Michelin continue domination of Ballymena & District League Cup

The Woodside Road outfit claimed the prestigious knockout trophy for an amazing sixth time in nine years after beating Broughshane Playing Fields Association ‘A’ by one shot in a thrilling final at Eaton Park.

It dented Broughshane’s hopes of claiming a ‘double’ following their recent league triumph.

Broughshane landed the first blow in the first half when Alan Cahoon’s rink beat Wesley Caldwell by three shots.

The Michelin rink was leading by two shots entering the penultimate end, but Cahoon’s foursome scored a ‘4’ on that end and then followed that up with a single on the final end.

There was some high scoring in the opening exchanges of the meeting between Grant Robinson and Doran Turtle.

Turtle claimed a ‘6’ for Broughshane on the second end but the response was immediate from Robinson’s Michelin rink with eight shots over the next two ends.

The scoring was a bit more sedate from there, but the outcome was still in the balance right up to the last end, before Robinson’s rink sealed victory with a ‘3’ on the final end.

In the second half, David Morrison’s rink looked to have given the advantage to Broughshane, thanks to 11 unanswered shots between the sixth and the ninth ends against Matthew Boyd.

However, Boyd scored a single on the last end - how important that proved in the overall context of the game.

On the other mat, Graham Wilson’s Michelin rink had a 10-3 win over William Morrison to complete yet another cup triumph for the Woodside Road team.

Michelin 37, BPFA ‘A’ 36: W Caldwell 7, A Cahoon 10; G Robinson 14, D Turtle 10; M Boyd 6, D Morrison 13; G Wilson 10, W Morrison 3.

LEAGUE PLATE

BIBC completed a trophy ‘double’ when they added the League Plate to their recent Division Two triumph.

Like the League Cup final, the Plate version was a closely-fought encounter, as the Old Ballymoney Road edged out Portglenone Community Centre by two shots.

It was a low-scoring final, with none of the eight rinks on either side reaching double figures but ‘BI’ were always in control after a first half in which they established a six-shot advantage thanks to wins from Danny McCullough and Tommy Hill, against Gerry McLarnon and Jim Gaul.

Roy Torrington added to that lead with a two-shot success over Joe McErlean after the break and although Eamon Cassley’s Portglenone rink gave ‘BI’ a scare with a six-shot triumph against David Torrington, the Ballymena team had enough shots in the bag to cling on by two shots.

BIBC 28, Portglenone Community Centre 26: D McCullough 7, G McLarnon 6; T Hill 9, J Gaul 4; R Torrington 9, J McErlean 7; D Torrington 3, E Cassley 9.

DIVISION THREE

There was one final piece of league business to be cleared up in the final week, with Services ‘B’ claiming runners-up spot in Division Three thanks to a full-points win over West Church.

The outcome was extremely harsh on the church side who only lost by six shots overall, despite losing on all four rinks!

Three of the games were settled by single shot wins in Services’ favour, with Sheila Smith’s 7-4 success over Maurice Livingstone the biggest winning margin.

The result means that Services will be promoted back to Division Two, barring any unexpected change in the format for promotion and relegation ahead of the league’s annual general meeting.

Services ‘B’ 33 (5), West Church 27 (0): G Coulter 8, V Mahon 7; E Smyth 10, J Rainey 9; S Smith 7, M Livingstone 4; R Dickson 8, T Wilson 7.