Portglenone bowlers begin season with victory

PORTGLENONE began their 2013 NIPBA Senior League season with a tricky tie away to newly promoted Brooke Park in Londonderry on Saturday past.
Pictured (l-r) at the launch of the 2013 NIPBA season supported by Progressive Building Society, are Mark Pearson, Kieran Adams and Jim Gaul from Portglenone Bowling Club.Pictured (l-r) at the launch of the 2013 NIPBA season supported by Progressive Building Society, are Mark Pearson, Kieran Adams and Jim Gaul from Portglenone Bowling Club.
Pictured (l-r) at the launch of the 2013 NIPBA season supported by Progressive Building Society, are Mark Pearson, Kieran Adams and Jim Gaul from Portglenone Bowling Club.

On Rink 1, Stephen Young, Kieran Adams, Peter McCann and Eamon McCann were drawn against the rink skipped by Jim Doherty.

The early stages of this match were nip and tuck with both rinks sharing the spoils until Eamon’s rink scored a 5 in the 5th end to take the lead at 8-2.

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Over the next 5 ends it was the Portglenone rink who made all the running, however, the loss of a 5 in the 10th end saw their lead reduced to 11-8. Both rinks continued to play good bowls and after 15 ends the match looked to be hanging in the balance for the wee Port who held a one shot lead at 14-13.

However, Eamon’s rink found another gear in the final few ends and a run of 4, 1, 5 saw Eamon clinch the first point of the season with a 28-18 victory.

On Rink 2, Andrew Millar, Jim Gaul, Gary Merron and new recruit Joe Moore were drawn against James Cuthbert.

Again, the first 5 ends of this game were nip and tuck with both rinks sharing the spoils at 3-3. The next 5 ends went the way of the Portglenone rink who opened up a slight lead at 8-5 after 10 ends.

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Joe continued to inspire his side and Jim Gaul helped to carve out a 5 shot lead after 15 ends at 14-9.

The final few ends followed a similar pattern to the first five ends, however, it was not enough for the Brooke Park rink and it was Joe who recorded a debut win at 20-12 for the Bannsiders.

Rink 3 saw Adam Jones, Aaron Foster, Mark Jones and Chris Jones take on Brooke Park’s Jimmy Hagan.

The Portglenone rink settled very quickly and opened up a 4 shot gap to lead 5-1 after 5 ends. The next 5 ends were to go to the Brooke Park rink who played some good bowls to level the game at 7-7.

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After 15 ends and after losing a string of singles, the Portglenone rink found themselves somewhat surprisingly behind at 9-11.

However, Aaron Foster had finally rediscovered his form and Mark Jones was having an impressive debut at third and together, with a little help from Adam and Chris, they took the game by the scruff of the neck and turned it around to claim the point with a well deserved 17-12 victory.

Finally, on Rink 4, Mark Pearson, Frank Jackson, Paul Gray and Roy Hunter were drawn against the rink skipped by NIPBA President, Michael Fahy.

Right from the off, this would prove to be a difficult day for Roy’s rink and after 5 ends Roy found himself 7 shots down at 1-8. The next 5 ends would prove no better for the Portglenone rink who went further behind at 3-17 after 10 ends.

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The next five ends were shared and left Roy staring defeat at 7-21 down. However, with the entire match hanging in the balance at 17 ends, the Portglenone rink finally found some form and put some shots on the board to help the team clinch the overall points, despite losing 13-27.

After an early season scare, it was Portglenone who came through winning 78-69 and claiming 6 very valuable points.

Portglenone have a bye in the Senior League this week due to the withdrawal of Brookgreen.