Shock exit for Juniors in PGL Cup

BALLYMENA Juniors were involved at the semi-final stages of the Northern Ireland Private Greens Junior Cup when they took on Knock at Larne Bowling Club last week.
By The Newsroom
Published 9th Aug 2010, 09:22 BST
Updated 9th Aug 2010, 11:09 BST

The Ballymena men were hot favourites going in to this game having beaten Knock a couple of weeks ago in the league by over 60 shots, but on the night it was the Belfast team who played the better bowls to progress in to the final.

No cards are available for this game, however the Ballymena rink of Alistair Coleman, Stephen Coleman, Ivan Lynn and John Coulter were the only rink to win on what was a very disappointing night for the Juniors.

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Ballymena Juniors 83, Belmont 67: Last Saturday Ballymena Juniors travelled to Belmont and they put the disappointment of their cup exit behind them when they claimed 5 of the 7 points on offer to remain on top of NIPGL Junior League Division1

Alan McAuley, Peter Millar, Denis McClurkin and Jimmy Larkin were drawn against J Carroll on rink 1. The visitors scored singles on the first 2 ends, but then the Belmont rink won the next 7 ends to open up a decisive 11 shot lead.

The margin was still the same after 17 ends and even though the Ballymena men won 3 of the remaining ends they had to concede defeat by 22 shots to 14.

On rink 2 Danny McCullough, Stephen Coleman, Alistair Coleman and John Coulter took on A Ross.

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The Ballymena men started well and opened up a 7 shot lead however with two thirds of the game played the scores were level at 16-16. Unfortunately for the Braid men it was the home rink who finished the stronger to claim victory by 25 shots to 22

The scores were level at 7-7 after 7 ends on rink 3 where Leslie Barr, Joe McKeown, Michael Wilson and Roy Torrington took on the Belmont rink skipped by R Heaney. That was as good as it got for the home rink as the Ballymena men totally dominated the remainder of the game.

The home rink were only able to score a single shot over the remaining ends as the Braid men romped home to a 29-8 victory

The final game was on rink 4 where Allen Stewart, John McFall, J J Robinson and Andrew Armstrong took on B Busby. The Ballymena men made a good start and after 10 ends they lead by 11 shots to 3. Scores of 2,3 and 1 over the next 3 ends brought the home rink to within 2 shots of the Braid rink, but the visitors were not to be beaten on the day as they went on to record a 18-12 victory.

The Juniors are back in action next Saturday when they travel to Mossley.

Related topics:Ballymena