Cup joy for golfers and Old Bleach

The Raceview side landed the league’s most sought-after knockout trophy, the League Cup, after defeating Portglenone Community Centre.

A tight final had been anticipated, especially with the Bannsiders - fresh from winning the second division title - receiving 10 shots on handicap, but even allowing for that deficit, Golf Club still had seven shots to spare at the conclusion.

Johnny Lynn’s rink made immediate inroads into the arrears as they raced into a 12-0 lead after five ends against Joe McErlean, eventually winning by 11 shots.

David McCullough’s rink was deadlocked at three shots apiece after six ends but a count of five shots for McCullough on the seventh end proved to be the decisive blow.

The second half proved very keenly contested a single for Sean McGarry’s Golf rink earned them a 6-6 tie with Kevin O’Kane.

Fred Dawson’s win for Golf Club was remarkable in that his seven shots in his 7-6 win over Joe Moore all came from singles, including a decisive one on the final end.

Portglenone Community Centre (+10) 31, Golf Club 38: J McErlean 4, J Lynn 15; G Merron 5, D McCullough 10; K O’Kane 6, S McGarry 6; J Moore 6, F Dawson 7.

LEAGUE PLATE

Old Bleach had too much know-how for second division First Ballymena as they romped to a 24-shot win in the final.

Alan Scott’s rink certainly provided a performance fitting of a big occasion as they overhwlemed Rokld Woods’ rink by 25 shots to two.

One feature of the game was that while ‘First’ won quite a number of ends, many of them resulted in picking up singles, whereas Old Bleach tended to score more heavily on the ends they won.

The rinks skipped by Neil Booth, Jonathan Millar and Mervyn McDonald also won for the Randalstown side.

First Ballymena (+10) 37, Old Bleach 61: J Davidson 10, N Booth 12; R Woods 2, A Scott 25; D McQuitty 9, J Millar 13; L McQuitty 6, M McDonald 11.