LADIES INTER ZONE

NORTH BELFAST 39  V  93 ARMAGH

Report by Pauline Cassells

The Armagh ladies travelled to North Belfast for their opening game of the Ladies Inter Zone and proved that they are still a team to be reckoned with.  With the memories of Cork behind them, they came out ‘all guns blazing’ to win on all 6 rinks and notch up a 54 shot victory.

Rink1                North Belfast                                                                                        Armagh

M Mulholland, S Thompson, F Edgar, M Kyles                3  v  14             E Hunter, S Whittle, S Garvey, D Marshall

The North Belfast rink kept in touch with the Armagh Ladies in the first few ends, but with some excellent positional play from E Hunter & Sandra Whittle, the Armagh rink where able to get a count of 4 in the fourth end.  Armagh never looked back, and with further good bowls from Sheila Garvey and Daphne Marshall, Daphne’s rink stormed to win the last four ends to win 14-3.

Rink2                North Belfast                                                                                        Armagh

M Blair, E Mulholland, B McKeown, M Owens              2  v  23             M Wright, M Hobson, D Agnew, M Cassells

Armagh took this game by ‘the scruff of the neck’ with some excellent bowling from all four ladies. With some super drawing bowls in the opening end by Michelle Wright and Marlene Hobson, Armagh where able to secure 5 shots.  The second end was no different, with some good bowls from Diane Agnew and May Cassells, Armagh got another 5 shots. A single shot in the third end gave the Armagh quartet an 11 shot lead.  The North Belfast Ladies got a single on the fourth end but the Armagh ladies where never going to let this early lead slip, with further counts of 3 in the fifth end and another 5 in the sixth end, they increased their lead to 19-1.  They added another 4 shots to their tally in the remaining ends with North Belfast getting a consolation single on the last end. This was an excellent performance by “MA” and her rink.

Rink3                North Belfast                                                                                        Armagh

M Hinds, C Mitchell, S Earley, M Long                           7  v  14             L Milligan, H Agnew, R Cassells, C McMillen

Armagh proved to be too strong for the North Belfast rink by winning 6 out of the 10 ends. Armagh opened up their account with a 3 in the opening end. They increased their lead in the third end, with good play from Linda Milligan & Hilary Agnew, Armagh where able to get a count of 5, and a single in the fifth end.  North Belfast where only able to get 2 singles in ends two & four, so the Armagh rink had taken an early 9-2 advantage.  Good play by Rachel Cassells & Catherine McMillen enabled the away side to get a further 3 shots in end six. The home side fought back in the 7th end and where able to pick up a 4 to leave the score 12-6 in Armagh’s favour.  Catherine rallied her rink and they won 2 out of the remaining 3 ends to end up 14-7 victors.

At the half way stage Armagh had a commanding lead of 39 shots, but North Belfast to their credit came out fighting, and put up a sturdy performance in the 2nd half.

Rink4                North Belfast                                                                                        Armagh

M Barr, E Kirpatrick, B Cassells, S Mercer                    10  v  11           J Thompson, D Pearson, J Hawthorne, F McNally

North Belfast took an early lead in this game with some good bowls from the home rink.  A 2,1,2 in the first 3 ends gave them a 5-0 lead.  Armagh fought back and got a good count of 3 in the fourth end to keep them in touch. The home side came back to win the next 3 ends with counts of 2,1,2 to go 10-3 ahead.  Flo McNally’s rink never gave up and dug deep to win ends 8 & 9 getting a 3 & 1 meaning North Belfast had a 3 shot lead going into the final end.  This proved to be the home rinks worst end. With some loose bowls from North Belfast, Armagh were able to pile on the pressure and where lying 4 shots with one bowl to come, the North Belfast skip was unable to make any change and Armagh came out on top by 1 shot.

Rink5                North Belfast                                                                                        Armagh

N Baird, J Hewitt, B Hutchinson, M Milward                  9  v  20             V Leckey, B Wilson, S White, P Cassells (pictured)

After 6 ends the home team seemed to have this game wrapped up by notching up a 9-1 lead.  The North Belfast skip had missed nothing for the first 6 ends by playing forcing shots and getting good results. But then the come back began.  After a ‘sluggish’ start, the Armagh ladies got the break they needed by getting a good 3 in the 7th end pulling back to 9-4.  In the 8th end a long jack was placed and Armagh piled on the pressure. Some excellent bowls from Virginia Leckey and Barbara Wilson surrounded the jack. North Belfast lost their bowls by either being too wide or heavy.  Sadie White drew in another 2 shots to within a foot of the jack.  With 6 shots against, the North Belfast third played a very good bowl to lye 3rd shot.  The Armagh skip eventually got her act together and played a ‘choppie lye’ to leave Armagh lying 7 shots.  The North Belfast skip tried to draw to cut down but was too tight.  Cassells then drew up for 8 shots just short of the head.  With all 8 shots within 18 inches of the jack it was going to be hard of the North Belfast skip to cut down.  She tried once again to draw in but got caught on a short bowl enabling Armagh to get their ‘full house’ of 8 shots.

This ‘knocked the stuffing’ out of the home rink and Armagh were able to win the last 2 ends with counts of 3 & 5 to win  20-9.

Rink6                North Belfast                                                                                        Armagh

Z Warnock, A Crawford, M Cahoon, G Menice              8  v  11             G Garvey, Y Hayes, E McDonald, B Malone

This proved to be a tight battle on rink 6, with the home team holding their own against a strong Armagh rink.  After 6 ends the home team where leading 5-3. Good play from Armagh on the 7th end enabled them to get a count of 3 to put them 1 ahead at 6-5.  North Belfast won the next two ends getting a 2 & 1 which gave them a slim 2 shot advantage going into the last end.  Good positional bowls from Greta Garvey and Yvonne Hayes of Armagh gave Eileen McDonald a chance to ditch the jack for a count.  Eileen was never going to let this chance slip and she buried the jack in the ditch to lye 4 shots. It was a shot that even the ‘auld fella’ would have been proud of!  Bronagh Malone was able to draw to the line with her last bowl to secure 5 shots and the win for the Armagh rink.

It was an excellent team win for Armagh with the damage being done in the first half.  Hopefully the Ladies can reproduce their good form in the next round away to North Eastern.  It will be a tough encounter, as North Eastern already have a win over Armagh a few years ago.

All the best to the Armagh Men for next Saturday’s home match against Western