Mid-Antrim men’s hopes of Zone success come to end

Mid Antrim men’s quest for success in this seasons Boomer Cup inter zone competition came to an end at Killymurris on Saturday with defeat to one of the competition favourites, Mid Ulster.
Mid-Antrim zone team members Stephen Shields, Garfield Litco, Wesley Caldwell and David Duncan. INBT48-281ACMid-Antrim zone team members Stephen Shields, Garfield Litco, Wesley Caldwell and David Duncan. INBT48-281AC
Mid-Antrim zone team members Stephen Shields, Garfield Litco, Wesley Caldwell and David Duncan. INBT48-281AC

Due to some late withdrawals, the selectors were forced into a last minute reshuffle resulting in some personnel and positional changes to the team.

That said, those who came into the team or who changed position gave a very good account of themselves.

Mat 1 saw the Mid Antrim rink of Wesley Caldwell, Bryan Magrath, Willie Fullerton and James Gaston take on Dane Jordan’s rink.

This was a closely fought encounter with nine of the ten ends resulting in single shots being scored. The difference between the two rinks came on the 4th end with the Mid Antrim rink lying 4 shots, Jordan’s third, Liam McHugh ditched a barely visible jack to score a 3 for the visitors. The final score line of 4–8 to the visitors was somewhat flattering given the nature of the contest.

On mat 2, the host rink of Stephen Shields, Michael McMaster, Davy Elliot and William Morrison were drawn against Damian McElroy’s quartet.

This again was a closely contested affair with the Morrison rink holding a slender 1 shot lead, 4–3 at the half way stage. An excellent forehand shot on the 7th end from Morrison saw him turn a toucher into the ditch for shot to give his rink a 6–3 lead. Single shots were exchanged over the closing ends to give the hosts a deserved 7–5 win.

Mat 3 saw Tom Lithco, David Duncan, Alastair McCullough and Andrew Morrison in opposition to the Mid Ulster rink skipped by Sean Quinn.

The visitors collected two singles on the opening ends to which the hosts replied with counts of 2 and 3. A further single to the visitors left the hosts holding a 5–3 lead at 5 ends.

Play again was tight over the closing ends and entering the last end Quinn’s rink held a 7–8 advantage. However, Morrison played a controlled forehand shot on the last end to turn a Mid Ulster bowl out for a count of 3 giving the host rink a win by 10 shots to 8.

The halfway stage was reached with both sides locked together at 21 shots each.

The nature of the contest changed dramatically during the opening ends of the second half which saw two of the three Mid Ulster rinks dominate the opening exchanges with some precision bowling.

Mat 1 saw Alan Cahoon, Graham Wilson, Richard Rodgers and Brian Russell in opposition to the Mid Ulster rink skipped by Colm McHugh whilst on Mat 3 the host rink of Martin Craig, David McCullough, Mark McCullough and David Morrison were drawn against the visiting rink skipped by Alan Paul.

Over the opening ends of both games the visitors took control scoring a combined total of 12 unanswered shots resulting in the McHugh rink leading 0–8 and the Paul rink forging 0–4 ahead.

On Mat 2, the Mid Antrim rink of Garfield Lithco, Matthew Boyd, James McWhirter and John Graham fought valiantly to stem the tide against Mark Wilson’s rink and carved out an early 4–0 lead leaving the visitors 8 shots ahead overall.

The Cahoon and Morrison rinks rallied during the closing stages but went down 6–11 and 5–11 respectively due to some exceptional bowling from the visitors. Lithco’s rink was also overhauled by the visitors who recorded a 9–12 win.

This resulted in the visitors securing a 41–55 shots victory.

Overall the game was lost (and won by the visitors’) during the opening stages of the second half when they emerged from the break firing on all cylinders and having established a lead, never looked likely to relinquish it.

Mid Ulster now go on to play Western in the quarter final whilst defeat brings the curtain down on this season’s zone competitions for Mid Antrim.

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