Comfortable Irish Cup passage for Ballymena bowlers

The Braid men hit the ground running right from the start and at the half way stage of the contest, the visitors led by 20 shots.

they continued to extend their advantage over the remainder of the game to win by a comfortable margin of 33 shots.

Rod Coleman, Graham Wilson, Steven Falls and Nigel Robinson opened up their account against N Haire on rink 1 with a single on the first end and they picked up a count of 6 shots on the next end to put them well on their way.

With 14 ends played the margin was still 7 shots however two ends later the home rink were back on level terms with the score board reading 15-15.

That was as good as it got for the home team as Robinson’s men won all of the remaining ends to claim a well deserved victory by 23 shots to 15.

On rink 2 Steven Shields, Neal Garrett, Andrew Morrison and Andi Duncan were always in control of their game against T Haire.

The Ballymena men won 8 of the opening 12 ends to open up a 9 shot advantage and they continued to play the better bowls and extend their lead to 11 shots with only 3 ends to play.

The home rink picked up 5 shots over the closing ends but the Braid rink was well worth their 20-13 victory.

J R Nicholl, George Graham, Alistair Coleman and Steven Coleman were in fine form against G Clinghan on rink 3.

The home rink could only score 2 singles over the first 10 ends and during this period Coleman’s men racked up a total of 15 shots.

The Dromore rink came more in to the game during the second half of the game but the Ballymena men always had the measure of their opponents and they eventually went on to win by 25 shots to 12.

Michael Wilson, Jimmy Hodges, Mark Torrington and Jim Baker were involved in the closest game of the day against W Clinghan.

With 8 ends played the scores were level at 6-6 and 3 ends later the scores were still tied at 9-9.

The complexion of the game changed over the next 7 ends as the Ballymena men outscored the Dromore men by 10 shots to 3.

Even though the home rink won 2 of the remaining 3 ends it made little difference to the outcome with Baker’s men victors by 22 shots to 17.

This week Ballymena A are back in league action when they travel to Dunbarton.

The A team have no match on Saturday as four of their players are away on international duty.

The club wish Andi Duncan, Nigel Robinson, Steven Shields and Jim Baker (Irish Team Manager) every success in the British Isles Series which will take place at Eddelwood Bowling Club, Hamilton, Scotland on 27th and 28th June 2015.