Mixed week for Portglenone

Wins came earlier in the week against Brookgreen (league) and Ballymoney 'B' (Mullan Cup) but the Bannsiders couldn't make it a hat-trivk on Saturday when they lost at City of Derry in the league.

First up was the final league fixture before the league split, which saw Portglenone edge home by one shot (64-63) against Brookgreen.

Rink 2 provided the drama of the evening mainly for the reason that Andrew Millar, Jim Gaul, Kieran Adams and Roy Hunter who played Trevor Steele still had 2 ends to play when everyone else had left the green and the overall score was in favour of the visitors by 1 shot.

A single on the 20th for Portglenone levelled the overall score and so to a dramatic last end where Roy, with the last bowl of the game to play, not only had the overall score to consider but also the rink point as Trevor lay 5 shots. Victory was secured when Roy drew the shot with a brilliant bowl.

Next up was a home game against Ballymoney 'B' in the Mullan Cup, a competition is played under a format that consists of 1 singles, 1 pairs, 1 triple and 1 rink with total shots deciding the winner.

In the singles game Tommy McCart played James Martin and it was James who got off to a flier with a 0-9 lead. Despite winning 7 of the next 12 ends it was the Ballymoney man who got to 21 shots first winning 8-21.

An excellent performance by Peter and Eamon McCann in the pairs game against Owen Steele on rink 4 proved decisive in determining the match result as then romped to a 32-5 victory, losing only 3 of the scheduled ends in the process.

It was the visiting triple skipped by Stephen Smyth against Jonathan Reid, Jim Gaul and Kieran Adams on rink 3 who were the victors on the evening racing into a 1-14 lead after 8 ends and going on to win 6-21.

On rink 1 Stephen Young, Aaron Foster, Geoff Padgett and Keith Padgett had a close game against Archie Scott. Keith led 11-5 after 9 ends however a 6 by Archie threw a spanner in the works and indeed with 13 ends played it was the visitors who led by 2 shots(12-14). Keith replied with a 3,3,1 to restore his lead on 19-14 and despite singles by Archie on the final 2 ends it was Keith who won out with a 19-16 final score.

On Saturday, Portglenone travelled to City of Derry on Saturday afternoon for a league fixture.

Following a couple of good results and despite the absence of a few regulars the Gortgole Road side came home disappointed as the city men dominated proceedings throughout claiming a 6 point haul of league points.

Ahead 21-11 after 5 ends they had more than doubled their advantage at the half way stage and continued to hold sway across the green running out comfortable winners by 33 shots (82-49).

On rink 1 Tommy McCart, Stephen Young, Aaron Foster and Chris Jones battled bravely against D Kincaid and were always in contention being 3 shots down after 5 ends on 7-4, 5 behind after 10 on 12-7 and back to 3 behind (15-12) with 15 ends played.

Chris drew level on 15-15 after 17 ends but a decisive 1,3 by Kincaid opened a 4 shot lead and shared singles on the last two ends left a final score of 20-16 in favour of the home rink.

Congratulations have to go to Wilbert Crawford playing just his second league game of the season and Bobby Andrews playing his first who were on rink 2 with Geoff Padgett and an in form Eamon Mc Cann recording a very good win against Lorenso Graham.

The scores were level on 4 occasions during the game, 5-5 after 8 ends, 7-7 after 11, 11-11 after 16 and 12-12 with 18 played. Lorenso scored a 1,2 on ends 18 and 19 however a 3,2 finish by Eamon gave him the rink win.

The rink of Andrew Millar, Jim Gaul, Jonathan Reid and Kieran Adams had a difficult afternoon on rink 3 against a good rink skipped by Malcolm Thompson who had the very capable former Ulster Transport player Andrew Whisker at third.

It was the home rink with 5 on the 6th end who raced into a 11-0 lead and a 2,1 response was matched by a 3 on the 9th to restore their advantage at 14-3. The home rink continued to control play and ran out easy winners on 26-6.

Rink 4 saw Mark Pearson, Mark Jones, Frank Jackson and Keith Padgett against John Campbell's foursome and despite a 3 by Keith on the 5th end to level the score at 4-4, a 1,2,1,2,1,1,1 sequence by John gave his rink a 13-4 lead with 12 ends played.

A 2,1 for Keith was followed by a 1,2,1 by John to bring the score to 17-7 and despite a further 2,1 for the visitors it was the home rink who completed the scoring with a 1,4 to record a 22-10 win.

* The Portglenone club wish Mark Jones good luck in NIPBA finals in Coleraine next Saturday.

* Portglenone's next match is home to City of Derry in the Mullan Cup on Monday 2nd August at 7pm.