Week to forget for '˜B' team with league and cup defeats

The ‘B’ outfit did their best to join their ‘A’ team clubmates in the semi final of the NIPGL Senior Cup when they entertained Hilden last week.

The Braid men put up a good fight and going in to the final ends there was only a few shots in the game but the visitors finished strongly to win the game by a margin of 15 shots.

On rink 1 Alan Smyth, Stewart McCarthy, Danny McCullough and John Coulter started slowly against H McMullan and with 8 end played the visitors lead by 11 shots to 3.

A count of 6 shots on the next end brought the Ballymena men back in to the game but they were unable to build on this and with 16 ends played the Hilden men lead by 22 shots to 11.

The Braid rink won the next 3 ends however a single on the penultimate end and a count of 6 shots on the final end gave the visitors victors by 29 shots to 15.

Mark Pearson, John McFall, David Torrington and Roy Torrington had a difficult start against T Gray on rink 2. The visitors won all but 1 of the opening 10 ends to leave the Ballymena men trailing by 18 shots to 3.

The Braid rink rolled up their sleeves and 5 ends later they had cut the arrears to only 5 shots however 7 shots on the 16th and 17th ends ensured that victory would go to the visitors with the final score 28-20.

On rink 3 Jimmy Gage, Nigel McFadden, Tommy Hill and Ivan Lynn started well against K Morrison and 3 counts of 3 shots and a count of 4 over the opening 10 ends saw the Ballymena men move in to a 13 shot lead.

The visitors had slightly the better of the remaining ends but they were unable to make any inroads in to the Ballymena lead and in the end the Braid rink were well worth their 23-13 victory.

Geoff Padgett, Arnold Kenny, Jackie Robinson and Sammy Allen made the early running against J Gray on rink 4 and with only 4 ends played they lead by 8 shots to 2.

Over the next few ends the visitors gradually ate in to the Ballymena lead and a count of 4 shots on the 16th end saw the visitors take the lead for the first time with the score board reading 17 shots to 14. Both rinks scored 5 shots over the remaining ends to leave the final score 22-19 in favour of the Hilden men.

LEAGUE

Ballymena B (68) Falls A (104)

Ballymena B entertained Falls A last Saturday and unfortunately the Braid men were well beaten by a margin of 36 shots.

On rink 1 Leslie Barr, Rod Coleman, Danny McCullough and John Coulter were involved in a close game against M Leckey. The Braid men won 4 of the first 5 ends to lead by 8 shots to 5 however Falls won 4 of the next 5 ends to snatch the lead with the score board reading 11-9.

The Ballymena rink had much the better of the next 10 ends and going in to the final end they lead by 3 shots however they were denied victory when the visitors picked up a count of 3 shots to draw level with the final score 18-18.

Billy McCandless, Arnold Kenny, Jackie Robinson and Sammy Allen had a tough day against M Morgan on rink 2. The Braid men were very much second best in this game. The visitors won 15 of the first 20 ends and during this period the Braid men could only score a total of 6 shots.

On the other hand the Falls rink scored 3 counts of 3 shots and 2 counts 4 shots as they amassed a total of 32 shots to lead by 26 shots going in to the final. The Ballymena rink kept fighting and they more than doubled their score when the picked up a count of 7 shots to go down by 13 shots to 32.

Mark Pearson, John McFall, Geoff Padgett and Roy Torrington made a good start in their game against P McGarrity on rink 3 and after 12 ends the Braid men lead by 13 shots to 7.

Four ends later the margin was still 4 shots and appeared to be well on control of the game however the visitors had other ideas. The Falls men picked up 3 shots on the 17th end, 4 shots on the 18th end and 6 shots on the 19th end to turn the game on its head. Both rinks claimed 3 shots over the final 2 ends but it was the visitors who won this encounter by 26 shots to 19.

On rink 4 Jimmy Gage, Nigel McFadden, Tommy Hill and Ivan Lynn won 8 of the opening 13 ends against P McEwan however with the help of two 5’s on the 2nd and 4th ends the game was still in the balance with the scoreboard reading 17-17.

The Falls rink dominated the remainder of the game and during this time the visitors outscored the Ballymena men by 11 shots to 1 to record a 28-18 victory.

This week Ballymena B entertain Hilden A in NIPGL Division 2.