Juniors hit 'ton' against Belmont

Ballymena Juniors 79, Larne 67: Michael Wilson, Norman Armstrong, George Graham and Andrew Armstrong started well when they scored 9 unanswered shots over the first seven ends against the Larne rink skipped by J Smith.

The lead was still 11 shots with two ends remaining and even though the home rink scored 2 singles on these last two ends to leave the final score 19-10, but it could not take the gloss off a very competent performance by the Ballymena rink.

Alan McAuley, James Gaston, Danny McCullough and Jimmy Larkin got off to a great start against J Hamill when they collected a count of 5 shots on the first end.

Three ends later the lead was 8 shots, but the Larne men got back in to the game on the 8th end when they picked up a count of 6 shots to lead by 9 shots to 8. The game continued to be close, but a second count of 5 shots on the eighteenth end in favour of the Braid men was enough to see them claim their point by 21 shots to 20.

Billy McCandless, Joe McKeown, Nigel McAleese and Roy Torrington scored 2 shots on the second end to take an early lead against G McKinley, however it was another 9 ends before the visitors scored again and by that time the Larne men had opened up a 16 shot lead.

To their credit the Ballymena men did not give up and with the help of two counts of 4 shots over the closing ends the visitors were able to close the gap to seven shots as the home rink claimed victory by 24 shots to 17.

Alistair Coleman, Stephen Coleman, Ivan Lynn and John Coulter made a great start against J McRandal.

Consecutive counts of 4 shots and 5 shots on the fourth and fifth ends did the damage as the visitors took a commanding 14-1 lead after only 7 ends. The Larne rink did hit back and at one time had reduced the margin to 5 shots, but they could not repair the earlier damage as Coulter's rink recorded a 22-13 victory.

Ballymena Juniors 132, Belmont 32: Billy McCandless, Norman Armstrong, Nigel McAleese and Roy Torrington were drawn against D Hadieston. The visitors could only score on 4 ends as the Ballymena men ran out victors by 31 shots to 5.

Alistair Coleman, Stephen Coleman, Ivan Lynn and John Coulter were also in great form against W Davidson. The Braidmen scored steadily over the whole of the game on their way to victory by 36 shots to 10.

Alan McAuley, James Gaston, Danny McCullough and Jimmy Larkin were also in total control of their game against B Law.

The Ballymena men lead by 31 shots to 6 going in to the last end, but the highlight of the performance was conjured up by the Ballymena skip when he played two excellent bowls to manufacture a maximum count of eight on the final end to leave the score line reading 39-6 in favour of Larkin's men.

The closest game of the day was on rink 4 where Michael Wilson, John McFall, George Graham and Jimmy Hodges took on J McIlwaine. The scores were tied at 8-8 after 12 ends but the 13th end was the turning point of the game when the Braid men picked up a count of 5 shots. The home rink never looked back after this and went on to win by 26 shots to 11.

This Saturday Ballymena Juniors have a second round tie Irish Bowling Association Junior Cup against Hilden and then on Tuesday night it is back to the NIPGL Junior Division 1 with an away match to Old Bleach.