Can Braidmen be on the 'Money in Irish Cup final?

When Ballymena take on Ballymoney this Saturday, both teams will be vying for the biggest prize in Irish bowls.

The Irish Senior Cup is the Blue Riband event of bowls throughout Ireland, with clubs from both north and south of the border taking part.

Even though just over 20 miles separates the two clubs, they play in separate associations with Ballymoney in the Provincial Towns League, while Ballymena are one of the most successful clubs in the Private Greens League.

"There's a fair bit of local rivalry between the two leagues and even more so given the geographical closeness of Ballymena and Ballymoney," says Ballymena Bowling Club press officer Graham Wilson, who is also a member of the senior team.

"We have only won the competition once in our history while Ballymoney haven't won it at all, but there's no danger of us having lost the hunger to win it.

"It took us until 2008 to finally get the monkey off our backs by winning it and then last year we were beaten in the semi-finals by Cookstown, another Provincial Towns League team.

"Ballymoney will be an extremely tough assignment – they have an international player in Gary Kelly and they have been sweeping all before them in their own league.

"If we can play to our potential then we can certainly bring the trophy back – we probably haven't hit top form often enough this season or on a consistent enough basis but this is a one-off situation.

"We're fortunate to have the vast experience of the likes of Jim Baker and Sammy Allen but we have seven players under the age of 25 on our panel which augurs well for the future," added Graham.

A number of other Ballymena Bowling Club teams who have games scheduled for this Saturday are trying to rearrange them for other times so that as many supporters as possible can make the trip to Belmont – the same venue where Ballymena's wait for the 'Holy Grail' finally ended in 2008 when they beat Bangor.