Juniors progress in one-sided Irish Cup victory over Bray

Ballymena Juniors continued their Irish Junior Cup adventure on Saturday as they cruised to victory over Bray.
Ballymena Juniors and their Bray opponents ponder the state of play in their Irish Cup game. INBT 24-831HBallymena Juniors and their Bray opponents ponder the state of play in their Irish Cup game. INBT 24-831H
Ballymena Juniors and their Bray opponents ponder the state of play in their Irish Cup game. INBT 24-831H

Due to the rain this was one of the few games to be completed however after only a few ends had been completed there was only ever going to be one winner. The weather conditions may have been damp but the Ballymena men were on fire and with 5 ends played they had already opened up a massive 33 shot advantage. Five ends later the advantage was up to 42 shots and after 15 ends had been played the lead was 62 shots. With 3 of the regulation 21 ends remaining the visitors had had enough and they shook hands at this stage of the contest to leave the Braid team victors by a 70 shot margin

John McFall, Neal Garrett, Alan McAuley and Roy Torrington were in total control of their game against P O’Leary on rink 3. The Braid men picked up 3 shots on the 1st end and on the next end the visitors were on the scoreboard when they scored a single. It would be another 7 ends before the Bray men got on to the scoreboard again and by that time Torrington’s men lead by 13 shots to 2. The Ballymena men won the next 8 ends and with the help of two 3’s and two 4’s they saw their score more than double to 19 shots. The visitors lifted a single on the 18th end to leave the final score 29-3.

Tommy Hill, Arnold Kenny, Chris Wilson and George Graham were involved in the only close game of the day when they took on the Bray rink skipped by F O’Sullivan on rink 4. The Braid men made a steady start when they picked up 5 consecutive singles however by the time the game had reached the 13th end the rinks could not be separated with the score board reading 9-9. A count of 3 shots on the next end gave the Ballymena rink the lead but 4 ends later the visitors were in the lead by 13 shots to 12, however the Braid men were not to be beaten and they snatched victory on the final end when they collected 3 more shots to win by 15 shots to 13.

On rink 5 Artie McAuley, Norman Armstrong, Ivan Lynn and John Coulter were quickly out of the blocks against P Cronin as two counts of 3 shots and a count of 5 shots put them in charge after only 5 ends. Over the first 11 ends the visitors were only able to score 3 singles whereas the Braid men racked up a total of 18 shots and the remaining ends mirrored the earlier ends with the men from Bray scoring another 2 singles as Coulters men eased to a 27-5 victory.

Geoff Padgett, Jimmy Larkin, Nigel McFadden and Jackie Robinson lost 2 shots on the first end against D Meaney on rink 6 however 14 shots over the next 6 ends gave the Braid men control of the game. The visitors did actually win 4 of the next 5 ends but they were unable to make any inroads in to the Ballymena lead as both rinks scored 5 shots. The remainder of the game belonged to the home rink as 3 shots on the 13th ends and 6 more singles saw the Ballymena home by a margin of 27 shots to 7.

Ballymena Juniors have 2 league matches this week. Tonight (Tuesday) they travel to Ulster Transport and then on Saturday there is another away match against Larne.

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