End of season successes for Lurgan bowlers lead to Division 1 security

Lurgan A travelled to Bangor for their last match of the season. For both sides there was nothing at stake as Lurgan had already secured their place in Division One and Bangor were guaranteed runners-up spot. As such, the game was played in a light-hearted spirit with good craic across the green.

For the game itself, at the halfway point an unlikely Lurgan victory looked to be on the cards with the away side leading 33-38. Unbelievably, the visitors only managed to score another 13 shots to Bangor’s 60. This gave the home team a 93-51 victory and all 7 points.

Over the seasonLurgan A played 18 matches, winning six, drawing 0 and losing 12; while earning 48.5 points to give them a credible 7th place and certainty of Division 1 status next season.

Highlights of the season were an away win over Whitehead and a 34-shot home win over highflyers Sydenham. The average game score over the season was 74-83 – a 9 shot loss. The results show that Lurgan can be competitive against the lower and middle table teams but struggle badly against the top four teams.

One thing Lurgan has in its favour is the commitment shown by its players. Over the season 14 players turned out for 16 or more of the 18 games and 5 never missed a game. In total 25 players represented the A team.

At an individual level the top performer was Alan Briggs earning 9.5 points, closely followed by Eileen Robson on 9 and Jeffrey McCullough, Darren Lavery and Ronan Cregan on 8.5.

A Lurgan spokesperson said: “While the A Team struggled against the stronger teams, credit has to go to the team members for upping their game near the end of the season against resolute opposition at times to secure a place in the restructured Division 1 next season.”