Ardglass too strong for Banbridge

Their opponents would turn out to be Ardglass, a club that has produced several wonderful players in recent years. They would prove to be a very tough team to beat.

Jonathan Ward was the Banbridge team captain and he knew that they needed a good result at home. That just didn’t happen.

As reported last week, Banbridge drew the home leg, three and a half games each. That gave the advantage to Ardglass, big time.

But Jonathan knew that he had players capable of winning their game at Ardglass but, the big question was, had he four of them?

Rory Leonard was out at number one and he beat Raymond Madine one up.

Connor Doran was a strong number two and he duly beat Adam Millar

2 and 1.

So far, so good! Two games played, two wins! Could Banbridge get another two points from the remaining five games?

Not from Jonathan Ward who lost 2 and 1 against Ciaran Fitzsimmons.

Not from Paul Magennis who was beaten 5 and 4 by Gary Hamill.

The match was level again at this stage; five and a half points each.

But the pendulum was swinging towards Ardglass.

Colin Wilton lost 5 and 4 against Daniel Vaughan and then Alastair McCully lost by a similar margin to Cormac Sharvin. Young Cormac is some player. He finished runner-up in the Ulster Boys Championship at County Armagh last Thursday.

Neil Clydesdale was holding his own against Johnny Feenan but it was irrelevant. The match was out of Banbridge’s reach so Neil was called in.

Banbridge are not often beaten in their first outing in the B. and D. but that’s what has happened this year.

All we can do is wish Ardglass all the best in the remainder of the competition. They won convincingly and could very well go on to be the champions.

As for Jonathan Ward, he’ll get over it. It may take some time, but he’ll be ok.