Mixed bag of results in a busy week for Ballymena Juniors

Last Tuesday night Ballymena Juniors entertained Downpatrick in the NIPGL Junior League Division 1 and it was a good night for the Braid men who picked up 6 of the 7 points on offer.

On Thursday night they claimed an excellent victory against Dunbarton in the NIPGL Junior Cup however on Saturday they fell to a disappointing league defeat against Falls.

Ballymena Juniors (76) Downpatrick (70): John McFall, Arnold Kenny, Alan McAuley and Roy Torrington were in good form against J Duffin on rink 1.

The Ballymena men opened up with a count of 4 shots and they repeated the dose on the 5th end to establish an early lead. Three counts of 3 shots over the next 11 ends saw the Ballymena men lead by 6 shots and they would eventually go on to win by 23 shots to 19.

On rink 2 Artie McAuley, Norman Armstrong, Ivan Lynn and John Coulter won the first 5 ends against D McCann to open up a 7 shot lead.

They then conceded 3 successive singles however a count of 6 shots on the 9th end got them back on track.

Coulter’s men dominated the next 9 ends which saw them increase their advantage to 20 shots and even though the visitors won the remaining ends it could not take away from an excellent Ballymena performance with the final score 25-8.

There was carnage on rink 3 where the Ballymena rink of Geoff Padgett, Jimmy Larkin, Nigel McFadden and Jackie Robinson never really got started against M Taggart.

The Braid men could only score on 4 of the regulation 21 ends as the visitors chalked up a 31-6 victory.

Leslie Barr, Tommy Hill, Neal Garrett and George Graham shared 8 shots over the first 6 ends with the Downpatrick rink skipped by J McCandless on rink 4.

The Ballymena rink then took charge of the game when they won the next 8 ends to open up a 15 shot lead. The visitors had slightly the better of the closing ends but the Braid men were well worth their 22-12 victory.

Ballymena Juniors (83) Dunbarton (80): On rink 1 Leslie Barr, Tommy Hill, Neal Garrett and George Graham took on M Adamson and with 7 ends played the home rink lead by 7 shots to 4.

The Ballymena men doubled their score on the next end and at the half way stage of the game the Braid rink held a 9 shot advantage and appeared to be on their way to a comfortable victory.

The Dunbarton rink however had not read the script and over the remaining ends they dominated proceedings outscoring the home rink by 15 shots to 2 to pull off a remarkable comeback and win the game by 24 shots to 20

The evening did not start at all well for John McFall, Jimmy Larkin, Alan McAuley and Roy Torrington who were drawn against J Kelly on rink 2.

The visitors stunned the Ballymena men when they picked up successive counts of 5 shots to lead by 10 shots after only 2 ends and it looked as though the Braid rink were in for a long night.

Torrington’s men however did not panic and only 6 ends later the Braid men had wiped out the deficit to lead by 2 shots. The Ballymena rink continued to hold the upper hand and they eventually ran out winners by 30 shots to 23.

Geoff Padgett, Chris Wilson, Nigel McFadden and Jackie Robinson were involved in a relatively low scoring game against F Larkin on rink 3 with a total of 29 shots scored over the regulation 21 ends.

It was the Braid rink who made the better start and after 4 ends they lead by 6 shots to 0.

Six shots was still the margin after 13 ends and again at 17 ends. With the overall score close each shot was crucial and the Braid men finished off a very competent performance when they won the remaining ends to claim victory by 20 shots to 9.

On rink 4 Artie McAuley, Norman Armstrong, Ivan Lynn and John Coulter conceded successive counts of 3 shots on the 3rd and 4th ends against R Gough and from then on they were left chasing the game.

Over the next few ends the Ballymena men did actually manage to close the gap to only 2 shots however the visitors for the second time in the match scored successive counts of 3 shots on the 14th and 15th ends and in the end they ran out victors by 24 shots to 13.

Ballymena Juniors (72) Falls (91): Two counts of 3 shots during the first 5 ends got Geoff Padgett, Chris Wilson, Nigel McFadden and Jackie Robinson off to a good start against C Forsythe however by the 11th end the visitors had got to within a single shot of the Ballymena men.

Five shots over the next 3 ends gave the Braid rink the upper hand again and this gave them the momentum to go on and win the game by 23 shots to 18.

On rink 2 Leslie Barr, Tommy Hill, Neal Garrett and George Graham were having quite a tussle against B Rice and with13 ends played the visitors held a 2 shot advantage.

Up until then there had been little in the game however that all changed on the 14th end when the Falls rink picked up a count of 5 shots and they won the majority of the remaining ends to claim victory by 26 shots to 15.

Allen Stewart, Joe McKeown, Ivan Lynn and John Coulter took on L Aldridge on rink 3.

The Ballymena men made a confident start winning 3 of the first 4 ends to lead by 6 shots to 2 however over the next 11 ends the visitors outscored the Braid men by 13 shots to 5 to lead by 4 shots.

Worse was to follow for Coulter’s men as the visitors scored heavily over the remaining ends to run out winners by 30 shots to 15.

On rink 4 John McFall, Jimmy Larkin, Alan McAuley and Roy Torrington lifted a count of 5 shots on the 3rd end to take an early lead against the Falls rink skipped by F McCorry.

They were able to keep their noses in front right up until the 17th end when a single to the visitors saw them draw level with the score 13-13. Two ends later each rink added 2 more shots to their scores but 4 shots on the penultimate end was enough to see the Braid men home by 19 shots to 17.

Ballymena Juniors entertain Bray in the 3rd round of the Irish Junior Cup and then on Tuesday night it is back to the league when the Ballymena men travel to Ulster Transport.