ends but the Braid men were well worth their 32-10 victory.

Danny McCullough, John McFall, George Graham and Jonathan Millar were involved in a relatively low scoring game against D O’Kane Jnr on rink 4.

Only 17 shots were scored over 14 ends and at this stage of the game the Ballymena men held a 11-6 lead. Three ends later the advantage was down to 2 shots but the Letterkenny rink took the lead for the first time when they scored 3 shots on the 18th end.

The Braid rink regained the lead on the next end when they claimed a count of 5 shots but the opposition scored 4 shots over the last 2 ends to draw level with the final score 17-17

This week Ballymena Juniors entertain Downpatrick.