Dunbarton get past title rivals

Dunbarton A 87 (5)

Belmont A 79 (2)

DUNBARTON seniors faced title rivals Belmont in Gilford last Saturday and what a game this turned out to be.

These two sides are among the favourites for the league so this game was of huge importance to both sides.

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As usual in matches between these two big rivals the early exchanges were very tight.

Conor McCartan’s rink had lost their opening three ends but bounced back scoring a four and a three to be only one shot in arrears.

DJ Wilson’s rink was 2-5 down, Myles Greenfield 5-3 up and Clifford Dennison was only one shot behind, 2-3.

It was end eight when Dunbarton took the lead for the first time. McCartan’s rink scored a six, Wilson a three and Greenfield a single to suddenly move into a five shot lead.

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By end 10 the locals had extended this to 10 shots with Wilson scoring a four and Dennison a three.

Over the next five ends Dunbarton moved up a gear and strengthened their advantage to 25 shots. Dennison’s rink were now having a great spell and scored 16 shots without reply to give them a 19-8 advantage at 15 ends.

Wilson’s rink were also hitting form to lead ex-irish international Roy Battersby 18-10. McCartan was having a great fight against the experienced Tony Budde and led by two shots,18-16. Greenfield’s rink were also in front, 16-12, against Stuart Bennett, despite losing six shots on their previous two ends, so a full haul of points was now a possibility.

Belmont despite being well behind would not lie down and on end 16 they scored a count of five against Wilson. Greenfield’s rink continued their poor run of ends losing 14 consecutive shots and their rink lead to be four shots in arrears at 18 ends.

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McCartan was still having a great tussle with Budde and they were locked together 20-20 at 18 ends. Wilson was 21-16 ahead and Dennison was now 20-12 in front, only nine shots separated the two sides.

Belmont could now see a slight chance of stealing the match and over the last few ends continued to put the locals under tremendous pressure.

McCartan’s rink lost three out of the last four ends to eventually lose by one shot despite some great saving bowls from third Gary McElroy and skip Conor.

Greenfield’s quartet were also being put under strain with Myles only winning one end out of the last eight to lose by six shots, 17-23.

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Dennison’s foursome managed to keep their nerve and finished with a fine 20-17 victory over Irish International Robin Horner and Wilson’s rink ended any chance of a Belmont win, scoring seven shots over the last three ends.

Rink 1: D McElroy,J Magennis,G McElroy,C McCartan - lost 22-23.

Rink 2: D Copeland,C Mulholland,T Bell,DJ Wilson - up 28-16.

Rink 3: M Higgins,E Campbell,T Mulholland,M Greenfield - lost 17-23.

Rink 4: I Perry,P Adamson,A Hughes,C Dennison - up 20-17.