Oriel started off slowly dropping shots across the board. The ship was soon to steadied by an inspirational Paul Duff. Paul's rink of Gerry Crosby, Niall Hand and John McMahon were on form from the second end on. Paul, facing the master drawer Dessie Hamilton, gave the master a lesson. Some of Pauls drawing shots was incredible. Paul was picking up count after count and after losing the first end he managed to win the next 8 ends to take a 15-2 and was very unlucky to drop 2 in the last, to take his game 15-4. Paddy Hanlon’s rink of  Paul Corvan, Philip and Conor Mackin, who were on fire the last day, were struggling against firepower Gordy Stubbs rink. Everything they were going for was failing to come off and after 7 ends were 11-2 down. It looked like Pauls good work was only balancing out Paddy’s score line, however the last few ends were much more productive and Paddy managed to take his game back to a much more respectable 11-6 defeat. These last few ends would turn out to be crucial in the end for Oriel.  John Murnaghan was involved in a great din-dong battle with Nick Haire. John's rink of Noel Mackin, Jim Fox and Michael Hand were steady throughout without reaching the performance they had against Danny Ward the last day. With two ends to go the scores were tied at 9-9. John was unlucky to drop two singles in the last two ends to lose his match 9-11.

 

Half Time: Oriel with a 4 shot lead.

Lisburn started off on fire for the second half. The 4 shot half time lead was not alone gone, but Lisburn took a massive 10 shot lead with 6 ends to go in total. Kevin’s rink of of MJ O'Conner, Billy Taaffe and Calum Cummiskey were struggling to cope with Paul Reid and with two ends to go were 13-2 down. Stephen's rink of Thomas Martin, Seamus McPharland and Jason Hand were also struggling at 9-2 down, against the quality of Raymond Stubbs and Neill Mulholland. The only saving grace was Gerry McCabe's rink of Brendan McCabe, Sean Trainor and Fra Dillon.  Fra was in incredible form and Gerry wasn’t far behind him. With one end to go they lead 9-5.

Last 6 ends

Oriel looked dead and buried with 6 ends to go, 9 shots down. Stephen managed to give us some hope by picking a count of 2, to take it back within 7. Gerry then picked up a count of 4 to take the game within 3. Was the improbable now possible? You could cut the tension in the hall with a knife! Kevin managed to pick up 2 shots to the tie to within 1, with three ends to go in total. Stephen was holding 1 shot, however Raymond was holding 2nd, 3rd and 4th shot. Raymond incredibly missed both times and the game was now tied at 53-53. Playing the last end and a count against Stephen he managed to burn it and force another end. Paul Reid’s 2nd, Eddie Marsden, then tried to sink the jack and put it on the floor. At this stage no-one in the hall had any nails left! Playing his last bowl Stephen was in a conundrum! He had 2 options! If he popped it into the ditch he was going to hold one but it would be wide open to remove for a count or option 2 he could pop it back 3 inches for shot however this option also had serious danger as if he popped it anymore he would lose three. After discussing the shot with our team Manager Kevin Conroy, he went with the more difficult option 2 and played a sensational bowl to lie the 1. Raymond fired and missed with his last and Oriel now had a 1 shot lead with 1 end to go in total. Calum played two crucial bowls to move the jack back to the ditch line. Keith tried to draw but was short. Up stepped the little genius that is Kevin Conroy! He delivered a sensational first bowl right on top of the jack and Paul had no answer leaving his 2 bowls short. What a comeback!

 

 

 

 

Man of the Match for Oriel:

Their were 3 stand out performers on the day. Jason Hand, Fra Dillon and Paul Duff but due to some incredible drawing shots I must give it to Paul Duff

Final thoughts:

Oriel need to improve to beat Mid-Ulster. We need to get back to the level we played against North West. The second half did not perform until the last 3 ends. However they showed something to the rest of Ireland, they have a never say die fighting spirit. Stephen and Kevin showed great inward strength to play such incredibly important bowls and in the end that was the big difference between the 2 teams. Raymond's miss in the 2nd last end was crucial and Paul Reid left his last 6 bowls short when the "Auld Reliable" finally decided to turn up. However it was an incredible result snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.