Gilford lads put pressure back onto the top two

Dunbarton are looking up at the top of the table now after their recent defeats to Belmont and Ballymena.

Those defeats have left the Gilford side chasing the two other clubs, having led the table for most of the season.

Ewarts were the visitors to Gilford at the weekend and they met a Dunbarton side who clearly have set an objective of finishing the season as strongly as possible, as the hosts cruised to a 71 shot success claiming all seven points in the process.

Dunbarton’s rink one side of David Copeland, Jack Moffett, Pete Convery and Derick Wilson certainly struggled to gain any advantage over their opponents skipped by Jackie Templeton.

A count of five shots on the fifth end seen the Dunbarton rink lead 7-2 but were pegged back to one shot by the tenth end as they were 10-9 ahead. A change of tactic was required as they changed jack lengths and they were 18-12 ahead by 15 ends.

Their third count of five shots of the game on the 18th end was crucial to their points as they finished with a 28-13 score line.

Chris Trainor, Tony Thompson, Gary McElroy and Conor McCartan on rink two were against Ewarts skip Sam Cunningham. After five ends the home rink were 2-6 behind but a run of scores from end eight to 14 (2,3,2,5,3,1,1) had them comfortably ahead 21-7 and despite losing a count of two shots on the 15th end, they won the remainder of the ends and returned an impressive 32-9 scorecard.

Martin Trainor combined with his brothers Sean and Kieran, along with Alan Paul on rink three, where they played skip David Cunningham. The home four were always in control of their game and had raced into a 10-1 lead by five ends.

They continued to rack up scores as they went 15-3 ahead by ten ends and 23-5 ahead by 15 ends. The Ewarts rink did battle to the end to reduce the deficit, but the Dunbarton rink still finished 27-14 winners.

As with the game being played out on rink three, Chris Mulholland, James Kelly, Andy Hughes and Myles Greenfield were also in control against skip Hugh Magee from the beginning.

At five ends they were also 10-1 ahead and had stretched that advantage further to 18-3 by ten ends. The 15 end point was reached with Greenfield’s rink 22-6 ahead and they finished with a 32-12 victory.