Great week for Portadown Bowling Club

First up in the week was a local derby for the Portadown Veterans team playing away to strong Dunbarton team. The veterans played well against a strong Dunbarton team from Gilford. Dunbarton took both rinks on the day. However Portadown made them fight hard for the points on one rink only going down to the last end of bowls.

On Tuesday the team played Warrenpoint at home in the League. Before the match Portadown President Chris Duff and Secretary Joe Robson presented “Hot Shot” Certificates to four players.

The award was for a rare event in a game when all four players get their two bowls nearest the Jack therefore winning the end 8-0. This event is called Hot Shot. The four players were Billy Martin, Edward Bowles, Ken Lamont and Derek Beattie.

In the Warrenpoint game that followed the awards , all the Portadown rinks played well on the day with only one losing narrowly to Warrenpoint. The team won the overall match taking 6 of 7 league points. This is Portadown’s first year in the NI Bowling Association Division 3 league after progressing from Division 4 last year.

In the evening it was the NI Bowling Junior Cup Pairs Quarter Final away to Castleton. The Portadown Pair of Ken Mullholland and Billy Martin represented the club. Ken was substituting for Joanie Mullan who played the early round but was unavailable. In a close fought match the Portadown pair eventually won with a score of 16 shots to 13.

President Chris Duff was proud of the performance by all the clubs players and now looks forward to the next game against Antrim Lawn at home.

Wednesday was the second Round of the Ni Bowling Super Sixes competition with Portadown’s Bann Destroyers at home to the Antrim Sinners team.

In this competition is three pairs of players making up the teams from each club. One Portadown pair on the day won one set and one lost one set. The overall result hinged on a tie break for the last pairs from Antrim and Portadown.

In a close finish Portadown took the tie beak and the overall match. David Moore the captain praised all the players for the great effort they put in.

The next game for the full Portadown Team is Antrim Lawn at home and the next game for the Veterans is another derby game against home to Banbridge Red.

Bowls in the town had been down during Covid and is now getting back to its former self. New players are always welcome at the Pleasure Gardens in Portadown.