Morrison claims singles title at PGL championships

Ballymena bowler Andrew Morrison with the PGL Singles trophy he won last week. INBT 33-854H

Ballymena Bowling Club had Andrew Morrison representing the Club in the Open Singles final and Steven Shields in the Junior Singles final. Some of the finals were rescheduled for Sunday however both of the singles finals were played last Thursday night at Falls Bowling Club.

The blue ribbon event in the NIPGL Championships is the Open Singles and Andrew Morrison was hoping to get his name on the singles trophy for the first time while his opponent, Mark McPeak (Belmont) was looking to claim the title for the third time (previous winner in 2005 & 2010).

Morrison won 2 of the first 3 ends to open up a 2-1 lead however 3 shots on the 4th end put the Belmont man in front. McPeak dominated the next 7 ends outscoring the Ballymena man by 8 shots to 1 to open up a 13-2 advantage. It was not looking good for Morrison, however successive 2’s got the Braid man going again.

McPeak replied with a single but Morrison was now finding his form. He picked up 6 shots over the next 6 ends to reduce the deficit to only a single shot and a maximum 4 shots on the next end gave Morrison the lead for the first time.

Four ends later Morrison lead by 19 shots to 14 and even though McPeak closed the gap to 19-17 the Ballymena man got the two shots he required on the 25th end to claim the title and crown a remarkable comeback.

JUNIOR SINGLES

In the Junior Singles Steven Shields was looking to reclaim the title which he last won in 2009.

His opponent was Stephen Kirkwood (Old Bleach) who was fresh from his victory in the Youth Singles which had been played last Sunday. The Old Bleach man made the better start and after 5 ends he had opened up an 8-1 advantage. Shields got his game going over the next 3 ends when he picked up a total of 5 shots to reduce the arrears to 2 shots.

The score board now read 8-6 and over the next 7 ends Kirkwood extended his lead back up to 7 shots. The young Ballymena man dug deep and over the next 6 ends he managed to cut Kirkwood’s back to just 2 shots.

Unfortunately that was as good as it got for the young Shields as Kirkwood picked up two 2’s to claim his second title this year with the final score 21-16.