BOWLS: League double for Coleraine over City men

Coleraine had a very good result away to City of Derry last Monday night at Lisnagelvin; claiming six points, narrowly missing out on the full seven.

The Bannsiders were coming off the back of a very good win at home to Cookstown, and they were out to keep the pressure on at the top end of the Senior League table. City of Derry however wanted to make amends, having lost 5-2 at home to Portrush in their last outing.

It was a good start to proceedings for the away side as they took an early five shot lead before extending that advantage to 14 shots at the halfway mark. The Bannsiders moved up a gear and opened up a 27-shot lead with five ends remaining before the Lodge Road side sealed an excellent 34-shot victory.

On rink two, Ian Ross’ four had an excellent win against Alan Smyth’s quartet. It was nip and tuck in the early stages as the home rink held a one shot advantage, before the visitors opened up a three shot lead at the halfway stage. Jordan Dallas, Philip Stirling, Ally Davison and Ian kept the pressure on with good bowling from the lead right through the rink to move eight shots to the good by the 16th end, and they eventually claimed a thoroughly deserved 24-13 victory.

On rink three, Victor Dallas’ four had a good win over Sean McIlhinney. It was a good start to proceedings for the visitors as they led by five shots and they increased their advantage to eight shots at the halfway stage. Mark Mason, Stephen Brewster, David Gaile and Victor maintained the lead with five ends remaining, as they saw out the last few ends to clinch a 23-16 result.

The rink of Jimmy O’Neill, Noel Vauls, Alan Irwin and Russell Miller had a resounding win against Finbar Brolly on rink four. The visitors raced out of the blocks, claiming two large counts in the opening ends to lead by 11 shots before extending the advantage to 13 shots at the halfway point. Miller’s men maintained their lead with a quarter of the tie to play and they romped home to a 29-15 scoreline, adding to the sizeable Coleraine advantage.

Over on rink five, Jonny Calvin’s men had a close encounter against Robin Donaghy’s quartet. Paul O’Neill, Hugh McCallum, Basil Kennedy and Jonny were seven shots in arrears in the early stages of the match before falling 10 shots behind at the halfway stage. With a change of length, the visitors fought back to within two shots by the 16th end, however, they were denied a full house of points, eventually slipping to a 20-19 defeat.

It was a good result for the Coleraine men, claiming six points, and very nearly making it a full seven. The Bannsiders move into third place in the NIPBA Senior League table, 8.5 points off leaders Portrush. Next up for the Lodge Road men is the first leg of the Piggot Cup semi-final away to Ballymoney. However, they will be travelling with a depleted squad to the Church Street venue.