Mid-Antrim men prepare for Irish Plate final

The local men take on neighbours Northern in the final of the Inter-Zone Plate competition at Killymurris Glarryford this Saturday (2pm).

While it’s not the main prize that all the teams set out in pursuit of at the start of the season, the subsidiary trophy would represent a successful campaign for Mid-Antrim.

Mid-Antrim’s hopes of landing the main prize - the Boomer Cup - for the first time since their sole success in 2006 was ended at the opening hurdle, when they lost to Donegal at West Church.

That exit resulted in Mid-Antrim dropping into the Plate competition and the draw has favoured them throughout the competition with home ties in each of the opening two rounds of that competition.

Back at their normal home venue of Killymurris Glarryford, and with a number of changes in playing personnel following the Donegal defeat, Mid-Antrim have been able to record fairly comfortable, if expected, victories against East Antrim and Meath to take them into the final.

Northern, however, will be expected to pose a much stiffer challenge for the locals.

Given the geographical proximity of the two Zones, with Northern comprised of players from the Ballymoney and Coleraine areas, the players on each will be well known to each other, often coming into direct competition in league and tournament bowls.

Northern will probably start the match as slight favourites, given that they won the main competition last year.

They ended up in the Plate after losing by two shots to North West in the opening hurdle of their defence.

A close match is expected but Mid-Antrim will be hoping to win the Plate for the fourth time in their history after previous successes in 1992/93, 1997/98 and 2003/04.

The Mid-Antrim panel for Saturday’s final is:

Rink one: M Craig (BPFA), J Millar (BUSC), N Booth (Old Bleach), G Lithco (BUSC).

Rink two: J Gaston (First Broughshane), M Wilson (Michelin), B Trimble (Old Bleach), W Caldwell (Michelin).

Rink three: A Millar (Second Broughshane), J McWhirter (Killymurris Glarryford), G Wilson (Michelin), R Fleming (BUSC).

Rink four: J Reid (BPFA), A Bonnar (BUSC), B Magrath (BUSC), A Duncan (Second Donegore).

Rink five: T Morrison (First Ahoghill), I Craig (Michelin), S Shields (First Broughshane), A Morrison (First Ahoghill).

Rink six: W Fullerton (Old Bleach), R Rodgers (BPFA), W Morrison (First Ahoghill), D Morrison (First Ahoghill).

Reserves: T Lithco (Michelin), D Duncan (Second Donegore), M Boyd (Michelin).