News from the local bowls scene

IN their evenly contested local derby match both sides shared two rinks each, but the Glenavy side gained the extra bonus three league points with their well deserved six shot vicyory over their near neighbours Aghagallon.

On mat one Aghagallon skip Chris Connelly, Genny Little, Molly McBarron and Freddie Russell struggled to obtain winning shots in the first seven ends to find themselves trailing 10-5 against the Glenavy rink under skip Sean Totton. The Aghagallon rink made a late rally in the last two ends, but they only managed to reduce the Glenavy rink victory to 10-9.

On mat two, Aghagallon skip Bobby Walsh, Geraldine Tallon, John Connelly and Ann Tallon were pleased to win four of the first six tightly fought ends to go into an unbeatable 12-2 lead. The Glenavy rink under skip Agnes Creaney were restricted to single and double shots in their late fightback to finally concede to a 12-6 defeat.

With their five shot interval lead the Aghagallon rink of skip Eamon Hamill, Brian Brown, Rita Hamill and Una Corey started the second half on mat three by winning four of the first six ends to gain a slender 9-6 lead. The Glenavy rink under skip Joe Creaney made a strong bid for victory in the last three ends, but Aghagallon skip Eamon Hamill held them to only two single shots to score a hard earned 9-8 win.

On mat four Aghagallon skip Marie Corey, Seamus Hannon, Joe Lavery and Martha Fitzpatrick, who had an outstanding 26-3 win in their last match, struggled all the way against the Glenavy rink under skip Gabriel Brankin, to find themselves 14-2 down after the first six ends. The Aghagallon foursome picked up four shots in the next end, but the Glenavy skip Gabriel Brankin assisted his colleagues to add another four shots in the last two tight ends to finish with a 18-6 vital victory to make sure of the three bonus league points.

Shankill 34(1) St Paul's 41(6)

Shankill are still struggling for their first league victory of the season after going down seven shots against the St Paul's side who went home contented with their six league points from their three winning rinks.

On mat one Shankill skip David Drake, Leona Drake, R McIlkenny and Des Gregg picked up vital single and double shots in five of the first eight tightly fought ends to go 6-5 ahead. The Taghnevan rink of skip Michael Bunting, Molly Ward, Aiden McKavanagh and Gloria Coleman fought back strongly in the last two ends to gain a total of five match winning shots to clinch a hard earned 10-6 win for a league point.

On mat two Shankill skip Charlie Maguire, Jim Girvan, N Kane and Bobby Livingston lost their opening 3-0 lead to give the Taghnevan rink of skip Peter McGrail, Paul Henderson, Kate Agnew and Eilish Sullivan several high scoring shots in their seven winning ends to go 18-5 behind with only one end remaining. The Shankill foursome could only reply with a consolation four shots to reduce the Taghnevan rinks victory to 18-9.

On mat three Shankill skip Derek Henderson, R Millar, Neil Sloan and A Mullan never gave the Taghnevan rink of skip Jenny McVeigh, Catherine McGrail, J Bunting and M Campbell a chance to settle down as they slipped into a slender 6-4 lead after seven ends. The Shankill rink continued to dominate the last three ends to make sure of their team's only league point of the match with a 12-4 win.

On mat four Shankill skip Lindsay Wallace, Ronnie McCullough, C Martin and D Millar lost out in the tight exchanges of the first seven ends to trail 8-1. The Taghnevan rink of skip Dan Dempsey, Jim McMullan, Seamus Devlin and Joe Mallon conceded a five shot and a single to go into the first end with the scoreline 8-7 in their favor but they finally scored a single to finish 10-7 winners

St John's Moura Tournament.

The St John's Moira Bowling Club's Open Pairs Tournament sponsored by Moypark will be held in the Parish Centre from Monday to Friday, October 25-29, with the final on Saturday, October 30. The closing date for entries is Wednesday, October 20. Entries and enquiries should be sent to Mrs SE White, 39 Earlsfort, Moira BT67 0LY. Telephone 028 9261 2231

Irish Indoor Championship.

In the Irish Indoor Bowling Association's Club Championship matches played at Ballymoney last Saturday, Armagh Zone representives St Anthony's defeated Ballinrees (28-24) and Strabane CC (33-28) but they lost their quarter final match against former championship winners Cookstown Parochial by (34-21). Other Armagh representives, St Mark's, Portadown reached the plate final with a victory over Conlig by 31-26 and will now play Lisburn side Ballinderry who defeated Mossley 31-22 in the final. Last year's club champions Cookstown High will play Limavady in the club final.