Western Ambushed
Armagh 53 v Western 52
A game that promised so much between two teams who have genuine hopes of lifting the Boomer cup come March certainly didn’t disappoint. Armagh had strengthened their line-up from last year’s semi final defeat against West Down. Western had much to prove after suffering two demoralising defeats to unheralded Foyle and Monaghan last season. What transpired proved to be a game that would have graced the final itself, with both sides going full tilt for the early supremacy and a place in the next round.
Armagh started brightly with the rinks skipped by Alan Roberts & Danny McDonalds racing into 3-1 & 4-0 leads respectively. International Skip Gary Burke reaffirmed his status within the game with four perfect deliveries in the opening two ends for a 4-0 advantage to stem the tide. Andy Leckey in his debut at skip for Armagh fought back in the next end to half the deficit but it was very much a baptism of fire for the St Marks player as the visiting rink continued to expose the Armagh front three, leaving Andy with the thankless task of trying to contain the rampant Western four. Gary continued to impress and removed Andy’s bowl for a count of 5 to extend his lead to 9-2 (4 ends). Western were visibly lifted and Paul Wilson & Trevor Morrison raised their performance levels to help the visitors to a 4 shot lead after 5 ends. The Morrison rink sustained the onslaught and stole the initiative from the ever impressive Armagh rink to lead 9-6 (9 ends) a feat few have achieved in the past 3 seasons. Armagh were beginning to rock after Gary Burke added another count of 4 to extend his lead to 13-4 and in turn a 9 shot lead for Western. Armagh could see the game slipping away from them and responded with the character that has been lacking from their games in previous seasons. Sean Conroy (Snr) was in superb form for Armagh, bursting into life in ends 7,8,9 running the jack to the ditch twice, turning a toucher onto the face of the jack, followed up with a fine draw around the head finishing millimetres from the ditch to help his colleges to scores of 2,3,&1 and a 10-3 lead.
The final end of the first period started with the sides locked together on 25 shots each. Armagh looked set for a half time lead with Roberts gaining two shots, Leckey lying 3 and McDonald looking good for second. Wilson & Burke had other ideas and conspired to leave Armagh reeling at the interval, Wilson decided he could find a path to Danny’s second shot and removed it for a count of 5. Not to be outdone Gary Burke capped a marvellous performance by delivering his last delivery down the edge of the mat with perfect weight to finish inches from the ditch line and give Western a four shot lead at the break.
Armagh 27 v 31 Western (Half Time)
After the interval Western continued to put the home side under intense pressure and with 2 ends played the visitors had once again extended their lead to 9 shots and seemed to be turning the screw on Armagh. Joe Beattie’s rink which included D. Wright returning to the fold led the revival with a run of 3,3,2&1 to lead 10-3. Andrew Hughes and his rink also brought their ‘A’ game to the table and always looked in control of the game against D Graham and cruised into a 5-1 lead at the half way point. Western however still had the overall lead by two shots as Marty Trainor came up against a very powerful Western rink which included 2007 International Norman Noble at second who was inflicting most of the damage as Marty found himself on the wrong end of a 9-0 scoreline after 6 ends.
With 5 individual ends remaining the game was to take a dramatic twist. Western were in front overall by two shots and had built a match winning position with each Armagh skip having one bowl to play. Joe Beattie found himself 2 down with little hope of converting the head, to his credit he hit the head perfectly and lady luck smiled as Armagh claimed the shot for a deserved 12-5 victory. It seemed to be in vain with the Western supporters in full voice as victory seemed certain. A Hughes had 3 against, Marty Trainor had 4 against and John McVitty had played the perfect blocking shot 18 inches short of the head to leave the International Skip with no shot. Marty disagreed and decided to drive the short bowl onto the jack for two shots to Armagh, the normally cool headed St Anthony’s player responded with a ferocious roar to the heaven’s and it was ‘game on’ once again. With Beattie & Trainor both converting their respective heads the pressure was put firmly on Hughes shoulders to keep the match alive and he did just that in some style running the bare jack into the ditch for the shot giving Armagh a slender 1 shot lead. These 3 bowls produced a 13 shot swing in Armagh’s favour and clearly had Western rattled. Jack Moffett & Chris Mulholland did little to lift the opposition’s gloom running the jack to the ditch to ensure the home side had a 3 shot lead to defend with one end left to play.
Victory should have been secured at this point but Ivor Armstrong & Norman Noble had outplayed their counterparts for the previous 9 ends and the last was to be no different as they continued to decorate the jack. Trainor went to the head with the match against, another accurate drive sent the home support into raptures after claiming the shot however John McVitty ensured the drama continued with an excellent drive to burn the end. The replayed end proved to be just as dramatic as Western once again played the better bowls to hold 4 shots. Paul Moore was unlucky to get a poor result from a drive to leave only one Armagh bowl in the head as Western looked set to steal the victory. To the delight of the home support Trainor made both bowls count to contain McVitty to two shots and Armagh fell over the line for a 53-52 victory and a place in the next round of the inter-zone.
Armagh showed the type of character that will be needed if they are to lift the Boomer cup this season, but the manner of defeat for the Leckey & Trainor rinks will be a worry for the selectors. More attacking power is needed in the front ends of modern day inter-zone games especially in the second half. The Armagh back-end of Moore and Trainor were constantly put under pressure by the excellent Western duo of Armstrong and Noble. On another day the scoreline could have been significantly in favour of the Western four.
However on a day of high drama Armagh sneaked through but it is the game of bowls that was the real winner.
Mat 1; P Garvey, S Conroy (Snr), S Conroy (Jnr), D McDonald 10-8 J Brennan, I McElroy, T Cathcart, P Wilson
Mat 2; P Wilson, K Trainor, G Culbert, A Roberts 8-9 R Graham, B Collins, K Bradshaw, T Morrison
Mat 3; I Irwin, N Uprichard, C Leckey, A Leckey 9-14 A Brown, D Gilliland, W Knox, G Burke
Mat 4; J Moffett, C Mulholland, I Perry, A Hughes 10-4 H Nixon, R Nixon, A Graham, D Graham
Mat 5; C Donaldson, K McConville, P Moore, M Trainor 4-12 I Armstrong, N Noble, H Gawley, J McVitty
Mat 6; L McCarten, C Beattie, D Wright, J Beattie 12-5 D Ferguson, N Cox, J McCaffrey, J Morris
Mighty Meath
Meath 50 East Antrim 46
First every win for the men from Meath and by all accounts it was well deserved with a second half fightback and a late dramatic count costing East Antrim dearly. In the first period the home side never let the visitors get out of reach. Eddie Crawford had the biggest rink win of the day guiding his troops to a six shot victory. One match finished level while M Fitzpatrick had a narrow one shot win for the home side.
The game was anyone’s at the interval with only five shots separating the teams but the question was could Meath hold themselves together in a close finish which would give them their first win? Each home second half rink did their team proud with all three winning by a narrow margin of three shots to give their zone the first taste of victory in this competition. Hopefully this will be a fillip for bowls in the area and also the men can continue their improvement over the next few years. Where there is elation in sport often there is despair and this loss puts East Antrim at an all time low. A critical count of five for P Murtagh of the home side in the tenth end of their game proved decisive EAZ will be expecting to bounce back from this humiliation in the shield against bitter rivals Larne.
M Fitzpatrick 8 v S McKinley 7, T Nulty 6 v E Crawford 12, L Focley 8 v P Weir 8, S Faulkner 10 v J O’Kane 7, T Murray 10 v D Hill 7, P Murtagh 8 v K Walker 5.
Oriel O so determined
Larne 50 Oriel 56
Oriel travelled with high expectation to Larne but knew that if they did not hit form then it could be a long miserable journey home. They came with an experimental line but with the same steady core of players. The selectors gave four new skips an opportunity to stake a claim in the search for the right combinations to move the team forward. Overall they were hungry for success and where as keen and enthusiastic as ever.
They started brightly and had the home side under extreme pressure scoring on the first three ends of each rink to build up a substantial lead including a morale boosting count of five on the first end of mat2.
Larne are also in a transitional period but have a strong core that are still learning the game at this level and who with more consistency and better reading of the game could significantly move up the zone rankings. There is a willingness to progress and once the right chemistry is found for the rinks this team can gain confidence and move forward.
Larne showed their battling qualities by putting the disastrous start behind them and reducing the overall deficit at the interval to only three shots. Quite an achievement considering the momentum roll that the visitors were on.
On rink1 the Oriel rink took a 0-6 shot lead after three ends but the home four hit back with a count of four and despite losing four of the opening five ends had reduced the deficit to three shots. The visitors also had control of the game on rink2 as they over whelmed the home four claiming a five on the first end and winning four of the first five ends to open a lead of ten shots [1-11]. Ten individual ends played on the two mats and the home side had only won two ends. It did not get much better on the remaining mat where the home side lost the opening four ends to trail by eight shots. The home four did manage to get on the scoreboard with a single on the fifth end. The signs were ominous for Larne who now faced a twenty shot deficit but also they would have suffered a huge dent to their confidence.
On mat1 the two side exchanged the next two ends before the Larne foursome combined well to change the complexion of the game with a count of six. It was the lift that the whole side required. Paul Duff seemed to have avoided the count as he drew in to reduce a count of five but Alan grasped his opportunity to change the game by chopping out the Oriel bowl for six shots and turn a two shot deficit into a four shot lead. The Oriel side were visibly stunned and with another four shots on the last end the Larne rink finished ahead by seven shots with Chris Snoddy at second one of the main components of the comeback for Larne.
James Burns was appearing at skip for the first time at this level and it was proving a sharp learning curve. Once he was able to get his foursome settled they also started to hit back and reduced the Oriel advantage from ten shots down to four shots at the end of the tenth. An excellent reward for not giving up and fighting to the final bowl. The lowest scoring match of the first period occurred on mat3. Oriel were in control but as on the other mats Larne were improving to such a degree that John Murnaghan at skip required an excellent drawing bowl on the eighth end with three shots against to complete a four shot turnover and keep his rink ahead. He guided his rink to a six shot win allowing Oriel to keep the overall lead at the interval but only by a margin of three shots
Larne 28 v Oriel 31
Rink1: I Semple, C Snoddy, E Wilson & A McLean 16 v D Taaffe, S Conlon, M McLearnon & P Duff 9
Rink2: D Witherspoon, J McRandal, M Murphy & J Burns 8 v G Crosby, R McCabe, P Hanlon & D McMahon 12
Rink3: J Hamill, K Devenney, D McRandal & A Robinson 4 v T Martin, T Gartland, J Fox & J Murnaghan
The second stanza lived up to all expectation a hard fought close contest from which both sides can take positives considering the number of head changing bowls delivered. The Larne rink on mat4 played excellent bowls keeping the Oriel four skipped by K Conroy constantly under pressure with Kevin saving a number of shots. After two ends the home side had a four shot lead but it was insufficient to gain the overall lead as Oriel had opened the scoring on mat6 and in a very positive encounter on mat5 Larne dropped a count of five on the second end. Again Larne showed good character to fight back and after four ends across the three mats had levelled the overall scores.
Oriel were not to be out battled and showed some true grit to again seize the initiative and extend their lead to six shots. Oriel never extended that lead but neither did they ever surrender it to the home side as they kept their composure and produced the necessary bowls at the appropriate time to secure victory. The Larne rink of S Young, S Gingles, D Montgomery & T Bodles deservedly won by four shots but if they had of caught Kevin on an off day then the score would have been significantly higher which would have given the home side the overall win.
After losing an early five the Larne rink restricted their opponents to singles but their opposition did not surrender any counts and squeezed out a one shot win. Conor Mackin had the greatest impact on this game as he ditched the jack on two consecutive ends and then opened the head with a running shot one end later. With these two mats completed G McCabe held a four shot lead over the home four who needed a count of four to claim a tie. In the end the Oriel four delivered some tactical bowls which never allowed the home four a chance of the required shots. Oriel were the more positive four but the score should have been different if Larne had of taken a more attacking approach instead. Being too neat only encourages an attacking side to be into the head giving them the opportunity to change it in their favour.
Rink4: S Young, S Gingles, D Montgomery & T Bodles 10 v J McMahon, N Mackin, J McMahon & K Conroy 6
Rink5: F Duff, P Robinson, J Semple, J Kerr 7 v N Hand, M O’Connor, C Mackin & M Hand 8
Rink6: D McClelland, A Kincaid, B Petticrew & G Falconer 5 v B McCabe, S McParland, J Hand & G McCabe 11
Result: Larne 50 v Oriel 56
Northern 48 North West 50
The home side had a surprise slight advantage over the holders at the interval with C Jones’ rink claiming a six shot win. A three shot lead is never comfortable especially against the reigning champions who had overturned the three shot deficit and had taken a twelve shot lead. The home team did fight back over the last few ends but left it too late as the experience of the holders ensured progress to the next round by a margin of two shots.
C Jones 10 v N Logue 4, A Steele 8 v R O’Neill 11, S White 7 v J McKay 7, B McAlary 9 v T McIntyre 10, W McCaw 8 v L Harrison 9, E Irwin 6 v I Watson 9
Mid Down 37 Mid Ulster 66
This was always going to be a tough assignment for the home side as their opposition have a fine pedigree in this competition.
In the first run of the mats after 5 ends it was nip and tuck with Mid Ulster leading 8-7. However the last five ends of the first half belonged to Mid Ulster who extended their lead to 29-14 at half-time.
Rink One: It was close for 5 ends with Mid Down 3-2 ahead. The second 5 ends belonged to Mid Ulster as the home rink struggled to get a bowl near the jack. Mid Ulster scored 3 shots on the sixth and ninth ends and four shots on the seventh end to win by 15-3.
Rink Two: This was an absorbing match with little to choose between the rinks. After 5 ends the Mid Down rink were 3-2 behind. A run of 4 shots over the next 2 ends gave the home side a 2 shot lead. Going into the final end Mid Down held a slender 1 shot lead. They held shot in the last end but Mid Ulster hit a toucher into the ditch to claim the shot and leave the final score 6 all.
Rink Three: This was another tight game. After 5 ends Mid Ulster were 3-2 ahead. Counts of 2 and 3 on the sixth and seventh end to Mid Ulster extended their lead to 6 shots. The home rink didn’t give up and scored 3 shots on the remaining 3 ends to reduce the deficit to 8-5.
The Mid Down rinks could not close the gap over the opening ends of the second run of the mats. Mid Ulster extended their lead and ran out easy winners by 66-37.
Rink Four: The Mid Down rink led 2-1 after 2 ends but Mid Ulster scored 6 shots over the next 3 ends to lead 7-2 at the half-way mark. The home rink scored 2 shots on the sixth end to trail 7-4 but lost 10 shots on the remaining 4 ends to lose 17-4.
Rink Five: This was a titanic struggle between the Mid Down rink skipped by Alan Laughlin and reigning World Singles champion Colm McHugh. The Mid Down rink led 4-1 after 3 ends before dropping 5 shots over the next 3 ends to trail 6-4. On the seventh end the Mid Down rink scored 4 shots to lead 8-6. The Mid Ulster rink then scored 5 shots over the remaining 3 ends to win a highly entertaining and high quality game by 11-8.
Rink Six: The home rink got off to a disastrous start dropping 6 shots on the second end. They fought back well to trail 6-5 after 4 ends only to lose 3 shots on the next end. To their credit the Mid Down rink stuck to their task and lifted 5 shots on the next end and one shot on the seventh end to lead 11-9. As Mid Down could nor win the overall score the match ended at this point.
What did both Zones learn from this match? Mid Down selectors can take some comfort from the fact that they competed well on 4 out of the 6 rinks but must worry about the other 2 rinks. Much was written beforehand about the 14 changes, positional or otherwise, to the Mid Ulster team. However Mid Ulster will still rely on the tried and tested old guard of the McHugh brothers and Alan Paul to name a few. Mark Wilson had a dream start on his first game as skip giving Mid Ulster a comfortable half-time lead that they were never going to surrender. There will be harder matches ahead and only then will we see if Mid Ulster are as a formidable side as the ones which won the Boomer Cup from 1998/99 to 2002/03.
Rink 1: C Cromie, A Rice, C Wilson, P McNamara 3 G Smith, C McKnight, S Davison, M Wilson 15
Rink 2: C Gibson, R Robinson, A Gibson, G Christie 6 P Jones, S Kyne, B Kyne, L McHugh 6
Rink 3: J Kennedy, K McMullan, P Rooney, P Murray 5 N Conway, T Turkington, J O’Brien, L Conway 8
Rink 4: J Hunter, D Long, S Bleue, P Christie 4 D McAllister, A Bradley, D McStravick, A Paul 17
Rink 5: D Toman, D McNamara, P Fitzsimons, A Laughlin 8 C Hogg, T McAleavey, D Jordan, C McHugh 11
Rink 6: D Gibson, R Copes, I Robinson, D McCann 11 G Wilson, G Herron, J Quinn, D McElroy 9
Other Scores:
South Down 45 Mid Tyrone 62
South Belfast 38 South Tyrone 67
West Down 47 Foyle 55
Cork WO North Down | 
