On Saturday the ladies played Greenhills away and it a very low scoring game where they were beaten 10 – 8. Hard luck ladies, Greenhills is not an easy place to win. Their next game is at home to Westmanstown to on the 23rd of July.
Saturday’s game for the 1st team was a learning curve on a number of level’s. With the cup final to be played on this rink on the 14th of August this was a good chance to learn about the green. With the great weather we have had in the week before and with CYM cutting the grass to the bare minimum in an attempt to give them every edge in this top of the table clash, the green played faster than some of the newer artificial surfaces. We also learnt how far CYM are willing to go to win a league. While they did not break any BLI rules they played 4 quality division 1 bowlers including a senior inter-association lead bowler from last year. The third thing we learnt was that the BLI rules are not fit for purpose and significantly favour the big clubs. By manipulating their registrations they could have a number of 1st team bowlers who could play not only for their 2nd team but also for the 3rd team even if they were international bowlers. The honor of the gentleman playing the game is supposed ensure thinks like that don’t happen, But as seen on Saturday the spirit that the game should be played in goes out the window when medals and cups are on the line. This was a disappointing 99 to 72 loss. (1 points to 6). Especially when be beat the same side by 40 points 2 weeks ago in a neutral venue.
Adam’s rink of Ian, Tim and Carrick were the only rink to play a CYM rink that had not been supplemented by 1st team players. They only lost 6 ends in total but kept giving away big counts to keep CYM interested. 6 – 0 up after 4 ends they gave away 7 to go behind. 10 – 8 up after 8 they gave away a 3 to be losing 10 – 11.22 – 14 up after 18 they gave away a 5 to be only winning 22 – 19. But they got 5 shots on the last 2 ends to win 27 – 19 and pick up our only point.
Billy’s rink of of Paddy, Zach and Fiachra were well in the game at 6 – 7 after 9 ends but they only won 2 ends out of the next 9 to be losing 8 – 25 before they won the last 3 ends make the score look a more respectable 15 – 25 loss.
Nigel’s rink of Bryan, Tadgh and Dave won the first 2 ends but then lost the next 8 to find themselves 3 – 19 down. They steadied the ship and won the last 11 ends 9 – 6 . But still ended up losing 12 – 25.
Derek’s rink of Paul L, Gerry and Ultan also won the first 2 ends and continued to do well and were 11 – 10 up after 12 ends. but they only won 2 of the last 9 ends and were beaten 18 -30 in the end.
On Tuesday the 19th the 1st team played Crumlin at home in the league. The Crumlin team found it hard to play on the slow Railway green compared to their international standard lightening quick green and were not shy in letting this be known as Fiachra and Nigel’s rink built up a big early leads to kill the match off as a competition. Derek’s and Adam’s rinks had a fight on their hands and both games came down to the last end before the winners were known. We came away with 97 – 58, 6 points to 1 win.
Fiachra’s rink of Paddy, Paul K and Drew had a good start and were 12 – 2 up after 7 ends. Crumlin fought back to 16 – 11 after 13 ends but 2 fives in the next 2 ends finished them off and thy won comfortably 33 – 16.
Nigel’s rink of Bryan, Tim and Dave were in control for the whole game only losing 6 ends in total. They were 11 – 1 up after 6. After a 6 on the 14 end they were 25 – 4 up and finished the game big 31 – 8 winners.
Adam’s rink of Ian, Zach and Carrick were in a tight low scoring game. 5 – 5 after 7 ends. 8 – 8 after 12 ends After losing a 4 on the 16th end the score was again tied 12 – 12. After 18 ends they were 12 – 14 down but they git a shot on each of the final 3 ends to win by the bare minimum 15 – 14 to get a point that very nearly slipped away.
Derek’s rink of Paul L, Gerry and Ultan had what in soccer speak would be described as a game of two halves. They won 9 of the first 12 ends to build up a healthy 16 – 4 lead. but lost 7 of the last 9 ends including a 5 on 14th end that gave Crumlin belief that they were still in the game. But they were only 2 points down going into the last end with a chance to salvage the game. They were lying 1 shot with the Crumlin nearest wood in a good position to be knocked out of the head. Ultan went for the shot but just caught the edge of the wood and moved it closer to the jack but more importantly nearly impossible to be hit out directly. Derek tried to hit one of our woods onto their wood but only managed to end up holding one shot so they were beaten 18 – 19.
It is a testament to where were are now when everyone is disappointed that we didn’t beat a strong Crumlin team 7 – 0. The next game is at home against Shankill on Saturday the 23rd of July.
On Monday night the second team played away to St Games Gate in their last away game of the season. The Gate are runaway leaders in the league and have only being beaten once this season away to Dun Laoghaire. So a whitewash was a possibility but we ended up with a 45 – 32 loss (1 – 5 points). They have no game next week and their next game is at home to CYM on Tuesday the 2nd of August.
John M’s rink of Rory, Brendan B and John H had a good competitive game. They were 6 – 3 up after 6, 8 – 8 after 11 ends and 11 -12 down after 16 ends. But they dropped 3 shots on the 17 end to go 4 down. On the last end the gate had 1 shot in the head holding 2nd shot with Railway having 5. John M went after their solitary bowl but narrowly missed the wood so instead of a 1 shot win we had to settle for a 12 -15 loss.
Pat’s ring of Tony, David and Paul K drew the short straw again and had to play against the unbeaten gate rink skipped by big Derek. I did not see the card so all i can tell you is that they lost 19 – 6.
Nigel’s rink of Brendan S, Viv and Joe started poorly and were 4 – 11 down after 9 ends. But this rink are known to grind out results and they wore the opposition down winning 7 of the last 9 ends to win my the narrowest of margins 14 – 13.
