Peter becomes fifth Dunbarton PG Singles champ

Dunbarton’s Peter Convery is the new Private Greens Singles Champion.
Peter Convery.Peter Convery.
Peter Convery.

On Saturday at the Old Bleach bowling club in Randalstown, the Gilford bowler etched his name into the history books as he became only the fifth Dunbarton bowler ever to lift the much coveted Private Greens Singles trophy.

Having defeated good friend and clubmate Marty Trainor in the semi final five days earlier, Pete was full of confidence going into the final, however lying in wait was the reigning champion Andy Morrison from Ballymena who had also won the Private Greens triples earlier in the day.

As it turned out, once Pete shook off a few early nerves there was only ever going to be one winner as he proved much too good for his rival.

The early stages of the final were very cagey as both bowlers tried to work out what looked to be a very tricky rink.

On the first end, Morrison turned the jack for two shots with his last bowl, but Pete bounced straight back to level the scores at 2-2.

The next three ends were scrappy at it was the Braid man that moved ahead at 2-6. On end seven however came the turning point as Pete decided to switch hands and play the “car park” side of the green. This change of tactic paid immediate dividends as the Dunbarton bowler got back on the scoreboard with a single.

He then followed this up with a double and two singles and suddenly he was ahead for the first time in the contest leading 7-6.

The next five ends could not have gone better for Pete as he began to apply pressure with every bowl, drawing close to the jack and putting his rival under immense pressure. Morrison simply couldn’t cope and Pete scored a run of 2,2,2,4,3 and at 20-6, he was just one shot away from that much coveted title.

Credit to Morrison who did not give up and then bounced back with two doubles and on the next end lay another shot with just one bowl remaining.

Sometimes in bowls when you are playing well, luck tends to be on your side and with Pete’s final bowl of the end he tried to take out the lying bowl but instead hit his short bowl onto the jack, and when the dust settled, the title was his.

A tremendous achievement for Pete who has been consistently one of Dunbarton’s top performers over recent seasons and recently broke into the Senior Private Greens Team.

Pete now becomes Dunbarton’s fifth Singles Champion and has brought the trophy back to Gilford for the first time since his skip DJ Wilson last won the trophy in 2003.

Hopefully Pete can now go on and win the Irish Singles when he travels to Coleraine at the start of September for the Irish Championships.