Two thumping wins for the Dunbarton A team

Both outside rinks had facile successes while the middle two rinks were made to fight hard, one winning and one agonisingly losing on the last end. So whilst a comfortable overall victory, the locals will be disappointed not to have lifted all seven points on offer.

Top rink was skipped by Barry Browne who stormed into a 14-1 lead after the first quarter and never looked back, thumping their opponents by 21 shots. Meanwhile DJ Wilson's four led from start to finish and never looked in any danger, winning by 10 shots.

Conor McCartan's rink had a tough battle with their opponents and after 13 ends they trailed by one shot. However a tremendous last bowl by skip Conor on end 14 resulted in a count of four and then the hosts never looked back., eventually winning by eight. On the final rink however there was a sting in the tail for Marty Trainor's foursome. They had a ding dong battle throughout against their North Down opposition and went into the last end two shots ahead, only to lose a gut wrenching treble and a disappointing one shot defeat.

Overall this was a good result as the Gilford Senior side had five players missing and were able to bring in two of the club's U18 contingent, Ben Hogg and Daire Trainor who both acquitted themselves well.

Rink 1 R McElroy, C Mulholland, A Hughes, DJ Wilson up 25-15; Rink 2 D Trainor, K Trainor, M Greenfield, C McCartan up 22-14; Rink 3 D McElroy, R McMullan, A O’Keefe, M Trainor down 19-20; Rink 4 B Hogg, J Magennis, J Moffett, B Browne up 32-11

The Dunbarton A team followed up Tuesday's excellent win over Ards with another very convincing 63 shot home win against Belmont B on Saturday. But similarly to Tuesday night they will be kicking themselves for not getting all seven points from a game that they dominated throughout.

DJ Wilson's four were too hot to handle on the excellent Gilford surface as they scored nine shots over the first two ends and thumped their opponents by 30 shots. On the rink beside it was a similar story for Conor McCartan's four as they got off to a flyer leading 21-3 at the midpoint and cruising home by an impressive 23 shots. On the other two rinks the games were much closer.

Barry Browne maintained his unbeaten record this season but had to fight hard finishing with scores of 2,3,3 for an 11 shot success. On the final rink however half a point was conceded. Jack A Moffett's rink started well at 9-2 after five ends but were quickly clawed back,and from thereonin the game was close. With three ends remaining, Jack led by four shots but the loss of a double, single and another last end single resulted in the scores finishing tied. A disappointing finish but overall, still a fine team performance.

Rink 1 D McElroy, C Mulholland, A O’Keefe, DJ Wilson up 37-7; Rink 2 M Greenfield, J Moffett, A Paul, C McCartan up 32-9; Rink 3 R McMullan, J Magennis, M Trainor, B Browne up 24-13; Rink 4 R McElroy, K Trainor, A Hughes, JA Moffett 19-19

This Saturday the locals travel to Ballymena A in the Irish Senior Cup for what should be a cracking encounter. The game starts at 1pm.

Balmoral A 66 (2pts) v Dunbarton B 70 (5pts)

Mossley A 73 (5pts) v Dunbarton B 80 (2pts).

The Dunbarton B team produced an outstanding performance last Tuesday night when they defeated fellow title challengers Balmoral A on their own green.

This was a very close game throughout but thanks in the main to the efforts of Sean Trainor's four, the locals emerged victorious in a hard fought encounter.

Sean's excellent rink dominated early on, opening up a 13-2 lead after the first third and never looked back, eventually winning by 18 shots. Also victorious was Matthew Adamson's quartet who finished the second half of the contest strongly to win by three.

David Copeland's rink dug deep as they survived an awful opening, trailing 0-9 to lose by just four shots. And finally Oran Breen's men were all square at 5-5 after nine ends but for the remainder of the game were outplayed, losing by 13.

Nonetheless this was a superb victory for the Dunbarton Junior side and keeps them well in the hunt to retain their league title.

Rink 1 B McMillan, I Hutton, B Prunty, D Copeland down 17-21; Rink 2 G McCracken, G Clinghan, D McKeating, O Breen down 9-22; Rink 3 Shea Trainor, M Doyle, G Feeney, Sean Trainor up 26-8; Rink 4 G Magennis, M Hogg, A Magennis, M Adamson up 18-15.

After their superb win four night's earlier, the Dunbarton B team travelled to league leaders Mossley A for a huge top of the table clash and dug out another vitally important away win.

On a notoriously difficult green, the locals fought hard throughout and held their nerve in the run in to emerge victorious by 7 shots. Again similarly to the Balmoral game, the locals had one rink to thank for leading them home.

Gordy Magennis, Michael Hogg, Aidan Magennis and Mattthew Adamson produced a sparkling performance to win their contest by a crucial 21 shots and this was enough to get their teammates across the line.

The other winning rink was skipped by Sean Trainor but they had to fight tooth and nail for their point. Trailing 3-11 after 10 ends, the locals responded with an excellent scoring run of 1,1,2,6,3 and suddenly they led by five shots, only to then lose three successive doubles and trail by one shot with three ends remaining. But a single, double and treble for the visitors resulted in a fine five-shot success.

On the other two rinks there was disappointment. Sean Breen's four battled valiantly just to lose out by the narrowest of margins, one shot, while Davy Copeland's quartet had an afternoon to forget. Despite being level at 7-7 after six ends they were heavily outscored for the remaining fifteen ends, losing out by 18 shots at the close.

Nonetheless, considering that Mossley hadn't dropped a single point from their first three home matches, this was an excellent win for the Dunbarton juniors.

Rink 1 B Hogg, A Copeland, B Prunty, D Copeland down 11-29; Rink 2 G Magennis, M Hogg, A Magennis, M Adamson up 28-7; Rink 3 Shea Trainor, B McMillan, D McKeating, S Breen down 19-20; Rink4 D Trainor, I Hutton, G Feeney, Sean Trainor up 22-17.

The Dunbarton B team are in action this Saturday with a home contest against Falls A. The game starts at 2pm.