Ballymoney suffer 'Holy Grail' heartache

Two years ago Ballymena won the prestigious trophy for the first time in their 100 year history and they were hoping to record their second victory in three years.

Ballymena's form has been a little erratic of late. A couple of weeks ago they were well beaten by Belmont in the league but in their next game they bounced back and claimed maximum points against Ewarts.

The following game saw the Seniors claim the NIPGL Senior Cup when they narrowly defeated NICS at Larne, but last week they were whitewashed by Dunbarton in their penultimate league match.

Ballymoney too have had their problems of late having suffered three successive league defeats including a defeat by Portrush who Ballymena beat in the semi final of the Irish Cup so the destiny of the cup would come down to who would settle the quicker on the day.

The Ballymena men started well and after three ends they lead by 17 shots, however the Ballymoney team gradually chipped away at the lead and with only a few ends remaining the Ballymoney men held a four shot lead but the Ballymena men dug deep to come back and win the final by two shots, 76-74.

The first rink off was on rink one where David Torrington, Andrew Bonnar, Andrew Duncan and Jim Baker made a great start against A Steele and raced in to a 9-0 lead after five ends.

The Ballymoney rink then won the next three ends to reduce the deficit to a single shot however six ends later Baker's men had opened up a four shot gap and this was still the margin at the end of the game as the Ballymena men finished 17-13 up.

Steven Falls, Jimmy Hodges, Sammy Allen and Steven Coleman took on N McCaw on rink two and they were second off the green. They too made a good start winning seven of the first eight ends to open up a 13-1 lead.

The Ballymoney men then scored three counts of three shots to bring them back in to the game and a further count of five shots on the seventeenth end reduced the arrears to only a single shot but Coleman's rink put in a strong finish to win by 25 shots to 19.

Jonathan Millar, Graham Wilson, Andrew Morrison and Nigel Robinson were drawn against G Kelly on rink four and they were the next to finish. This was a really close game with no more than three shots separating the rinks during the whole of the game.

The Ballymena men lead right up until the 17th end when they conceded a count of five shots to leave the Ballymoney rink two shots ahead. Singles were shared over the next two ends however the Braid men played a good 20th end to claim three shots to get their noses in front again.

The final end also built well for the Ballymena rink and with only one Ballymoney bowl left Robinson's rink held three shots but the Ballymoney skip ditched a bare jack to claim the shot and leave the final score 16-16.

The final game of the day was on rink two where Steven Shields, Jimmy Hodges, Mark Torrington and Andrew Kyle took on W McCaw. After 10 ends the Ballymena men held a five shot lead, however the Braid men could only score a single over the next seven ends as the Ballymoney rink turned a five shot deficit into a 10 shot lead.

The Braid rink then won the next two ends to reduce the arrears to six shots and with two ends left and all the other rinks finished the overall score saw Ballymena lead by four shots.

The penultimate end saw the Ballymoney rink claim three shots to leave the game finely balanced. The final end was a tense affair, however the Ballymena front end played some excellent bowls to leave the Braid men lying two shots.

The Ballymoney third then removed one of the Ballymena bowls to leave the Ballymena rink lying shot. It was then up to the skips to complete the end and with only one bowl left the position remained unchanged.

The Ballymoney skip had the last bowl. He played a weighted on the backhand but he missed his target to leave Ballymena lying the shot to claim the Irish Senior Cup for the second time in three years.

A special mention must go the large band of supporters who made the trip to Belmont and who gave the teams such excellent vocal support during the whole of the match.