Dunbarton get it tight in Irish Cup defence

Dundonald A 61

THE Dunbarton senior team continued their defence of the Irish Senior Cup with a hard fought 27 shot win over Dundonald in Gilford last Saturday.

For three quarters of this game there was little to separate the sides until the reigning holders finally put their foot on the accelerator and eased home over the final few ends. All four rinks finished ahead but this was certainly no stroll in the park.

Early on the visitors started well, scoring on the first end on all four rinks. DJ Wilson’s four were up against a skip that started like a house on fire and DJ trailed 0-5.

Conor McCartan was also behind by a couple of shots while Clifford Dennison was level and Myles Greenfield was ahead by three.

By the midpoint the hosts continued to struggle. Myles had seen his lead disappear and now trailed by two, 6-8, while DJ was also two behind at 7-9. A crucial count of six turned Clifford’s game around having trailed 4-11 to lead by three. Conor was level and there was still little to separate the sides.

Around the 16 end mark the closeness of this game was summed up. On rink one Conor was level at 14-14. On rink two DJ was level at 12-12 and on rink four Clifford was all square at 16-16. On the remaining rink, Myles held a slender one shot lead at 11-10 and this was the difference in the game.

However, at this point the home side moved up a level and their East Belfast visitors were unable to cope. DJ lifted a superb count of five and Myles lifted a three and suddenly the hosts had a double figure lead.

Conor then added to the lead with a superb take out shot for a four on his 19th end and the game was effectively over.

DJ finished in style with another handful of shots to win by 11 at the finish. Next door Myles stopped his opponents from scoring over the final five ends and won by 12.

Clifford also finished strongly with a last end treble to win by three while Conor made it four rink wins out of four with a single on the last end and a one shot win.

It was a close game, possibly too close for comfort at times, but the Gilford side will take pride in how they finished the game when the defence of their trophy looked to be on the line.

In the next round the locals have been handed a derby with neighbours Portadown. Their opponents have started the season well, helped by a number of new faces and will be no pushover. Home advantage however should help the Gilford side.

Rink 1: D McElroy, J Magennis, G McElroy, C McCartan up 20-19.

Rink 2: D Copeland, C Mulholland, T Bell, DJ Wilson up 24-13.

Rink 3: M Higgins, E Campbell, T Mulholland, M Greenfield up 22-10.

Rink 4: D Pedan, P Adamson, A Hughes, C Dennison up 22-19.