BOWLS: Coleraine claim bragging rights in derby win

Coleraine had one change from their midweek league win against City of Derry, as Jonny Elder came in for the unavailable, Richard McDermott. Brookgreen would be looking to add another win to help in their fight to avoid the relegation places, following on from good wins over Portglenone and Limavady.

It was an edgy start to the game as both sides had rinks making good starts, Coleraine opened up a four shot lead early on before extending the gap to eight shots at the halfway stage. The Lodge Road side then stepped up a gear and stretched the gap to 23 shots after 16 ends before eventually clinching a 30 shot victory, with the Dallas and Davison rinks doing most of the damage.

The rink of Jordan Dallas, Mark Mason, David Reilly and Victor Dallas took command of their game with Ian Ross’ four early on, opening up a 13-2 lead after seven ends after lifting a count of five.

However, the Brook boys fought back and cut the deficit to four shots after 11 ends; Dallas’ men dug in and scored 15 shots over the next six ends to extend their advantage to 29-10.

The Lodge Road lads eventually clinched a superb 31-12 victory over their hosts to seal the biggest win of the day and lay a solid foundation. On rink four, Basil Kennedy’s men had a hard fought battle with Trevor Steele before sealing their rink point.

Hugh McCallum, Peter Irwin, Jonny Elder and Basil fell behind early on before equalling the scores at the halfway stage. It was nip and tuck between both rinks until the Coleraine rink pushed on in the latter stages to open up a 20-12 lead with two ends to go, Steele’s four never gave up and eventually cut the deficit to 20-16, with Coleraine taking another rink point to add to the total.

Jonathan Calvin and his rink of Gareth McConnell, Tony Blair and Stephen Brewster had a day to forget as they fell to defeat against David Gaile’s rink. Jonny’s men had a difficult start and soon found themselves 14-2 down, things didn’t get much better as they trailed 23-6 after 15 ends.

However, the Calvin rink dug in and eventually reduced the deficit to finish up 25-15 down. On rink two, Paul O’Neill, Jim Duncan, Alan Irwin and Ally Davison had a good win over Allister Calvin’s Brookgreen rink. The Coleraine rink had an excellent start to their game, opening up an 18-4 lead after nine ends before extending their advantage to 25-5 after 13 ends.

Calvin’s Brook Street rink fought back and eventually cut the deficit to 17 shots as Ally’s men secured a very good 27-10 win.

Coleraine once again claimed the bragging rights in the Coleraine derby after this excellent win over the Brook Street side.

The Bannsiders are now 13.5 points behind leaders Cookstown with a game in hand. An intriguing encounter lies in store on Tuesday night as the Lodge Road side face Portrush to complete their rained off game, both sides have two rinks up so a mammoth battle awaits at Ramore Head.

Ballymoney picked up five points in a hard fought away win in Cookstown.

The Toon lads held on at the end to seal a one shot win at the Fairhill with each team having won two rinks.

For Ballymoney Gary Kelly had a very good 14 shot win over S Quinn and Brian McAlary held on to beat Liam McHugh by three.

Cookstown picked up their double as D McIlroy beat Alastair Steele by 15 shots and Mark Wilson had a battle royal with Willie McCaw before eventually sneaking a win shot win over his opponent.