Bottle neck gets tighter in NIBA

Shocks were served up for table toppers Balmoral and Whitehead away from home as both fell to 6 point defeats. Lisnagarvey after a slow start are getting into their stride and comfortably held leaders Balmoral at bay. Ivan Craigs rink inflicted significant damage with a 19 shot win while the reliable Clifford Craig proved the mainstay yet again for Balmoral as he won by 18 shots to claim their solitary rink point. Graham maintained his unbeaten start to the season while Mulholland continued his fine recent form.

Banbridge are always difficult to beat at home but this season perhaps have yet to reach the heights of performance that they achieved last year, that is until today when they defeated second placed Whitehead by 14 shots. As normal the Browne rink banked their point but in the other hard fought games Davis, Buchanan and O’Keefe produced the goods to claim an impressive 6 points for the homesters.

Third placed Bangor also suffered an away defeat in Portadown on what has been described as a mud field. This green was not ready at the beginning of the season and if it is as bad as reported then it should not be used to play a game of lawn bowls. It is no surprise that the home team won as they would be more acquainted with the conditions. Bangor managed two rink wins and a draw but were denied the win by the rink skipped by Marty Trainor who managed to claim the 5 shot advantage that gave the home side a win by a solitary shot.

There is little doubt that at the start of the season the majority of teams in the NIBA are playing at the same level making it a very interesting season to date.

NIPGBL

The new format in the NIPGBL means that there is more importance added to each game. No longer can the teams that usually finish in mid table rely on picking up a load of their points against the bottom teams. Some of those teams who were assured of mid table obscurity will now be battling against relegation. Two such teams hoping to avoid this scenario are Larne and Pickie. They met on the coast in Larne knowing that defeat would place even more pressure on them to win in their upcoming games. A win would at least give some relief and a possible boost to confidence. 

Coming to the sunshine in Larne certainly suited the Bailie rink who fired into a 9 shot lead. The other rinks were nip and tuck with Larne ahead on each so there was little between the teams.

Larne then put a surge on as the Robinson rink started to come back. At the same juncture of the match McLean and McRandal extended their leads out to 7 and 6 shots respectively and with Dilworth also in front the home side extended their advantage to around a dozen shots. 

Robinson then hit back to be within 1 shot of Bailie but this was offset by the Larne rinks of Belch, who levelled his game, Irwin who came within 3 shots and Nutt who reduced his deficit to 4 shots.

With 5 ends remaining the game and each rink was in the balance.

Bailie hit back winning successive ends but this was nullified by Dilworth who led Belch by 5. The other rinks were nip and tuck. Bailie then extended his advantage further to win by 7 shots, Belch claimed a double on the final end to level his game so it was up to the other Pickie rinks to keep their deficits below a combined 7 shots. McLean pulled away to lead by 7 going into the last end and with McRandal able to hold out for a 4 shot win Larne were in poll position going into the final end of the game. Nutt required a count of four to draw the game but despite the best efforts of the Pickie foursome the home rink were able to consolidate losing only 1 shot to secure the win bonus by a margin of 3 shots.

Willowfield may become detached from the rest but for the other ‘mid table’ teams survival is not guaranteed.

The Ballymena ruthless machine ploughs on but they drop another rink point with the Willowfield rink skipped by J McMullan taking all the plaudits beating the McHugh rink. Consistency seems to be a problem with this rink as they stole a rink point in the last end against Pickie. Andrew Kyle’s rink hit back after a disappointing performance in their last game against Dunbarton to win convincingly by 20 shots however they were out shone by the Baker rink which won by 22 shots. Ballymena wracked up over 100 shots for the second game running.

Belmont keep on the shirt-tails of the leaders with a full point haul against a weakened Castleton team who were without three skips and a couple of thirds. No team can sustain that type of loss in personnel except perhaps Ballymena. Nonetheless J Newell pushed the Battersby rink all the way with the home rink yet again securing the point only in the final bowls of the game, quite an attribute to have in close games. 

Dunbarton came back from their comprehensive defeat in midweek to show their competitive instinct and their appetite for winning by accumulating 113 shots away to Falls. DJ Wilson’s rink which was the best performers and claimed their point in Ballymena continued their fine form to claim the biggest winning margin hitting 40. 

Old Bleach had a tough encounter at home to Ulster Transport but whereas in earlier games they may not have come through for the victory their recent form has given them a boost and despite a hard fought battle they persevered and went home with 6 points.

NIPBA

Coleraine returned to the top of the of NIPBA after a 10 shot victory which included three rink wins. Coleraine are the surprise leaders of the league but coped well with the pressure of expectation. Having been ousted from top spot by Portrush who played their game earlier Coleraine knew that a win would put them back on top. It is a situation and experience that they are not familiar with however despite some nervy moments they achieved their goal, hung in and claimed top spot. Portglenone rink skipped by Chris Jones put the whole result in doubt bringing back bad memories of the first game of the season for Coleraine but with Jonny Calvin's rink in control the nerves were eased.

Portrush remain unbeaten and will be favourites to take top spot when they complete their game in hand. they piled more misery on a Cookstown team which has had a demoralising week.