Six players included in Inter Association squad

NEXT weekend the Senior Private Greens Squad will be represented by no less than six Dunbarton bowlers at the Inter Association Championships.

Michael Higgins will lead, Gary McElroy will play second, Conor McCartan and DJ Wilson will fill berths at third while Myles Greenfield will skip a rink. Clubmate Andy Hughes will start on the bench, eager to step in if the opportunity arises.

This is a phenomenal achievement for the Gilford club as it has more representatives in the Private Greens squad than any other club. The team’s first game is against the NIBA at Ulster Transport this Friday evening followed by games on Saturday morning against the Provincial Towns and then on Saturday afternoon, the Bowling League of Ireland.

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Effectively the weekend’s bowls act as an Irish trial and next Sunday the full Irish team will be picked. DJ Wilson will be hoping to retain his place on the team, while Conor McCartan will be hoping to go one better than he did last year when we was a reserve on the team. Indoor international Gary McElroy will be hoping to impress the selectors while former internationals Michael Higgins, Myles Greenfield and Andy Hughes will be hoping for a recall.

The club would like to wish their senior bowlers good luck

The Dunbarton A team made it through to the quarter finals of the Senior Private Greens Cup when they disposed of a tough obstacle in Ulster Transport in Gilford last Thursday night.

On paper this was not an easy game for the hosts, however buoyed by their maximum point victory away to the same opponents a month earlier, plus their demolition of Falls last Saturday, the Gilford men continued in confident vein and ended up victorious by a comfortable 21 shots.

Over the first third of the game there was little separate the sides as all four rink games were nip and tuck. On rink four however came a big turning point in the game as DJ Wilson’s four lifted a massive count of seven when trailing 5-7 and from then on never looked back, eventually running out victors by 13 shots.

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On rink two Andy Hughes’ four finally got away and opened up a 17-6 lead with a few ends remaining and this effectively sealed the team’s overall win. Conor McCartan’s four on rink three had a great battle with their rivals and thanks to some fine bowls by skip Conor, emerged victorious by five shots.

On the show rink, rink one, Myles Greenfield’s four were unable to make it a clean sweep as they lost a tight game by just three shots.

Another confident team performance by the Dunbarton seniors who have recently hit top form. The question now is how long they can maintain this for?

Rink 1: M Higgins, J Magennis, M Merritt, M Greenfield down 14-17

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Rink 2: J Moffatt, C Mulholland, S Adamson, A Hughes up 17-11

Rink 3: E McElroy, G Moore, G McElroy, C McCartan up 20-15

Rink 4: D Copeland, E Byrne, P Convery, DJ Wilson up 27-14

THE Dunbarton Seniors cruised into the last 32 of the Irish Senior Cup on Saturday when they easily despatched of Comber on their own patch.

On paper the locals were expected to win and despite a few early scares, the locals cruised to a very comfortable 32 shot success. Both DJ Wilson and Myles Greenfield lifted a count of seven just before the midpoint and those 14 shots in the space of a few minutes, ensured that there would be no cup shock at the North Down venue. These two rinks had large victories.

Conor McCartan’s four had to recover from an early nine shot deficit to win by two while Andy Hughes’ four endured a miserable second half to their game to lose by seven. However, the game was well in the bag by this stage.

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As a reward the locals travel to yet another Private Greens team when they make the short journey to Hilden in Lisburn. Again this is a decent draw for the Gilford men and they will be hopeful of securing a place in the last 16.

Rink 1: D Copeland, P Convery, T Bell, DJ Wilson up 32-14 - DJ’s rink got off to a flyer and effectively wrapped the game up for their team mates after just nine ends. An amazing run of 1,1,3,1,2,6,7 from ends 3-9 roared the visitors into a 23-1 lead. It was plain sailing after this and the locals enjoyed their bowls in the sunshine without needing to shift up the gears. A facile 18 shot success was registered by the close.

Rink 2: M Higgins, E Byrne, M Merritt, M Greenfield up 32-13 - Second Eugene Byrne was once again drafted in at short notice and once again was part of a victorious Dunbarton winning rink! After the first quarter, Myles’ four built up a 6-2 advantage and any thoughts of a Comber comeback were dispelled during the middle ends of the game when Myles rink piled on scores of 7 and 4 to romp ahead 20-6. Similarly to rink one, the Gilford men took their foot off the accelerator during the second half and chalked up an easy 19 shot victory.

Rink 3: J Moffatt, C Mulholland, S Adamson, A Hughes down 15-22 - Andy’s four started well and opened up an early 6-1 lead but that was as good as it got. At the midpoint the scores were locked at 10-10. Over the second half however, the hosts simply played the better bowls and soon got their noses in front. By the close Andy’s rink were on the wrong end of a seven shot deficit, not their best performance of the season.

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Rink 4: E McElroy, G Moore, G McElroy, C McCartan up 19-17 - Conor’s four got off to an awful start but yet again showed their fighting qualities as a rink. A rather fortunate bowl by the home skip in the very first end resulted in a loss of five for Conor’s four and after four ends, the home lead had been increased to 9-0. Slowly however, the away rink found their line and length and began to gnaw into the home side’s lead. By the halfway stage the home lead was reduced to four shots and at the three quarters mark, it was even stevens. Over the final few ends, the Gilford men maintained their momentun and forged ahead to win by two shots.

Amazingly the Dunbarton Junior team have received their second bye for both the Irish Junior Cup and Junior Private Greens Cup. They were due to face Ards B last Thursday night in the Private Greens Cup but the North Down bowlers were unable to field a team and therefore forfeited the match.

In the Irish Junior Cup the team that they were drawn to face in the second round, pulled out before the competition began.

So whilst the juniors continue to progress in both competitions, in all likelyhood, the locals would prefer to be playing, especially when the weather is good!