Seniors vs Dunbarton

Fresh from PG cup semi finals NICS faced league leaders Dunbarton at Stormont with the home team looking to provide a better account of themselves than last year's 114-31 drubbing.

Rink 2 saw John Mooney, Derek Brown, Artie Rice and Davy Hunter take on D McElroy, E Campbell, G McElroy and C McCartan. The first 5 ends saw Davy's rink trail 5-2 and matters got worse with the scoreline 12-4 at 10 ends. The next 5 ends were tighter and the score was 16-7 at 15. A great 4 ends of two, four, one and three saw the home rink take the lead 17-16 at 19 ends. Conor McCartan drew in for shot with four against in the 20th to set up a grand stand finale. In the 21st end both front ends dropped several bowls a yard short before Artie drew the shot only for Gary McElroy to respond immediately by trailing the jack a foot. Unfortunately neither Artie nor Davy, who had a very difficult task to negotiate a wall of bowls, were unable to make the required change. Final score 17-19.

Rink 3 had Geoff McKinney, Derek Forsythe, Mansel Montgomery and Alan Montgomery face D Copeland, F Doyle, S Adamson and DJ Wilson. Another tight start saw the score 2-4 after 5 ends. Al's rink dominated the next 5 ends to lead 12-5 and continued to extend the lead to 18-8 at 15 ends through some fantastic bowls. The last 6 ends were lost 6-2. The big change happened in the 19th end where NICS lay a good 3 in a narrow target. DJ Wilson having missed with his first drive lifted the jack and three shots with his second effort. Final score 20-14.

Rink 4 saw Norman Shields, Albert Preston, JJ Leonard and Stanley Hegan take on M Higgins, P Adamson, C Mulholland and M Greenfield. NICS won the first 2 ends before dropping two, four, two to trail 8-3 after 5. The next few ends were tight and only some rescue bowls from Myles prevented Stanley lifting counts. The score at 10 ends was 6-13. The game remained tight, but in the Dunbarton rink shaded the next 5 ends to lead 18-9 at 15 ends. Foxy's rink were unable to mount a comeback and lost 14-26.

Rink 5 had Mark De Conink, Michael Bell, Ian Hutton and Freddie Murdock face D Pedan, I Perry, A Hughes and T Bell. A good start saw the home rink jump out to a 7-1 lead. The lead grew slightly to 11-4 at 10 ends and the lead was 17-8 at 15 ends. A six in the 16th end when Dunbarton ditched the jack and the NICS boys were unable to get within 3 yards of ditch changed the momentum and the home rink didn't score again until the final end while their opponents added another 8 shots. The final score was 18-22.

Overall a good display against top opposition. Almost everywhere across the green NICS matched Dunbarton and with a bit of luck could have come away with a win. This is a perfomance to build upon as the reigning champions got a scare at Stormont.