Ballymena quartet excel in British Isles championships

J R Nicholl, Rod Coleman, Jim Baker and Roy Torrington, from the Old Ballymoney Road club. won the Irish Senior Fours title last year and thus gained the right to represent Ireland in the British Isles Championships in 2016.

The Braid rink were involved on one of the preliminary matches against M Dorey (Gurnsey) and with 7 ends played the Ballymena men trailed by 10 shots to 6.

Four shots on the next end got them back on level terms and they followed this up with a count of 3 shots on the 9th end to take the lead.

From then on Torrington’s men controlled the game and they eventually went on to record a 24-16 victory.

In the semi final the Braid quartet took on R Clive (Jersey) and with 10 ends completed the scores were tied at 10-10.

The Ballymena rink found another gear in the second period of the game and they won 7 of the remaining 11 ends to record a fine 21-14 victory.

The Ballymena men did not make the best of starts in the final against S Aldren (England) and a count of 5 shots on the 4th end gave the England rink an 8-1 lead.

By the time the game had reached the 12th end the Braid rink found themselves 8 shots in arrears, however Torrington’s men had their best period of the game when they won the next 5 ends to wipe out the deficit and take the lead for the first time in the game with the score board reading 17-16.

The England rink levelled the game on the next end and 2 singles on the 19th and 20th ends gave them a 2 shot lead going in to the final end.

The Ballymena men did their best to retrieve the situation but it was not to be as the Braid rink could only pick up a single to leave the England rink victorious by 19 shots to 18.