MID ULSTER OVERWHELM DONEGAL IN INTER ZONE

The Mid Ulster men’s inter zone team travelled to Donegal in the first round of this season’s competition expecting a tough battle against last year’s runners-up. The team showed considerable change from that which lost to Oriel last year. The changes were not always popular and it put the selectors in a no win situation. As it happened the Mid Ulster side completely overwhelmed their opponents running out winners by 65 – 38. On mat 1, the rink of M Wilson, T Turkington, S Davidson and D Grimes , after dropping a 3 on the first end, fought their way back and were unfortunate to be only 8 – 4 up after 8 ends with the Donegal third and skip being forced to run at several heads. The Donegal rink scored three on the ninth end to leave only one shot between the rinks but a single on the last end saw the Mid Ulster rinks home 10 – 8. Many thought that the rink of A Paul, G Smith, C McKnight and P Jones might not have the experience to cope but they only conceded three single shots. Indeed not a lot divided the two rinks and it was a four on the third end which proved to be decisive. The rink played well in winning 9 – 3. The final first half game saw D McStravock, T Johnston, C Hill and S McGlinchey  again recovering from dropping a three on the first end. S McGlinchey produced a very creditable performance on his debut. The Mid Ulster rink restricted their opponents to two further singles and came out on top 10 – 5. Mid Ulster won 20 of the 30 ends and secured a vital 13 shot lead at the interval.
Donegal had high expectations from their three second half rinks but Mid Ulster did not let complacency set in. On mat 1, C McHugh, D Jordan, B Kyne and G Merron never gave their opponents a chance and conceded only two singles. The rink produced an excellent performance and their 15 – 2 win ensured that the interval deficit would not be overturned by the home side. On mat 2, D McElroy, L McHugh, S Kyne and C Hogg along with their opponents  were never totally comfortable on the mat. The Mid Ulster rink picked up a two on the first end but dropped a poor six on the second. They won five of the next 6 ends to be level at 8 – 8 and with the game decided and being called off they dropped a 3 to finish 11 – 8 down after the 8 ends. On the final game, S Quinn, L Conway, A Bradley and D McAlister had a see saw game with their opponents. 9 of the 10 ends saw either side drop or gain a two or three. Nothing really divided the two rinks with Mid Ulster leading 9 – 8 after seven ends. Mid Ulster picked up two 2’s and conceded a 3 to finish 13 – 11 up.
This was an encouraging start to the competition and the men now meet East Antrim who defeated the more fancied South Tyrone on Saturday 6 December.
The ladies play their shield game the previous Saturday against South Down.

Ladies lose to South Tyrone

The ladies played South Tyrone at St Swithin's but unfortunately will have to contend with the plate competition. The team suffered from the unavailability of 8 players including six who had played at the back end last season while South Tyrone were missing three players.
Mid Ulster made the more promising start going into an early lead by virtus of single shots across the mats on the first 2 ends. South Tyrone, however, by the half way stage had clawed their way back to lead by 14 - 12. This seemed to have a major impact on the Mid Ulster ladies who picked up 13 shots without reply to lead 25 - 14. Unfortunately this was to be their last scoring of the first half with South Tyrone picking up 16 shots to lead 30 - 25 at the break. On mat 1, K McKenna's rink went down 15 - 3 to A Herron though the score does not do justice to the game with the South Tyrone rink grateful for the number of occasions their skip converted ends lying against her. On mat 2, S Anderson's rink dominated B Jennings from the outset to lead 13 - 2 after 8 ends. The Tyrone rink picked up on the last 2 ends to leave the score 13 - 6. On mat 3 the rinks skipped by E Brown and K Daly were always close with the lead switching on a regular basis. Mid Ulster did manage a 9 - 6 lead after 8 end but Day picked up three shots to leave it 9 - 9.
With only 5 shots between the teams, all was set for a tense second half but it did not really materilise. Mid Ulster did manage to redce the gap to 3 shots but could not find sufficient to put pressure on their opponents. On Mat 1, E wright's rink was up against a string Tyrone rink skipped by A McKiver winning only 2 of the first 8 ends with single shots. They were 12 - 2 down after 8 ends with McKiver having a good game. Mid Ulster picked up a 5 on the ninth end which reduced the overall to 6 shots. On mat 2, K Jones played a strong Tyrone rink skipped by M McGrath. Little seperated the sides for the first 5 ends with McGrath fortunate on at least two occasions picking up shots with deflections from bowls delivered too wide. Mid Ulster had their chances but were not able to utilise them. The Tyrone rink led 11 - 5 after 8 and although the home side won the last two ends it was not enough to prevent an 11 - 9 defeat. On mat 3, B Davidson with T McKenna playing third in her first zone game dominated throughtout against C Campbell leading 11 - 4 after 9 and finishing up 11 - 6. The gap between the two sides had reached 17 shots midway through the second half. The homeside managed to reduce this to 6 with 2 ends to go but just could not make that final breakthrough which could have seen them through.
Neither side will realistically challenge for honours this season with both well short of the standard required to challenge the likes of Armagh. Both suffer from a lack of ladies playing competitive bowls and both from having relatively small squads.