Roy Hunter has won the prestigious Ballybrakes singles competition with a fine display of drawing bowls mixed with accurate running shots. He defeated Noel Graham in the final winning five ends in a row to take an 8-1 lead. Graham was not playing badly but Hunter’s more accurate running shot was making the difference. The only time the running shot let Hunter down was on the seventh end when Graham came back into the game with four excellent drawing bowls. Graham then picked up a double to trail by one shot going into the final end. Graham lay the shot he required for a draw until Hunter drew a precision bowl right behind the jack to claim the title. Hunter defeated E Irwin in his first game and L McIntyre in the semi-final. In the pairs Hunter’s club mates from Towers Seamus McMath and Ivan Craig claimed the pairs title defeating the Mossley duo of Alister Moore and Eddie Crawford. In the final Craig played some telling running shots to change the head in his favour end win the end. Craig completed the game in the final end by again delivering an accurate bowl trailing the jack into the ditch making it impossible for Crawford to respond. The Towers duo beat Marsden & Reid from Ballinderry in the quarter-final and McNamara & Toman in the semi-final. Singles B Kane 7 v W Knight 6
Kane was two shots up going into the final end but Knight could only claim a single. R Stubbs had a walk over as G Smith from Kildress did not return for the finals night. Why would anyone qualify for a finals night when they know that they have other commitments? N Graham 10 v G Kelly 5
Graham won four ends in succession to take an 8-1 lead. Kelly then hit back to scoring four shots over the next two ends before Graham claimed a single to go into the final end four shots in front. D Morrison 7 v A Paul 6
This was an extremely tight game with the heads changing almost by the bowl with no more than a shot between the players from the fourth end onwards. Paul took two shots on the eighth end to lead by a shot going but Morrison held his nerve to take the single that he required to for an extra end. Paul put the jack long and ran at the jack. Although he put it in the ditch his bowl was not close so it was a matter of drawing to the ditch line instead of a long jack. Morrison held shot but Paul then came up with a chop and lie to pile the pressure on Morrison with the last bowl of the game. Morrison as cool as ever reciprocated the shot to claim the win. Running the jack into the ditch has been adopted country wide and many players are of the opinion that they have to do it before the opposition i.e. get the first strike in.
Considering the low percentage of effectiveness of running the jack to the ditch and sitting beside it, what is the point of doing it? It is ruining the true game of shortmat for the ordinary club bowler and is one of the main reasons that shortmat tournaments are dying a slow death. Quarter-Finals L Hamilton 1 v L McIntyre 12
McIntyre found his range early and took full advantage of a slow start by Hamilton who when she did play good bowls was removed by McIntyre. E Irwin 7 v R Hunter 11
Hunter took the lead from in the second end and held it to the end. The decisive end occurred when Hunter claimed a full house of four on the seventh end to go into a 10-4 lead. R Stubbs 9 v B Kane 4
Kane won three out of the first five ends but was restricted to singles as Stubbs led 5-3. Stubbs then won three out of the remaining four ends to win. Raymond Stubbs was the only player to qualify for both the singles and pairs. D Morrison 7 v N Graham 9
Morrison got off to a flyer claiming four shots in the first end to shell shock Graham. After five ends Morrison was in front by a score of 7-2. Graham then won the last four ends including a triple on the eighth end to take the lead for the first time [7-8]. He was able to contain Morrison in the final end to complete an unlikely comeback. Semi-Finals R Hunter 10 v L McIntyre 4
Both players were locked together at 4-4 by the start of the sixth end. Hunter then took two shots on each of the next three ends to take the victory and a place in the final. N Graham 10 v R Stubbs 7
Graham took the early initiative and led 5-1 but then lost a four on the sixth end to relinquish the lead. The jack was resting against the front side of the fender right at the edge of the mat when Graham twice delivered a controlled wrong bias. Stubbs watched Graham’s final delivery the whole way and was amazed that the bowl missed the jack as right until the final millimetre Graham seemed to have the perfect line. Graham won ends seven and eight scoring two and three shots respectively to take a four shot advantage into the last end. Pairs A Moore & E Crawford 11 v B Kennedy & J Irwin 2
The Mossley duo took control of the game scoring a four and a three on consecutive ends in the middle of the game. G & R Stubbs 6 v R O’Neill & L Harrison 8
O’Neill and Harrison won ends two through to six to lead 8-2. Stubbs then hit back and held the shots required to take the game into an extra end however Harrison had the last bowl and under pressure delivered the bowl enabling the Limavady pair to progress to the semi-final P McNamara & D Toman 9 v S Brewster & J Calvin 5
The game was locked together at 5-5 after five ends but then the Spa pair claimed singles on the last four ends to win through. S McMath & I Craig 9 v E Marsden & P Reid 7
The scores were level after seven ends so it would be down to a two ends shoot-out. The Towers pair won the last two ends to take a semi-final place. Semi-finals A Moore & E Crawford 7 v R O’Neill & L Harrison 6
This was a cracker of a game with both side delivering some high class bowls with the heads changing by the bowl. Crawford claimed a single on the eight end to ensure there was nothing between the sides going into the final end. In another tight end the Mossley duo came out victorious by the narrowest of margins. S McMath & I Craig 12 v P McNamara & D Toman 4
This game was also close but turned when I Craig got an unexpected result to extend his lead instead of levelling the game. Two shots and four shots respectively on the seventh and eight end sealed the victory. | 
