Broughshane b-Eaton in major Plate upset

The Broughshane Road side are languishing near the bottom of Division Three - but produced a stunning performance to eliminate first division BPFA ‘A’.

Eaton started the evening with a 20-shot advantage as a result of their lower-ranked status, but in the end, BPFA struggled to win by just a single shot on the night, leaving the rugby club side winners with 19 shots to spare.

Bonar Hill and Willie Humphrey couldn’t be separated in a 7-7 stalemate but Alan Cahoon clawed back 12 of Broughshane’s deficit with a 15-3 win over John Carruthers, which included a ‘6’ on the eighth end.

But the second half belonged to the home side as firstly, George Reid’s foursome produced a 3,3 finish on the last two ends to beat Robert Black 10-7 and Gary Shaw’s rink were 10-2 up against David Morrison in a game where the last two ends weren’t played as the outcome of the match was already determined.

There was almost another shock at the Craig Hall, where West Church ‘A’ only scraped home against First Ballymena by a single shot.

‘West’ had chalked off seven of their 10-shot deficit by the break. Firstly, Matt McPeake produced a ‘5’ on the last end, having trailed 8-7 to Jean Mullan, while Maurice Livingstone’s rink won the last five end of their encounter with Lyle McQuitty to triumph 9-6.

David McQuitty put the match back into the melting pot with a 9-3 win for ‘First’ against Jim Rainey but Graham Wilson’s 16-6 win over Roland Woods took the second division side through by a shot.

There was an even more slender margin of victory for Old Bleach, who beat Golf Club on a tie end after a 37-37 tie.

The Randalstown side won three of the four rinks - via Willie Fullerton, Neil Booth and Mervyn McDonald - but the narrow scorelines for those skips were cancelled out by Kevin McGarry’s 13-6 win over Davy Burrowes, which took the tie to ‘extra time’, where Bleach held their nerve.

In the other tie, Portglenone Community Centre remain on course to retain the trophy after a comfortable 57-29 win at West Church ‘B’.

The Bannsiders made short work of their 10-shot handicap deficit with comfortable wins for Kevin O’Kane, Jim Gaul, Joe McErlean and Tom McCart.

Portglenone now host Old Bleach, while Eaton Park entertain West Church ‘A’ in the semi-finals, which will be played week commencing February 22.