Coleraine book Irish Senior Cup semi final spot

The Bannsiders were going in to the game off the back of a good away win over Dunluce, whilst they had beaten Dundonald and Blackrock in previous rounds to get to this stage.

Dun Laoghaire are only half a point off the top spot in the BLI and had defeated Ewarts, Divis and Lisnagarvey to reach the last eight.

The Lodge Road lads took early control of the tie, leading by 21 shots before it was rained off after five ends. Both teams picked up where they left off on Sunday and the Dubliners had reduced the deficit to 15 shots at the halfway stage. However, the Coleraine men dug in and opened up a 23 shot advantage with a quarter of the tie remaining before romping home to a fantastic 41-shot victory.

It was a superb win for Jonathan Calvin’s quarter on rink two against Mike Tyrrell. The Coleraine lads were 18-0 up after six ends, with some fantastic bowling. By the halfway point, it was a 19-shot lead as Calvin’s men looked in the mood. Matthew Steen, Paul O’Neill, Philip Stirling and Jonny Calvin moved 21 shots ahead of the opposition before sealing an excellent 33-12 win; giving the rest of the team a brilliant foundation to build upon.

Over on rink one it was a very good victory for Ian Ross’ men over James Murphy. It was nip and tuck in the early stages as the home quartet led by a shot, and it was a similar scoreline after 10 ends of play.

Jordan Dallas, Kris McGrath, Basil Kennedy and Ian Ross kept pegging away and maintained their slender advantage with a quarter of the game to go, however, a run of good scoring in the closing stages saw Ross men home to a comfortable 24-14 result.

It was another fine victory on rink three for Victor Dallas’ four against Mark Brown.

Mark Broderick, Stephen Brewster, David Gaile and Victor Dallas held a narrow one shot lead after five ends of play before falling four shots behind at the halfway mark in the tie.

However, Dallas’ men didn’t panic and a count of five on the 16th end moved them a shot clear. A further count of six in the latter stages clinched an excellent 23-14 victory.

Over on rink four, Russell Miller’s men made it a clean sweep as they defeated Marcus Donohoe. Miller’s men were one shot in arrears in the early stages before turning the tables to lead by a shot after 10 ends of play.

Gary Tosh, Noel Vauls, Alan Irwin and Russell Miller kept working hard as the tie was levelled with five ends remaining before they saw off a determined Dublin rink by an 18-17 scoreline.

It was a fantastic and well deserved win for the Bannsiders, having led by 21 shots on resumption of the match on Sunday; Dun Laoghaire actually reduced the deficit to just seven shots at one stage before the Lodge Road lads stepped up a gear and at one stage led by 50 shots before they clinched a superb 41-shot victory.

Next up for Coleraine is a tricky tie against Larne in the Irish Senior Cup semi-final this Saturday, August 11th. The Bannsiders will hope to rekindle the class of 2013 and hopefully book a slot in the showpiece event of Irish bowls.

Rink one: I.Ross 24-14 J.Murphy. Rink two: J.Calvin 33-12 M.Tyrrell. Rink three: V.Dallas 23-14 M.Brown. Rink four: R.Miller 18-17 M.Donohoe.