Vets Come Close Second to Forth River men

Willie McNabb, Derek Greer, Norman Armstrong and Arnold Kenny took on C Donnelly on rink 1. This was a low scoring game with only a total of 24 shots scored over the 18 ends. The home rink had slightly the better of the opening ends and with 10 ends played they had scored 9 shots whereas the Braid men could only manage 4 singles. Over the next 7 ends however the Ballymena men fought back and with only 1 end remaining they had drawn level with the score board reading 11-11 and Kenny’s men completed an excellent come back when they claimed 2 shots to claim victory by 13 shots to 11.

On rink 2 Jimmy Shields, Joe McKeown, Alan O’Loan and Alex Wilson were drawn against D Smyth and for most of this game it was the Ballymena man who held the upper hand. The Braid rink dominated the first 15 ends and during this time the visitors won 11 of the ends to lead by 5 shots with only 3 ends to play. Disaster struck the Braid rink over the next 2 ends when they conceded counts of 4 and 5 to hand the initiative to the Forth River men and a further single on the final end gave the home rink a 17-12 victory

Ballymena Vets2 (30) Carrickfergus2 (35)

Ballymena Vets2 entertained Carrickfergus2 last Monday afternoon and this also was a close contest, however it was the visitors who claimed the majority of the points with a 5 shot victory.

John Montgomery, Bertie Thompson, Gary Shaw and John Elliott won 3 of the first 5 ends against R McFadden on rink 1 to open up a slender 1 shot lead. The complexion of the game changed over the next 3 ends when the visitors picked up a total of 8 shots to take control of the game. The Braid men never really recovered from this set back and 7 shots was still the difference with only 1 end to play. The Carrickfergus men extended their advantage to 9 shots on the final end to leave the final score 18-9.

Harold Smyth, Roy Kernohan, Wilfie Stewart and Robert McCready were drawn against B Mitchell on rink 2 and this was definitely a game of 2 halves. The visitors won 5 of the first 8 ends (which included a count of 7 shots on the 7th end) to open up a 16-3 lead. The remainder of the game however belonged almost exclusively to the Ballymena men. They picked up 5 shots over the next 3 ends to reduce the deficit to 7 shots. The visitors scored a single on the next end but that was the last time that the Carrick men would score. Four ends later the Braid men had levelled the game at 17-17 and they finished off the job with 4 more shots over the final 2 ends to claim an unlikely 21-17 victory