ZONE MEN CRUISE INTO PLATE FINAL

The local men beat Meath by 63 shots to 43 in Saturday’s semi-final at Killymurris Glarryford to set up a decider against Northern, which will provisionally take place on February 11.

Ahead of Saturday’s semi-final, the Mid Antrim side knew little about the opposition but with an Irish singles champion on the team, the home side knew they had to treat the opposition with the utmost respect.

Rink 1 saw T Morrison, I Craig, S Shields and A Morrison in opposition to M Fitzsimmons.

Play was tight in the early stages with the visitors taking a 1-2 lead after 3 ends.

A 3 and a 2 for the home rink was followed by a tied end to leave the score 6-2 after 6 ends. a 1 and a 2 closed the gap for the visitors before the mid antrim rink dominated the last 2 ends with a 3 and a 5 to leave the final score as 14-5 and a good performance by the home rink.

Rink 2 saw J Gaston, M Wilson, B Trimble and W Caldwell in opposition to F Geraghty.

The Mid Antirm rink started well as they took a 5-2 lead after 4 ends. A 4 for the visitors saw them move into the lead.

The Mid Antrim rink then dominated the next section of the game as they moved into a 10-7 lead with one end to go. A single on the last end for the visitors made the final rink score as 10-8 and another good win.

Rink 3 saw M Craig, J Millar, N Booth and G Lithco in opposition to R Farrelly.

The Mid antrim rink started well in this game as they took a 5-1 lead after 4 ends. An exchange of singles was followed by a good finish by the mid antrim rink as they recorded a comfortable rink win by 10-3 and a display by the home rink that showed how accumulation of ends is important in a team game.

Rink 4 saw J Reid, A Bonnar, B Magrath and A Duncan in opposoition to T Murray.

Play was tight in the early stages of the game with the Meath rink moving into a 5-6 lead after 6 ends. The Mid Antrim rink then moved through the gears with a pair of 2s and a 3 before a single for the Meath rink on the last end saw the final rink score as 12-7 and another strong Mid Antrim performance.

Rink 5 saw W Fullerton, R Rodgers, W Morrison and D Morrison in opposition to S Faulkner.

The Mid Antrim rink played well in he early part of the game as they opened a 7-2 lead after 5 ends. The Meath rink then started to play a more agressive game and recorded a 4,2 and a single ove the next 3 ends to take a 7-9 lead.

The Mid Antrim rink then fought fire with fire with good attacking play allowing them to record 5 shots in the last 2 ends to leave the final rink score as 12-9 and another win for the home side.

Rink 6 saw A Millar, J Mcwhirter, M Boyd and G Wilson in opposition to L Foley.

Mid Antrim knew this was a strong rink with M O’Looney at third a former Irish champion and international.

The Meath rink dominated the first half of the game as they opened a 1-7 lead after 5 ends. A 3 for the home rink brought them back into the contest before the Meath rink took control agaiin to run out comfortable rink winnners by 5-11.

This meant a comfortable 20 shot win overall for the Mid Antrim side.