Juniors extend poor run of form

North Down (7)

After a promising start to the season, fortunes have changed over the last two weekends for Lurgan’s B Team with them being comprehensively defeated last Saturday by a strong North Down team.

Charlie Maguire’s Rink 1 were 12-0 adrift after 6 ends and even though they claimed 4-shot and triple shot wins on the 9th and 20th ends it was not enough to stop S Bewley’s ‘attacking the head’ rink winning 25-17.

Sam Neill, skip on Rink 2, with Eric Dawson, Mel Hamilton and Bobby Livingstone had a troublesome afternoon against C McMeekin’s rink finding themselves 12-4 down at the midpoint. Losing 12 shots on consecutive ends put them in an impossible position with no prospect of gaining a vital league point; as they lost 36-9.

On Rink 3, Derek Henderson, skip, Neil Sloan, Stewart Martin and Vincent Devlin fought hard for win against A Baillie’s rink, coming back from 11-4 down to be just one shot down at 18-17 going into the last end but a 2-shot loss on the last end denied them a league point.

Rodney McCarthy, skip on Rink 4, supported by Mike Parr, Iain Ferguson and Michael Steen were in touching distance of S McWilliams rink; being 5-5 after 8 ends and just 2 shots off the lead after the 11th end; but they allowed McWilliam’s rink to dominate the remaining ends, eventually losing 25-14.

Mid-Ulster League team

Lurgan 56 (4 pts); Cookstown 50 (2 pts)

It was a great 4 points win for Lurgan’s Mid-Ulster team in their first league match against a determined Cookstown side, with the home side winning well on one rink for them to take the match by 6 shots. Lurgan stormed into a 25-shot lead after the 13th end and held on well against a sustained Cookstown attack to win 56-50.

Peter Dew, skipping on Rink 1, with Michael Steen, Bobby Livingstone and Laura Cassells had a good first half against N Barnes and his men to be all square at 10-10 but they relaxed to allow the visitors to dominate the second half and win 25-12.

Will McCullough, skip, Iain Ferguson, Eileen Kennedy and Stanley Watson matched D Grimes’ rink well throughout their game and were 15-10 ahead after the 14th end.

They were looking good for a rink win but 4-shot and 5-shot losses on the 14th and 15th ends proved costly. Holding a 19-15 lead going into the last end they dropped 5 shots with McCollough’s only bowl in the head being taken out by the opposing skip for them to lose by just 1 shot: 20-19.

It was great win for Dick McClune, skipping on Rink 3, with John Gilliland, Robert Kennedy and Mick Clague exploiting the opposition’s weaknesses to earn an excellent 26-5 win.