Michelin floodlit pairs bowls title heads to north Antrim

The final pitted together Ballymena’s Andrew and David Duncan - who had knocked out Barry Kane (Dunluce)/James Gaston (Ballymena) in the semi-final - against Mervyn McKeeman (Dunluce) and Arron Tennant (Ballymoney), who had ended father and son Graham and Michael Wilson’s (Ballymena) - interest in the semis.

In an excellent Michelin Floodlit Pairs Mervyn McKeeman (left) and Arron Tennant of Ballymoney Bowling Club who played Andy (right) and David Duncan of Ballymena Bowling Club are seen here with club president Nigel Robinson, secretary Joe Mckeown and Ivan Lynn (centre) of Michelin. INBT 39-170CS final, David and Andrew Duncan made the better start and with 6 ends played they led by 6 shots to 4.

Three shots on the next end saw McKeeman/Tennant hit the front and they dominated the next 9 ends when they outscored the Ballymena men by 13 shots to 1 to lead by 10 shots with only 6 ends remaining. A count of 4 on the 16th end gave the Duncans a glimmer of hope and a second count of 4 shots on the 19th end got them to within a shot of the north Antrim pair.

The Braid pair levelled the game on the penultimate end but there was to be no fairytale ending for the locals as McKeeman/Tennant scored a single shot on the final end to claim victory by 19 shots to 18.

The Club would like to thank Michelin for their continued support of the tournament and to all those who helped out in any way.

A special mention must go Joe McKeown (Ballymena Bowling Club Secretary) who stepped in to the role of Tournament Organiser when Bryan Magrath had to go in to hospital during the competition. The Club would like to wish Bryan well and thank him for the hard work he puts in to the tournament each year.