Cup finals confirmed

Cup finals confirmed

6 December 2023

ST MARY’S..........................34 

SPA GC................................41

THIS semi-final between the two top teams in the league proved to be a tale of two halves. 

At one point, St Mary’s held a 15-shot advantage but a great second half from the Spa players saw them turn the match around and end up winning by seven to set up a final against Marina. 

The home side started off with a close 6-5 win for Ricky Cathcart against Don McNamara. 

On the other mat the rink of Tommy Patterson, Philip Woodside, Tony Ward and Meghan McCabe were having a solid game against Adam Gilmour and would finish 6-2 winners. 

On the next run Neil Brown, along with Raymond Brown, Sheila Ward and David Anderson, would also secure a 7-4 win over the Gilmour rink, however, the match would begin to change. 

Midway through the game between Ricky Cathcart and the Spa rink of Artie Rice, Davy Vance, Graham Christie and Peter Christie, Spa came from behind with scores of three and four shots on the last two ends to win their game 10-6.

This meant that the home side would go into the final games four shots up and it was beginning to look a lot better as the Brown quartet scored a count of five on their first end. 

However, Don McNamara and his rink of Frances McCann and Derek McCann, along with Paul McNamara, would hit back straight away with a count of four. 

After that the game settled down as shots were at a premium to score but all but one end would go the way of the visitors and the game would finish 10-3. 

The game on the other mat between the rinks, skipped by Meghan McCabe and Peter Christie, was keenly fought and on the first end Peter was facing seven shots down with only his one bowl left. 

But, somehow he managed not just to reduce the count but actually get the shot. 

The same was to happen on the fourth end, with the home rink lying five, Graham managed to get the shot. 

On the next two ends counts of five and three for the visitors killed off the match and finished what was a remarkable comeback. 

The cup final will be played at St Michael’s on tonight with 

Spa aiming to defend the title whereas Marina will be hoping for a replay of their league match were they came out on top.

LOUGHINISLAND...............30 

MARINA..............................52

MARINA have made it to the Lecale Cup final the hard way as all their ties have been away and this could have been a tricky fixture to a Loughinisland side who have shown good form over the last few weeks. 

Although the visitors did win all their games, some were hard-fought close affairs. 

Jim McConnell and his rink of Patricia Russell, Bridget Smith and Joey Chambers got off to a flyer against James McKee and thanks to a count of six shots, would end up winning 12-5. 

This was backed up by a 9-3 win for Heather Wilson, John Haugh, James Wilson and Norman Gordon over Michael McAnulty. 

More wins of 8-6 and 6-4 for the Norman rink and Isobel Cunningham, Roy McKibben, Henry McDowell and Billy Collom gave Marina a healthy 17-shot cushion going into the last games. 

The two away rinks skipped by Billy Collom and Jim McConnell didn’t relent as they completed their fine victory with wins of 9-4 and 9-8 to return home happy and looking forward to a chance at some silverware when they hope to overcome last year’s winners from Spa GC.