Portrush v Dunluce (Sat-12th-June-2010)
Portrush travelled to Dunluce knowing there had to be a big improvement in the team's performance if they were to maintain their push to finish in the top 4.
Dunluce have made an excellent start to the season with Rodney Kane being the pick of their skips to date. We knew it was going to be a tough game, and points would be like gold dust with a number of teams in the contention to finish in the top 4 before the League splits.
On Rink 1 Ian "The Portrush Professor" McClure was drew against Rodney "Rocket" Kane, and there was certainly fireworks throughout the entire game. The visiting rink raced into an 11-1 lead against their in-form opponents, with Big Tom Lithgo playing great stuff. But "The Rocket" proved why he is top of the Bowls NI Skipping Stats by clawing his way back into the game to tie the score at 11-11. The turning point came when in the 15th end, the "Professor" faced a deficit of 3 shots with last bowl; Ian played 5 feet of weight on his backhand to trail the half exposed white and turn the head to a 4 for Portush - a great bowl under extreme pressure as there was only 3 in the overall at the time. Final Score 29-16 for Portrush.
On Rink 2 it was the battle of the Smyths with Jackie drew against Brian. The Portrush rink controlled this game most of the way (including a very fortunate result for Jackie's last bowl, which changed a 5 down to a 4 up) but Brian played a great drive shot on the 19th end to remove the 2 Portrush Bowls and leave Dunluce lying 4 which tightened the score to 18-17 in Portrush's favour. However, the Portrush rink were not to be denied, claining a 2 on the penultimate end, and with a 3 shot lead in the last end, Jackie was able to play postional bowls to ensure the Port only lost a single shot, and so claim their second point of the match. John Shiels had a solid game at lead and certainly must stake a claim to retain a place on the team for next weeks last 16 Irish Cup game against Whitehead. Final Score 20-18 for Portrush.
On Rink 3 Gazza "The Magician" McCloy came up against Uel "Tyson" McKeeman. Ths was a nip-and-tuck affair for the opening part of the game, however some great bowling by Uel soon took its toll, and the Dunluce rink stretched their lead to 21-12. Again the Port Rink battled well in the run-in, with "The Magician" using his old box of tricks to help reduce the defecit to 4. Final Score 22-18 for Dunluce.
The Final game on Rink 4 saw Kevin "The Portrush Puffer" O'Neill draw Barry Kane. Barry's rink man-for-man produced the better bowls but Kevin's Rink kept battling to the end and did well to keep the defeat to only 6 shots. Final Score 19-13 for Dunluce.
So the final result was Dunluce 2 pts, Portrush 5 pts. It was a super game, close all the way and played in a very competitive manner with a great atmosphere. Portrush are delighted to get the 5 points as we all know Dunluce is a tough place to try and dig out a result.
