Men win Interzone Shield

After a nailbiting last bowl win against Mid Tyrone in the semi final last week, Armagh men took on South Down in today's Interzone Shield final in Richhill. This was another close affair. Armagh had the edge for most of the 2nd half but South Down came back strongly at the end. However the locals held on to record a 59-57 win and lift the shield.

The first half saw Cecil Dillons rink of Dessie Hamilton, Nigel Hamilton and Raymond Hunter took on South Down's Alan Johnston's rink. With Johnston in excellent form the home rink found shots hard to come by in the first few ends. They battled hard to go into the last end 9-4 down only for for Johnston to hit the head with his last bowl to lift 4.

On mat 2, Reggie Collen, Adrian Smith, Alan Cassells and Jal Richardson took on Martin Grants rink. The Armagh rink were always in control of this one. They led 12-6 playing the last end and lifted a 5 after Jal took out a South Down bowl.

Mat 3 saw Noel McClure, David Burrows, David Beattie and Joe Beattie take on South Down skip Kyle Blakely. This game went one way then the other with both skips changing heads. South Down went into the last end 10-8 up but a misjudged last bowl by the South Down skip saw Armagh pick up 2 to tie the game 10-10.

All this left Armagh 2 up at the break.

On mat 4 Andy Haffey, Nathan Minish, Ronnie Walker and Terry Mulholland played Aidan Corrigan. South Down burnt the head twice early on and with the Armagh front end in fine form, the visitor's options were always limited and the locals ended up winning 11-6.

On mat 6 Armagh skip Andy Leckey was in fine form. Ably assisted by James Robinson, Ashley Wright and Nigel Uprichard, Andy pulled away to a 12-1 lead against Jack Moffett. A brief rally saw the lead reduced to 12-4 but a 2 in last end saw Armagh win 14-4.

These wins on mats 4 and 6 were vital given what was happening on mat 5. Danny McDonald's rink of Andrew Robinson, Sean Breen and James Kelly were having bit of an off day against Mark Sproule. The home rink was always under pressure and only won 1 end. This rink was also the last off, being 3 ends behind everyone else. With those 3 ends to play Armagh were 8 shots up. South Down scored two 2s leaving them needing 4 in the last end to tie. The home rink managed to keep the bowls mixed enough in the last end to restrict the visitors to 2 but to see Armagh over the line but leave the rink score 18-3 to the visitors.

However it was the overall team performance that saw Armagh through with the 3 shots scored on mat 5 as important as any others.

Congratulations to all involved.

Rink Scores

C. Dillon 4 A. Johnston 13

J. Richardson 17 M. Grant 6

J. Beattie 10 K. Blakely 10

T. Mulholland 11 A. Corrigan 6

D. McDonald 3 M Sproule 18

A. Leckey 14 J. Moffett 4

Armagh 59 South Down 57