Preview of Match

 

Oriel went into the match with high hopes for victory. After their devastating loss to Armagh last year, Oriel wanted to put that match behind them and try for another run at the title.

There first hurdle was Foyle, who are renowned around the bowling circuit for pulling off major shocks in the first round. Oriel also had a much changed team from last year with Billy Taaffe returning into the squad, Philip Mackin making his debut and Diarmuid McMahon and Fra Dillon missing.It was an experimental first half for Oriel but hopes were high that they could cope with Foyle’s onslaught.

1st - 3rd End

The first couple of ends there was very little in it, with Stephen McMahon going 2-0 down, Michael 1-1 and Paul was 2-1 down. All of a sudden things turned massively in favour of the Foyle side; with Stephen dropping 2 Michael dropping 2 and Paul dropped a self-inflicted 5. With only 2 shots against him playing his last bowl, he tried to drive the jack into the ditch to pick up a count of 3 but instead just grazed it and moved the jack back a foot and dropped the count. Foyle now had a lead of 11 shots.

4th - 7th End

 

Paul's rink was slowly starting to turn things around by picking up 2 shots in the 4th end. In the next end he was unfortunate to drop 1 shot. In the 6th end, Paul had a fantastic chance to pick up a count of 6 but was too wide and took the jack straight into the ditch for only 2 shots. The 7th end he managed to pick up another single which took game back to 9-6. Stephen's rink finally scored in the 4th end by playing a brilliant

Michael on the other hand was making up slightly for the other two rinks by pulling ahead of Terrance Patton. He picked up a count of 4. John and Michael was an old combination from last year that worked and it was working again as they went from 3-1 down to 7-5 up. Although Noel Mackin wasn’t playing near to his normal level, Philip was making up for him, by having a stormer on his debut.

8th-10th End

 

Nothing seemed to be going right for Stephen's rink. Every time Stephen came in, he had to disturb the head and in the end was just trying to keep the shots down to 2's and 3's, eventually losing 16-4. Paul fought back valiantly in his match eventually only losing 10-9. It must be said only for that unlucky break; Paul may have won his game as he only lost 3 ends. Michael traded shots with Terrance in the last few ends and in the end was our only rink up at half time, winning 9-7.

Analysis

 

Oriels’ experimental first half team didn’t work, especially on Stephen's mat were only MJ O'Conner played well. Paul's team were unlucky, his front end and Billy played well and on another day could have won. Michael’s rink was steady throughout. The player of the first half has to go to Philip Mackin, who on his debut played exceptionally well. We were now in big danger of slipping out of the competition at the first hurdle. We needed a massive second half performance to get back into this game.

 

1st - 3rd end

 

Oriel needed to get out of the blocks quickly, to not alone win the match but just to get back into the tie. That is exactly what they did, with Gerry's rink on fire, racing to an 8-1 lead after just 3 ends. There front end was electric and Paddy and Gerry were like a well oiled machine, when one missed, which wasn’t to often the other person was in. There plan of taking Eddie Curran out of the match was working perfectly. Kevin's rink surprisingly lost a count of 3 in the first end but two ends later he was back to all square at 3 a-piece. John Murnaghan's ever steady rink was keeping it very close with the first few ends all won by 1 shot, with John leading 2-1. From 11 shots down at half time, Oriel had taken this deficit down to 3 shots. The tie was now anybodies.

4th-7th End

had the chances for counts he took them which is exactly what he did in the 7th end. After 6 ends he was 5-2 in front and with shot against him he fired to lie 6 shots. Mark drew in for 3rd shot but John with his last bowl chopped him out for a count of 7. John was now 12-2 in front. Gerry's rink was just in awesome form and in truth nearly any team would have had difficulty sticking with them. They were picking up counts of 3's and 4's for fun. Gerry also threw a contender with Kevin's bowl for bowl of the day. After Eddie sunk the jack to about 4 inches, Gerry played a short bowl on the forehand which landed onto Niall's toucher, which ran straight left onto the jack for shot. Gerry was now 14-2 up. Oriel had completely demolished Foyle’s lead and took a big lead of 19 shots.

8th-10th End

With the game now all but over but the shouting John continued his relentless pressure. He picked up another count of 4 shots and a further 2 to stretch his lead to 18-2. In the last he dropped 1 shot but all the hard work was done winning 18-3. Kevin took his foot off the gas with the game over when he dropped a 3 in the last end to win 13-6. While the other two rinks eased up Gerry's rink continued picking up a further 3 shots and 2 shots. In the end the match was conceded with an end to spare with Gerry winning 19-2

Analysis

Oriel needed to come out fighting and that’s exactly what they did. Every single player in the 2nd half where at the top of their game. Player of the day was certainly hard to pick but in the end it came to down to our 2 national singles Champions Kevin Conroy and Gerry McCabe, with John Murnaghan a very close third. I will give it to Kevin but in all honesty it could have gone to Gerry just as handy. For Oriel to continue in this competition there first half must improve but if they get that sorted and the second half continues to play like this they will be hard to stop.