Lurgan bow out of the Senior Cup at Divis

Lurgan Bowling Club Senior team crashed out of the IBA Senior Cup last Saturday as they travelled to Divis for the first of two clashes between these teams in less than a week.

Divis raced into an early lead and despite a fightback by Lurgan it wasn’t to be as Divis proceed to the next round.

On Rink 1 Bobby Boness, Ronnie McCullough, Pete McGrail and Skip Alan Briggs struggled early against Divis rink skipped by P McCafferty jnr. Divis led 7-2 after 5 and increased this lead to 15-4 at the mid point. Lurgan foughtback in the second half of this game and by the end lost by a single shot 22-21.

On Rink 2 Gareth Bunting, Davy Millar, Stephen Poots and skip Alan Roberts trailed against Divis rink skipped by B Power 5-3 in the early going this rink was always tight as the teams continued to fight hard though Divis always maintained a slight advantage Lurgan trailed by a shot 11-10 at half distance and were level at three still by a shot at three quarter distance 14-13. In a close finale to the rink Divis won 22-19.

Melvyn Hamilton, Reece Millar, Bobby Ruddell and Skip Mansell Montgomery, struggled against Divis rink skipped by R Creegan they trailed 5-2 after 5 ends, and the Divis four pushed hard securing 12 shots over the next 6 ends to lead 17-4 at the half.

The Lurgan four fought hard but to no avail as Divis increased their lead to win 26-12.

On Rink 4 Ivor Mitchell, Richard McClune, Kris Matchett and skip Harry Cosgrove, played out a tight game against the Divis rink skipped by G McGleave, the lead swapped numerous times as Lurgan trailed by a shot after 5 ends 4-3 and 9-8, going into three quarter distance Lurgan led by a shot 14-13 however couldn’t hold on as Divis won 19-16.

Lurgan 1 38 (6)

Newcastle 27 (4)

There was another convincing win for the Lurgan 1 veterans against Newcastle to sustain their league position in Zone 4 when they beat the visitors by 11 shots. Harry Cosgrove skipped on Rink 1 and was well supported by Ivor Mitchell, Albert Houston and Bobby Boness. Cosgrove’s rink never looked back after a terrific start to win 23–10.

On Rink 2 Billy Martin, skip, Declan McCabrey, Bobby Livingstone and Vincent Devlin lost a tight game 17-15.

Warrenpoint 35 (4)

Lurgan 2 (6)

Lurgan 2 Veterans had a tight run away to Warrenpoint in a top of the league clash, emerging winners by just one shot but stretching their league lead by a further two points over their opponents who are in second place.

On Rink 1 for Lurgan 2 Derek Henderson, skip, Ronnie McCullough, Charlie Maguire and Brendan Beattie lost 18–12.

Bobby Ruddell, skip, Bobby Jones, Roy Poots and Rodney McCarthy compensated well on Rink 2 for the other Lurgan rink’s misfortunes.

They stormed home 24-17.