Promotion hopes setback

LURGAN ‘B’ team’s promotion hopes were slightly dented as mid-table hosts Bangor took advantage of yet another below-par performance in three of the Lurgan rinks to secure a well deserved 26 shot victory, avenging their previous defeat earlier in the league.

The Lurgan team held the advantage in three rinks to hold a three shot overall lead after the first five ends, but they failed to mantain their promising start as the Bangor side gained control to go into an unexpected sixteen shot lead at the halfway stage. The impressive Bangor side continued to maintain control of their three rinks to go further ahead by seventeen shots after fifteen ends and they still showed no mercy as they gained extra winning shots in the last quarter to increase the final scoreline to 99-73.

On rink one, Lurgan skip Gerry Stewart, Davy Millar, Vincent Devlin and Brian Brown all made an excellent start with an opening five shot followed by a double shot for a 7-0 lead. However, they found it difficult to retain their early fine bowling performance on the tricky fast green as the Bangor rink, under skip W. Fox, had no problem gaining extra high scoring shots in their next fourteen unbeaten ends. Lurgan replied with single shots and finished with a five shot to cut the final scoreline to 31-15.

Rink two ended in a 26-15 defeat for the Lurgan skip of Eamon Quinn, Gordon Bell, Tony Haughey and Neil Sloan. Bangor broke into a 16-10 lead with several high scoring shots. The Lurgan foursome could only reply with single and double winning shots from their last four succesful ends as Bangor added another ten shots in the vital closing stages.

On rink three, Lurgan skip Derek Henderson, Dan Dempsey, Wilfie McCullough and Reece Millar found themselves trailing 5-0 after the first three ends and they were restricted to single and double shots in their next five winning ends as Bangor went 16-6 ahead. The subdued Lurgan rink attempted a late rally, but Bangor proved too strong, earning themselves a 23-13 victory.

Lurgan found victory on rink four, securing a 30-19 victory. The foursome of Eric Dawson, Gareth Bunting, Richard McClune and Ronnie McCullough had no problem settling down on the tricky green as they mounted up a great winning scoreline of 12-2 after the first eight evenly contested ends. The frustrated Bangor rink could only gain six shots from their next three winning ends to trail 16-8, while the rampant Lurgan foursome combined well to score a six shot and a single. Going into the last five ends, Lurgan held a substantial 23-8 lead but complacency had begun to creep in which Bangor were quick to take advantage of, scoring a total of eleven shots to reduce the winning scoreline.