Success as local sides seal their quarter final places

Coleraine, Letterkenny and Ballymoney are all through to the last eight of the competition. Ballymoney saw off Provincial rivals Portrush in a hard fought game in the Toon.

The home side eventually grabbed the win by 11 shots after both sides had two winning rinks. Willie McCaw beat Jeremy Henry by eight and Gary Kelly saw off Ian McClure by seven for the hosts. The Seasiders winning rinks were skipped by Simon Colvin, who beat Alastair Steele by three and Gary McCloy who edged out Brian McAlary by a single shot in a nail-biting finish.

Coleraine put on a great display, as they led from start to finish, to seal a 19-shot victory against Banbridge. The Bannsiders have picked up six wins on the spin since a disastrous four game losing streak at the start of the season, and they would be out to make it lucky number seven against the visitors. However, they knew Banbridge would be no pushover, having disposed of Portglenone and Dungannon in previous rounds whilst they are in third place in the NIBA Division One.

It was the home side who opened up and early 10-shot advantage, and it was a lead they never looked like relinquishing. At the halfway stage, the Lodge Road men were 23 shots to the good as they showed an excellent display of bowling and with a handful of ends remaining, the home side extended their lead to 30 shots as the visitors struggled to cope with a rampant Coleraine. The Bannsiders eventually claimed an excellent 19-shot victory against a bamboozled Banbridge team.

The Lodge Road side travelled to Ballymoney on Monday night in a crunch game in the hunt for the league title. Next up in the Irish Cup for the Coleraine men is a tough away tie against fellow NIPBA side, Letterkenny in the quarter final on Saturday 27th July, as they look to go one step further than last season’s semi-final loss.

The Letterkenny fairytale continues. In this their first attempt to win the trophy they now find themselves in the quarter final of the tournament.

They now find themselves through to the last eight following their victory over County Down side Ballywalter.

Letterkenny won through by seven shotsin the end with each side winning two rinks each.

J Marshall was their top scorer with an excellent 14-shot win over E Lowry. J Quinn also had a very good 10-shot win over A Davidson.

For Ballywalter K Massey beat D O’Kane jnr by 11 and I McNamara saw off I Jacob by six.

Cookstown’s cup dream is over this year as they went down by eight shots away at Ballymena.

Colin Hogg recorded an excellent 19-shot win over Stephen Coleman, but it wasn’t enough to save his side as they lost the three other rinks.

In the Junior Cup Limavady march on with a superb 46-shot win over Pickie. The hosts won on three of the four rinks to secure their passage into the last eight.

Chris Wylie’s 26-shot win over W Girvan did most of the damage on the day.

They will be joined in the quarter finals by Ballycastle who also hit the ton to see off Dungiven.

The Seasiders won by 45 shots in the end as N McNeill and J McMullan racking up big scores along the way.