Seniors bow out of Irish Cup

LURGAN seniors went out of the IBA Cup on Saturday when they lost in the third round at Ewarts of the Private Greens League.

In a picturesque setting Lurgan matched their hosts over the first half of the match as they trailed by two shots after five ends and actually led by a shot at the halfway stage. Lurgan couldn’t keep it going and faded in the second half trailing by 13 shots at both three quarter distance and at the end.

On rink one Ivor Mitchell, Alan Briggs, Kris Matchett and skip Harry Cosgrove shared the opening five ends with Ewart skip Jack Templeton four each and led at the halfway mark 9-7. The Ewarts rink won four of the next five ends to lead 14-10. Cosgrove inspired his colleagues and the Lurgan foour never gave up, they fought hard eventually succumbing in the end, losing 18-16

On rink two, Bobby Boness, Billy Martin, Seamus Skelton and skip Eddie McCourt were level five each after five ends. They pushed hard in the next five ends and led at the halfway stage 11-8.

Ewarts, under skip H. Magee, rallied winning four of the next five ends to lead 15-13 after 15 ends. Lurgan fought back taking a four in the 16th end to regain the lead 17-15. Ewarts though were not going down easily and won four of the final five ends to come back and win 23-19.

On rink three for Lurgan Gareth Bunting, Pete McGrail, Bobby Ruddell and skip Alan Roberts trailed from the start and though they fought hard were always playing catch-up trailing 6-3 after five and 10-6 after 10.

The defining moment in this rink came in the 14th end when the Lurgan four were holding seven shots, Ewarts skip B. Fox with the last bowl drew to the jack to score one shot to lead 14-9. Lurgan kept fighting and were unfortunate on several of the closing ends eventually losing 20-13

On rink four Stephen Poots, Reece Millar, Mansell Montgomery and skip David Beattie came out of the first five ends leading 3-2 as this rink remained incredibly close with 18 single shot ends.

They were level after 10 ends five each. The Ewarts rink, under skip Rab McLean, won five of the next six ends to lead 11-6 after 16. The Lurgan four took back to back two shot ends to close the gap to a single shot after 18 ends and won two of the final three ends to earn a 12 all draw.