Larne edge past Whitehead in Irish Cup clash

Stephen McKinley lines up his bowl for Whitehead in their game against Larne. INCT 22-013-PSB

The Castleview Road men have been the powerhouse in the Parks for many years and boast two current senior internationals, including Martin McHugh.

Harry Millar, Brian Smyth, Gavin Johnston and David McRandal were drawn against McHugh on rink one, and Ireland’s best showed great form as he stormed into a 19-4 lead.

The Larne men struggled to find the pace of the heavier green but managed to string a few ends together to pull it back to 19-13. McHugh’s home rink finished the stronger adding six more shots to record a 25-13 success for Whitehead. Johnston played an excellent second half and was instrumental in the mini-comeback which kept the score respectable.

On rink two Michael Murphy’s rink led the way for much of the game, following an impressive opening when they built up a 12-2 advantage. Alan Mairs and Andrew Robinson played well at the front end, while Simon Bell and Murphy took their chances.

The home rink fought back and scored five on the 15th end to level the scores at 14-14. The final six ends saw Murphy score a brace of twos, while restricting the opposition to four singles for a fine 18-18 draw.

Stephen Dalrymple, Eddie Wilson, Nigel Todd and Paul Robinson met Whitehead’s other top skip, Barry Browne, on rink three. The lead chopped and changed regularly throughout the afternoon as Robinson’s front-end duo turned in excellent performances against strong opposition. Robinson was in top form and pulled out some telling bowls over the final ends to snatch a 23-19 success.

In the final game Larne’s flagship rink of Darren Witherspoon, Raymond Lyness, Chris Snoddy and Alan McLean got off to a good start to lead 10-3. Once again the front-end pair were key as McLean’s men were in control for most of the game and dominated their opposition for a match-winning 24-12 success.

Larne led by single figures throughout the whole game and were relieved to get over the line when Murphy scored two, defending a two-shot lead.

Their reward is a home draw against Ballycastle.