Mixed results for veterans' sides

BALLYMENA Vets 1 travelled to Newtownabbey last week and they put in a five star performance and collecting all the points on offer from a 44-17 win

Eddie Leckey, Sammy Small, Dessie Shaw and John Millar lead by 7-0 after only 3 ends against T Thompson on rink 2 and after 12 ends they had increased their lead to a massive 17 shots.

Newtownabbey won the majority of the closing ends but they could not stop the Ballymena men from recording an excellent 24-10 victory.

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On rink 3 Jimmy Shields, Roy Kernohan, Sammy Watson and Davy Balmer were in dominant form against R Randell. They lost the first end when the home rink scored 2 shots but six ends later the visitors from Ballymena held a 7 shot lead.

The Newtownabbey rink could only score on four of the remaining ends as the Braid rink claimed a comfortable victory by 20 shots to 7.

Ballymena Veterans II 24, Larne 40: Last Monday Ballymena Vets 2 entertained Larne however it was not a good afternoon for the Braid men with Larne winning both rinks and claiming maximum points.

On rink 1 Liam Lyness, Derek Greer, Peter Millar and Arnold Kenny were drawn against a strong Larne rink skipped by J McRandal. The scores were level at 3-3 after 5 ends and were still level at 7-7 after 10 ends, but it was the visitors who put in a strong finish to claim victory by 24 shots to 11.

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There was a close match on rink 2 where Gary Shaw, Robert McCready, Wilfie Stewart and Harold Smyth took on G McKinley. After 5 ends it was the visitors who lead by a shot and after 10 ends the margin was 2 shots. Five ends later the margin was 3 shots and the Larne men were able to hold on to this advantage until the end of the game to win by 16 shots to 13.

Ballymena Veterans III 29, Newtownabbey II 28: Ballymena Vets 3 entertained Newtownabbey last week. Both games were keenly contested, with the outcome uncertain until the final end and it was the home team who came out on top to claim victory by the narrowest of margins.

On Rink 3 Joe Kyle, Keith Burnett, Robert Mark and Billy Scullion made a slow start against B Moore with the visitors leading by 6 shots after 8 ends.

The Ballymena men kept chipping away at the Larne lead and a count of 4 shots on the sixteenth end saw them take the lead for the first time. Singles were shared over the last two ends to give the Braid men a hard fought 15-12 victory.

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Jimmy Alexander, Bill Wood, Tommy Crooks and Lyle McQuitty also made a slow start against A Sharpe and found themselves trailing by 5 shots after five ends.

The Ballymena rink stuck to their task well and they scored a count of 4 shots on the sixteenth end to level the match at 14-14, however on this occasion there was no fairytale ending for the home rink as the visitors scored two singles on the last two ends to claim victory by 16 shots to 14.

Next week Ballymena Vets 1 travel to Whitehead, Ballymena Vets 2 entertain Curran, Ballymena Vets 3 have a home tie against Whitehead 2 and Ballymena Vets 4 are away at Curan2.