No Zone Plate glory as Mid-Antrim ladies come up short

The visitors, who last won the shield in 2012, won five of the six rink games on their way to recording a comprehensive 31 shot victory in the decider, played at First Ahoghill.

Mid Antrim’s sole winning rink came on mat 1 with Ann Bacon’s four of Margaret Simms, Delores Scullion and Pearl Peacock beating K Smith 10 – 7.

Monaghan made the better start to this game but a 5 on the 4th end put the host’s 5 – 4 ahead.

Ann’s rink secured their game by winning three of the final five ends to record a 10 – 7 victory.

Mat 2 produced the closest game of the day with Jennifer Wilson’s rink of Kathleen McKelvey, Yvonne Hall and Helen Maybin in opposition to B Stewart.

Nine single shot ends saw the Monaghan ladies holding a 6 - 3 lead going into the final end.

Jennifer narrowly missed turning in one of her own bowls with her final bowl, when holding two, which gave the visitors a narrow 6 - 5 win.

Eva Gage’s rink of Eilish McNeill, Sheila Kleinman and Rosalind Gordon found themselves in opposition to B Cumiskey on mat 3 and unfortunately found themselves on the receiving end of a comprehensive display from the Monaghan rink.

In particular, Monahan’s lead, second and third all out bowled their direct opponents leaving Eva facing problems throughout the game.

The visitors’ 16 – 4 win, whilst disappointing for the hosts, was a fair reflection of the quality of play produced by their opponents.

Those results saw Monaghan ahead by 29 shots to 19 at the interval.

Faced with a 10 shot deficit, Mid Antrim knew they needed a good start to the second half to haul themselves back into the game.

The visitors however had other ideas and it was they who increased their advantage with a dominant second half display.

Mat 1 saw Maria Millar, Barbara Burnett, Irene McCullough and Megan Wilson taking on the rink skipped by A Routledge and it was the visitors who controlled this game from start to finish to record a 17 – 4 win.

Lynda Turtle, Roberta Morrison Jenny Kirk and Anne Agnew drew C McKenna’s rink on mat 2.

At the half way stage it was the visitors who held a slender 4 – 3 lead. With the overall game score well in Monaghan‘s favour, both rinks agreed to shake hands following the eight end with the visitors ahead 8 shots to 5.

Mat 3 saw Molly Turtle, Wilma Adair, Samantha Lynn and Helen Lynn in opposition to L Carleton.

At the half way stage both rinks were level at 4 – 4. Counts of 3 and 4 shots to the visitors against a total of 3 from Helen’s rink yielded the visitors a 12 – 7 win.

IIBA President Flo McNally presented prizes to both teams at the end of the game and congratulated both teams on reaching the final and also congratulated Monaghan on their win which was played in front of a good crowd.

Overall, Mid Antrim ladies team can reflect on season of some positives.

Following defeat away to Armagh in the opening round of the McIlroy cup, they regrouped to record fine away victories in the Shield at Mid Ulster and Foyle.

In this match, they ran into a Monaghan team who, on the day, were in top form and who thoroughly deserved their win.