Gilford men cruise through to the quarters at Carrick

On paper, the Gilford visitors were strong favourites for this contest and that is exactly how it turned out as they set up a quarter-final tie against local rivals Lurgan.

Conor McCartan and his front three led the way with a highly impressive 15 shot success, while DJ Wilson’s four were always in control of their contest, eventually winning by seven.

Myles Greenfield’s four bounced back from a slow start to win by four and Marty Trainor’s rink ensured all four away rinks were unbeaten as they finished all square with their opposition.

Rink 1 C Trainor, R McElroy, G McElroy, C McCartan up 26-11

Over the early stages it took the Gilford rink a few ends to get going as they trailed 2-5 after the first quarter.

However a run of six successive winning ends and suddenly after 11 ends they were ahead 14-5. From thereonin it was plain sailing as the visitors continually left the home skip under pressure. By the close, the locals had eased to a facile 15 shot success.

Rink 2 D Copeland, J Kelly, M Merritt, M Trainor 15-15

This was the closest game of the afternoon as there was never any more than four shots separating the sides throughout.

After five ends, the Gilford rink opened up an early 5-2 advantage but by the midpoint this lead had been narrowed to 8-7. At the three quarters mark, it was the home four that had moved ahead at 10-12 but over the final few ends Marty’s rink fought back and levelled the scores.

Rink 3 M Higgins, T Bell, A Hughes, M Greenfield up 21-17 #

The first quarter of this game was even stevens at 4-4 but the second quarter was won by the hosts as they opened up a 12-6 advantage.

The outcome of this game however turned on end 11. With the mat up the green, the locals produced a superb end to lift a massive count of seven shots and once they got their noses in front they never looked back.

At the three quarter mark, the away lead was 18-13 and by the end of the allotted 21 ends a hard fought four shot success was achieved,

Rink 4 J Moffatt, C Mulholland, P Convery, DJ Wilson up 21-14

Skip DJ and his front three started well and did not have to get out of second gear.

By the five end mark, they had opened up a strong 8-2 lead. By the midpoint this lead had been extended to eight shots and in truth the hosts never looked like turning this game around.

At the three quarters stage, the lead had further increased to 19-7 and despite dropping a few shots over the final few ends, eased to a very comfortable seven shot victory.