Michelin win Magrath Shield as indoor season concludes

THE final of the Magrath Shield took place at the Broughshane Playing Fields Clubrooms last Wednesday night.
Michelin Bowling club ready for their game against 1st Ahoghill last week in Broughshane Community Hall in the final for the Magrath Sheild. INBT 16-806HMichelin Bowling club ready for their game against 1st Ahoghill last week in Broughshane Community Hall in the final for the Magrath Sheild. INBT 16-806H
Michelin Bowling club ready for their game against 1st Ahoghill last week in Broughshane Community Hall in the final for the Magrath Sheild. INBT 16-806H

The competition was inaugurated by Bryan Magrath (BUSC) in 1993 and has raised thousands of pounds for Cancer charities over the years.

The Shield final features the winners of the Ballymena & District Indoor Bowling League and the winners of the Ballymena & District Churches League and is normally played at the beginning of each indoor season, however this year it was not possible to play the game last September so this year the final took place between Michelin, who won the Ballymena & District Indoor Bowling League last year and First Ahoghill who were the winners of the Ballymena & District Churches League the previous year.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The format of the competition saw each team put out four rinks to play a game of 7 ends. There was then a short break for tea and this was followed with a further series of games.

In the first run of the mats it was Michelin who took charge. On rink 1 Michelin’s Tom Lithco took on William Morrison. The score was 3-2 to the Michelin men after 4 ends but a count of 4 shots on the 5th end would see them claim victory by 8 shots to 4.

Next door on mat 2 both rinks won 3 of the first 6 ends with Graham Wilson’s Michelin rink holding a 2 shot lead over Andrew Morrison. Two more shots on the final end gave Wilson a 7-3 victory.

The 1st Ahoghill foursome skipped by Tom Morrison found themselves deep in trouble against Grant Robinson on rink 3 and after only 4 ends they trailed by 12 shots to 0. The Ahoghill rink rallied over the final ends eventually going down by 13 shots to 4.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mat 4 saw David Morrison’s 1st Ahoghill four win 3 of the first 4 ends against Wesley Caldwell, however a count of 4 shots on the next end turned the game in favour of the Michelin men with Caldwell eventually claiming victory by 7 shots to 4.

This meant that Michelin would carry a 20 shot advantage in to the second series of games after the tea break.

Unfortunately for the team from 1st Ahoghill, Michelin continued their dominance in the second series of games.

On rink 1 Graham Wilson’s charges were in commanding form.

They won all 7 ends against David Morrison to claim victory by a score line of 11-0. On the adjacent mat Grant Robinson’s rink continued their great form against William Morrison with two counts of 5 shots helping the Michelin rink to a 12-4 victory.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

On rink 3 Wesley Caldwell and Andrew Morrison were locked at 5-5 after 5 ends, however 3 shots on the 6th end was enough to give Caldwell victory over the Ahoghill rink by 8 shots to 6.

Tom Morrison looked as though he would claim victory over Matt Boyd’s foursome on mat 4 as the Ahoghill rink held a 3 shot lead going in to the final end, however the Michelin rink lifted 3 shots on the final end to leave the final score 6-6.

In the end Michelin were worthy winners of the Magrath Shield, however they will be unable to defend the Shield next year as Broughshane Playing Fields ‘A’ won the Ballymena & District Indoor Bowling League this year, however 1st Ahoghill will be back again next year as they have retained the Ballymena & District Churches League.

Michelin may have been the winners on the mats but the real winner on the night was the charity, Cancer Focus NI. During the tea interval a collection was taken for the charity and a total of £415 was raised and this was handed over to Mrs Betty Millar of Cancer Focus NI.

Related topics: