South Belfast 38 v Armagh 80

L McFadden 6 v D Marshall 15

E Spratt 3 v M Cassells 14

H Wilson 14 v C McMillen 14

L Bruce 6 v F McNally 8

A Whitsitt 1 v B Malone

M Gilmore 8 v P Beattie 12

Oriel 57 : Foyle 44

South Tyrone 63 v East Antrim 49

This was a game of high quality bowls with heads changing on several occasions. On mat1 the home rink cajoled and encouraged by skip Ann McKiver had a narrow two shot lead after five ends. A high standard was maintained on this mat throughout with the visitors winning the last two ends to claim a hard fought win.

It was a game of cat and mouse on mat2 with East Antrim ahead by one shot at the start of the sixth end as only singles were scored on the opening five ends. Then J McOscar converted the sixth head in her favour to claim a double and move into the lead. The home four seized the initiative with a count of six in the eighth end to open an eight shot lead which they held over the last two ends.

The pick of the first half games was on mat3 with the quality of bowls good enough to grace a final. East Antrim’s front end dominated the early proceedings with their third and skip also in good form opening a lead of five shots after five ends. This forced the home third and skip to play pressure bowls and they responded well otherwise the visitors could have been out of sight. Their tenacity paid off and with the front end starting to produce good bowls the home rink fought back culminating in a double being claimed on the final end to record a draw. This was only possible because A Herran played an important delivery when she killed the tenth end with her final bowl as the visitors hold shot. Instead of a three shot defeat she salvaged a draw.

Fighting to the last bowl is a necessary characteristic if a team desires success and the homesters had it in abundance as they finished the first period in front by six shots when on reflection the match should have been level.

South Tyrone started nervously in the second half losing a four on mat5 and a single on mat4 but calm was restored as the wily Ida Eldon guided her rink to a three. The visitors continued ask serious questions of the home side and after three ends had been completed on the three mats the home lead had been whittled away to a solitary shot.

Then up stepped Colette Campbell who finally found her range under the most severe pressure to win ends four and five with two excellent drawing bowls. They changed the complexion of the game and made a significant difference on the scoreboard. Instead of trailing by six shots Campbell had held the deficit to only one shot and maintain an overall lead. At the same time Margaret McGrath inspired her rink from 0-3 behind after two ends to go in front by one shot after five ends.

With three quarters of the game played the match was still evenly balanced with South Tyrone holding off the challenge of the visitors although their lead had been halved. Ends six and seven proved decisive as all three South Tyrone rinks contributed to the lead being extended by ten shots to 13. East Antrim continued to battle and a four on the middle rink was countered by Eldon who with shot against took out the lying bowl and then drew another to claim a four for her rink and kill off any hope that East Antrim had as the lead extended to 16 shots with only three individual ends left to play.

Mats five and six produced tremendous games which were closely fought out with the lead changing hands on numerous occasions and each rink fighting back when behind. The biggest winning margin occurred on mat4 with the McGrath rink bouncing back from a three shot deficit to win by nine shots.

Both teams played well and can take positives from the outcome. South Tyrone have now come of age but need to repeat this level of performance in each game and if they can improve just slightly could be serious challengers for the trophy. They showed great character in the face of adversity in the second half to claim the victory against a very capable and steady side.

East Antrim have finished competitive bowling before Christmas for the first time in a few years but they are in transition and some of the changes they have instigated should be productive for future competitions and if they can find more young ones with the calibre of Chelsea Rea they will be strong enough to mount yet another serious challenge.

Scores at five and ten ends.

Rink1: B Lawn, C Quinn, J Burke & A McKiver v J Walker, R Braiden, R Ferguson & C McKay. 5-3 / 8-10

Rink2: M Fox, D Bropison, B Jennings & J McOscar v R Lyle, C Sweetnam, J Ringland & G Peel. 2-3 / 12-4.

Rink3: R Cartmill, B Wray, E Dorman & A Herran v M Crawford, L Patterson, J Green & R Hoy. 3-8 / 10-10.

Half Time South Tyrone 30 East Antrim 24

Rink4: M Quinn, B Spratt, M Campbell & M McGrath v E Park, J Penny, J Rea & S McAuley. 5-4 / 13-4.

Rink5: M Hughes, M Bell, J Boyd & C Campbell v D McAuley, M McGookin, M Dilworth & A Weir. 4-5 / 9-12.

Rink6: C Hagan, B Shackels, G McMenemy & I Eldon v C Rea, A Kennedy, J McConnell & A McLaughlin. 4-7 / 11-9.

West Down 48 v Northern 46

Mid Ulster 53 v Monaghan 43

MB Higgins 11 v B Comiskey 6

B Davison 6 v B Stewart 8

K McKenna 10 v M Treacy 5

E Wright 9 v M Howe 4

K Pitts 11 v L Carleton 5

M Rocks 5 v B Smith 15

Western 72 v Lisburn 35

P Harpur 13 v K Ellison 6

C Scott 6 v J McConnell 9

J Parkinson 11 v A O'Brien 1

J Carson 16 v M Corey 5

E Forster 16 v T Irwin 5

G Stevenson 10 v V McCourt 9

SHIELD

Donegal 89 v North Down 44

Donegal started brightly, moving into a 9 shot lead after 5 ends of the first half. Although this lead increased to 16 shots, North Down, through P. Telford, hit back over the final ends before the interval to reduce the deficit to 8 shots and leave the visitors within touch of the home team. North Down started the second half poorly, only posting 7 shots in the first five ends, and suddenly found themselves looking at a deficit of 28 shots. Matters, for North Down, did not improve over the final 5 ends, with the only highlight being Elaine Hastings playing an excellent wrong bias bowl to bury the jack in the corner.

	Donegal	North Down		Donegal	NDown
Rink 1	C. Wilson	B. Eadie	After 5	10	01
	R. McCausland	G. Reid
	M. Mullin	M. Young	After 10	16	03
	R. Hamilton	E. Neill
Rink 2	M. Sullivan	L. Ferris	After 5	01	11
	M. Witherow	S. McCullough
	S. Bell	G. Blair	After 10	08	13
	A. Gilfillan	M. Gaw
Rink 3	M. Witherow	L. McKeown	After 5	11	02
	I. Scott	M. Dinsmore
	J. Buchanan	M. McLean	After 10	13	13
	E. Doherty	P. Telford
Score at interval				37	29
Rink 4	P. Lyttle	K. Cathcart	After 5	11	01
	R. Dowds	I. Patton
	P. Bustard	N. Burns	After 10	23	04
	I. Duncan	S. Robson
Rink 5	D. Montgomery	V. Reilly	After 5	08	02
	R. Graham	E. Barr
	M. McClintock	M. Beattie	After 10	17	05
	M. Montgomery	J. Hollinger
Rink 6	K. Duggan	S. McNamara	After 5	08	01
	L. Finlay	A. Fulton
	V. Patterson	H. Cavan	After 10	12	06
	T. Spence	E. Hastings
Score in second half				52	15
Overall score				89	44

North West 56  Mid Tyrone 40

Rink1: M Lynch, C McCrossan, I McQuaid & J McKee 6 v A McElhinney, H Ferris, C Garnham & S Simpson 7

Rink2: W Wilson, E Tait, S Breadon & I Robb 3 v M McElwee, G McWilliams, J Morrow & P Black 10

Rink3: H Sproule, H Graham, K Marshall, H McGlone 8 v K Deighan, M Donaghy, M Tommons & I Douglas 12

Rink4: Y Clarke, A Gilmore, J Porter & W Sterritt 6 v M Mullan, L Douglas, K McDermott & M Douglas 15

Rink5: M Hamilton, A Adams, H Dunne & V Fox 10 v N Nicholl, R Kirk, L Moore & F McDermott 7

Rink6: M McElmurray, G Sproule, J Darragh & T McGeehan 7 v S Kennedy, N Graham, M Grieve & P McCann 5

Cork 61 v Mid Antrim 44

The Cork team took an early lead and by the half way stage of the first session led by nine shots (16/7) but Mid Antrim fought back in the second half to reduce the deficit to five shots at the end of the first session. In the second session the Cork team gradually increased their lead and after five ends were leading by seventeen shots (48/31) and in the remaining five ends held on to this advantage. The importance of shots for and against in team events can be judged by the fact that both teams won three games but the home team had the higher aggregate score to win the match. Congratulations to both teams on a most enjoyable and sporting match and the Cork Zone will now play the North West Zone in the next round of the Shield on Saturday 3rd January 2009 at the Garryduff Sports Centre, Rochestown, Co. Cork. 

Rink 1: Shelia O’Driscoll, Elizabeth Fitton, Bridie Hamilton & Callie O’Sullivan beat Margaret Tait, Margaret  Neeson, Helen  Maybin &  Jennifer Wilson (15/4)

Rink 2: Eithna Linehan, Mona Lynch, Hazel Hayne & Hazel Foley lost to Molly Turtle, Irene McCullough, Linda Stewart & Margaret Ewing (5/10)

Rink 3: Marie O’Hanlon, Kitty McCarthy, Marie O’Leary & Helen De Puis lost to Megan Wilson, Kathleen McKelvey, Samantha Lynn & Helen Lynn (7/8)

Rink 4: Mary Boyde, Shelia O’Leary, Betty Kenneally & Ann O’Sullivan lost Trish McBride, Betty Watson, Roberta Morrison & Pauline Wilson (8/13)

Rink 5: Mary Middleton, Joan Williams, Jean Lynch & Val Todd beat Elsa Scott, Sally Carson, Ann Bacon & Wilma Adair (18/3)

Rink 6: Kay McCarthy, Frances Thompson, Phil Lawton & Marion Canning beat Margaret Clarke, Joan Donnelly, Pearl Peacock & Irene Adams (8/6)