Randalstown turn screw in Town and Country title race

With the Randalstown men in action twice this week, they racked up eight points to draw to within two points of the Carnlough-based leaders.

First up for the Veterans was the trip to Carnlough where they took on fellow title chasers McAuleys in what promised to be a close encounter, with the home team to date having only previously lost one match.

Veterans, however, started the night on the right note with Frankie Brammeld taking his team into an early lead with a 2-0 win over Ryan Mitchell.

McAuley's John McAllister then levelled the match with a 2-1 victory over Gary Davison.

In the third game the match swung back in favour of the Veterans, this time James Talbot taking out Sean Davision in a 2-0 scoreline to take the Veterans back in the lead and put pressure back on McAuley's.

The fourth game was contested between David Magill and Hans Kuijten in a game that would always be hard to call, the game was taken to the deciding fame were Kuijten missed a fine cut on his last black resulting in a foul, this gave Magill the perfect opportunity which he didn’t waste and for the second time the match was level and would be decided in the final game.

In the last game Jason Beggs saw off the challenge of Mark McConnell to grab a 2-1 victory and see McAuleys fall to only their second victory of the season.

With a hard fought victory on Tuesday night, the Veterans then followed up with a comfortable victory on Thursday night when they played host to Greenhills.

The Cargan side had been in good form of late but were powerless to stop the Veterans and the home side ran out 5-0 winners.

Glencloy Inn the team in front, showed no signs of slowing up and recorded their second 5-0 victory in as many weeks this time on the road to Social Chronics, wins for Connor McCollum, Paul Bates, Michael Abram, Stevie Morgan and James Atcheson keeping the Carnlough outfit at the top of the tree.

Other games of the night saw BUSC keep winning ways this time with a 4-1 away win against Lurig B, Fergal McAteer averting the whitewash with a 2-1 victory over Linzi McClelland.

The only other game of the night took place between Heffrons and Black Bull in a local derby match; Black Bull however proved too strong for their neighbours and ran out eventual 4-1 winners.

The match between Halfway A and Halfway B was postponed. No scorecard was returned for the McAuleys v Lurig Inn A game.

Randalstown Veterans 5, Greenhills 0: D Lee 2, C Reid 1; F Brammeld 2, M McAuley 0; J Beggs 2, J Larkin 1; Hans Kuijten 2, E Darragh 1; S Birt 2, P Scullion 1. Sportspersons - Hans Kuijten/Michael McAuley.

Heffrons 1, Black Bull 4: H McNally 1, T Robb 2; B Taggart 2, R Hamilton 1; D Crossan 0, B Byrne 2; M J O’Boyle 0, N Percy 2; J Glennon 0, P Bloomer 2. Sportspersons - Brian Taggart/Brendan Byrne.

Lurig B 1, BUSC 4: T Crawley 1, S Clarke 2; M Crawley 0, S Scullion 2; L Cooper 0, T O’Neill 2; F McAteer 2, L McClelland 1; G Shannon 1, J Knowles 2. Sportspersons - Gareth Shannon/Jimmy Knowles.

McAuley's 2, Randalstown Veterans 3: R Mitchell 0, F Brammeld 2; J Mc Allister 2, G Davidson 1; S Davison 0, J Talbot 2; D Magill 2, H Kuijten 1; M McConnell 1, J Beggs 2. Sportspersons - Jason Beggs/Mark McConnell.

Social Chronics 0, Glencloy Inn 5: W Wilson 0, C McCollum 2; D Black 1, P Bates 2; C Walsh 0, M Abram 2; K Little 0, S Morgan 2; T Hamill 0, J Atcheson 2. Sportspersons - Kirk Little / Michael Abram.

TABLE

PWLPts

Glencloy Inn1513262

R'town Veterans1614260

Lurig A1512356

McAuley's1412251

Halfway A169741

Greenhills1610641

BUSC1010641

Lurig B178937

Halfway B148636

Glencloy Elite1641231

Black Bull1641231

Social Chronics1541127

Heffrons1721524

FIXTURES

Matches this Thursday evening, March 18, are: Black Bull v Glencloy Elite; Halfway House A v Lurig Inn B; Lurig Inn A v Halfway House B; Glencloy Inn v McAuley's; Randalstown Veterans v Heffrons; BUSC v Social Chronics. Bye – Greenhills.