Ports' Irish Cup dream comes to end

PORTGLENONE'S dreams of Irish Senior Cup glory were ended by Belfast side Castleton in Saturday's third round stage.

There was nothing between the sides for 15 ends with the visitors leading 14-15 after 5, Portglenone in front at 34-31 after 10 and all square after 15 ends at 52-52.

However it was to be Castleton's day as they finished strongest to record a 68-77 win and an away draw to Cookstown in the next round.

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On rink 1 Andrew Millar, Frank Jackson, Aaron Foster and Roy Hunter had a very good victory over V Atkinson. Althouth the visitors stole an early march on him with 3 singles in the first 3 ends it was Roy's rink who took control of the game as they recorded a 2,1,4,2,2,1,3 sequence to leap 15-3 ahead after 10 ends.

The visitors replied with a 2,1 but a further 4,3 for Roy put him 22-6 in front after 14. A strong finish by the Castleton rink saw them record a 2,1,1,1,2,2, for the loss of a single for a 23-15 final score.

Tommy McCart, Kieran Adams, Peter Mc Cann and Eamon Mc Cann played A Adair on rink 2 in a game in which the visitors were never behind.

They led 4-6 after 5 ends,5-11 after 10 and 9-16 with 15 played. A 2 on the 16th for Eamon brought him within 5 shots but a strong finish by Adair gave him a comfortable 12-24 victory.

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Rink 3 saw Stephen Young, Adam Hunter, Geoff Padgett and Chris Jones take on T Brown in a game that was to finish very close.

The contest was level at 6-6 after 8 ends and again at 8-8 after 10. A 3 for Chris on the 11th end was followed by a 1,1,3,1,1 for Brown to leave a 11-15 score. Chris lifted a 1 on end 17 but a 3 on the 18th made it 12-18 with 18 played. A 2,1,1 finish by the home rink gave a final 16-18 score.

On the outside rink Mark Pearson, Mark Jones, Jim Gaul and Keith Padgett played B Magill's foresome in what was to be another close finish.

The score was 3-4 after 5 ends, 6-9 after 10 and 8-14 with 14 played. A fantastic finish by the home rink scoring a 2,2,1,1,1,2 was tarnished by the loss of a very significant and costly 6 on the 18th end to give a 17-20 result to the visitiors.

LEAGUE WHITEWASH

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Portrush 91 (7pts), Portglenone 65 (0pts): Earlier in the week, Portglenone made the trip to Ramore Head on Tuesday evening for a league fixture with Portrush.

The home side got off to a good start establishing a 13 shot lead (26-13) after 5 ends and with 10 played had gone 16 clear on 45-29.

On ends 11 to 15 the home side continued to control proceedings coasting into a 67-38 lead however the Gortgole Road side rallied and managed to slightly reduce the arrears by the end of 21 ends for a final scoreline of 91-65, but unfortunately no points.

Portglenone's best performance came on rink 2 where Tommy Mc Cart, Adam Hunter, Peter McCann and Kieran Adams were denied a win by an excellent match saving final bowl by Gary McCloy.

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After 12 ends Gary led 13-7 and a brace of 2's on the next ends gave him a 10 shot advantage at 17-7. A 1,2,2,4 sequence for the visitors brought the score to 17-16 and made for an interesting final 3 ends. 2 for Gary on the 19th was matched by a 2 on the 20th for 19-18 and with 4 shots against him with his final bowl to play to a hidden full length jack Gary played a magnificant bowl for shot and ultimate victory.

On rink 3 there was another very good contest between Patsy Boorman, Frank Jackson, Aaron Foster and Roy Hunter against Ian McClure.

Roy had got his nose in front at 3-4 after 6 ends but a 4 for Ian on the next end put him 7-4 ahead.Roy responded with a 2,1,2 which was followed by a home 2,1 for a 10-9 scoreline with 12 played.The score in this evenly contested game was level again at 12-12 after 16 ends and 15-15 with 18 played but it was the home rink that finished with a 1,3,1 flourish for a final 20-15 score.

Jonathan Reid,Stephen Young, Geoff Padgett and Chris Jones played Portrush new boy Jackie Smyth, who had Eddie Curran at third, on rink 5.

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Jackie had raced into a 13-4 lead with 6 played but a 1,4,1 for Chris brought him back into the game at 13 10 after 9.The game again swung in Jackie's favour as he posted a 1,2,2,1,2 for the loss of a single to lead 21-11with 15 played. The remaining ends were shared but with the home rink outscoring the visitors by 7 shots to 3 the final score was a 28-14 win for the home rink.

Rink 6 saw Mark Pearson, Mark Jones, Jim Gaul and Keith Padgett play Kevin O Neill and it was the home quartet who dominated for the first 12 ends taking a 15-4 lead, however a 3 on the 13th reduced the arrears.

A single by Kevin on the next end was responded to by Keith with a 1,3 but a 5 on the 18th game the home rink a 23-11 advantage. An excellent finishing burst by Keith scoring a 3,2,2 brought respectability to the final scoreline of 23-18.

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