PG Cup Final vs Ballymena

NICS went into the final as heavy underdogs with the result a foregone conclusion in many eyes. The 16 players representing NICS set out to prove everyone wrong.

Rink 2 Norman Shields, Albert Preston, JJ Leonard and Stanley Hegan vs S Shields, G Wilson, A Morrison and N Robinson.

Rink 3 Mark De Conink, Derek Brown, Ian Hutton and Brian Leonard vs S Falls, J Hodges, S Allen and S Coleman

Rink 4 John Mooney, Davy Hunter, Artie Rice and Freddie Murdock vs D Torrington, A Bonnar, J Millar and A Duncan.

Rink 5 Geoff McKinney, Derek Forsythe, Mansel Montgomery and Alan Montgomery vs JR Nicholl, J Robinson, M Torrington and A Kyle

The first 5 ends on Foxy's rink went badly as they trailed 10-1. Things went better on Brian's rink as they led 6-4. Things were going even better on Freddie's rink as they led 10-1. Al's rink were trailing 6-2. After 5 ends the score was 19-21 to Ballymena.

The next 5 ends saw Stanley stem the flow and cut the deficit to trail 14-7. Brian's rink won 4 out of the next 5 ends to lead 11-7. Freddie's rink suffered a reversal of fortune as they dropped a 5, 3, 4 and 1 in the 5 ends to trail 15-11. Al's rink lifted a 3 in the 9 end to trail 9-6 after 10 ends. After 10 ends the score was 35-45 to Ballymena.

By now the floodlights were on and the rain was starting to fall. Stanley's rink shared the next 5 ends to trail 18-10. Brian's rink kept their noses in front to lead 16-11, though Brian was lucky to only drop 2 instead of 5 in the 14th end. Freddie's match continued to swing as they now led 18-17. Al's rink lifted a 4 in the 12th end to share the 5 ends to trail 14-11. After 15 ends the score was 55-60.

Stanley's rink shaded the final 6 ends to lose 23-16. In the second half of their game Stanley's rink played well and Nigel Robinson bailed his rink out numerous times to win.

Brian's rink also shaded the last 6 ends to win 21-15. Brian's rink played well throughout the game with Derek and Ian playing key conversion shots during the game. Brian played some key shots during the game to convert heads.

Freddie's rink shared the last 6 ends to draw 23-23. Freddie's rink played well with John Mooney setting the tone with some excellent leading. In the last end on the green Freddie was faced with the very difficult task of overcoming a 3 shot deficit in the overall match. His task was made near impossible when Jonny Millar drew in to lie shot.

Al's rink mounted a great comeback to lead 18-14 after 19 ends. Unfortunately things went wrong in the 20th end as Al's rink dropped a 6. In the final end they dropped 2 shots to lose 22-18.

The final score was 78-83. The team can hold their heads high after a fantastic effort. The standard of bowling was excellent and the fighting spirirt shown across the green was exceptional.