1st - 3rd End

One of the new combinations seemed to be gelling well as the rink of MJ O'Conner, Noel Mackin, Paul Duff and Conor Mackin opened the scoring picking up a count of 2 in the first end. South Down responded in the 2nd end by picking up only their score of the match. Conor replied by picking up another to lead 3-1 after 3 ends.

The other new combination of Jason Hand, Damien Taaffe, Stephen McMahon and Billy Taaffe again put the pressure straight on South Down leading 4-1 after 3 ends, with Billy unluckily missing a chance for a five in the 3rd end.

The now regular combination of John McMahon and Michael Hand playing with Philip Mackin and Gerry Crosby made a poor start dropping a poor 4 shots in the 1st end but recovered picking up 3 in the 2nd end and 1 in the 3rd to tie 4-4. After 3 ends Oriel lead 11-6

4th - 7th End

John and Michael again were struggling to pull away from their counterparts trading 4th and 5th ends and actually lost the lead in the 6th but in the 7th picked up a 4 to lead 10-7.

Paul and Conor claimed 2 shots in the 4th end and in the 5th were very unlucky not to pick up a five when South Down's bowl received several wicks to cut it down to one in favour of Oriel. Their relentless pressure continued and after 7 ends lead 9-1.

Stephen and Billy continued the onslaught on South Down and after 7 ends stretched their lead to 9-3. Jason was playing beautiful lead bowls for the pair. After 7 Ends Oriel lead 28-11

8th-10th End

The last 3 ends saw a dramatic extension to Oriels lead mainly through the exploits of Michael Hand. He hit the gas hard in the last 3 ends and to win his match 15-7.

Paul and Conor continued were they left off in the previous ends eventually winning 13-1. This was a fantastic result for an untried combination.

Stephen and Billy traded the last few ends to win 11-5 and while this game looked close it was anything but, as on another day Billy could have won by double figures.

1st - 3rd End

Gerry McCabe playing with Niall Hand, his father Brendan and Paddy Hanlon began well by getting 2 shots in the 1st end. However South Down responded in the next by picking up 4 shots. Paddy and Gerry again took the lead by picking up 2 shots to lead 5-4 after 3 ends.

While Gerry's game was close Kevin's was anything but. Playing probably their best player on paper Mark Sproule, Kevin raced into a 9-0 lead and in truth ended any chance of a comeback South Down had. Kevin was back to his ultra-sharp best and with Gareth "Superman" McMahon as third, Sean Conlon 2nd and Benny McCabe lead, Kevin being ultra sharp meant big counts for this rink.

John Murnaghan's rink of Thomas Martin, Thomas Gartlan and Jim Fox wanted to continue their undefeated streak to 6 games in a row. Here he faced Charlie Davis. In the 1st end John drew the shot for 1. the second end saw Charlie play a great bowl to play John's shot  bowl out to lie 2. Jim and John then dropped a single to trail the match 3-1 after 3 ends.

 

4th - 7th End

While the match was basically over as a contest, all three skips wanted to win their own matches.

Gerry's rink continued to get shots in the next 4 ends and took a 12-4 lead. Paddy seemed to take his game to a new level as he was playing some wonderful bowls as third to Gerry.

Jim and John picked up two shots in the 4th but again dropped the lead losing the 2 straight back. This would be the last shots the South Down rink would score as John pressed home his skill picking up a couple of counts of 2, to lead 7-5.

Mark's rink finally got on the scoreboard in the 4th end against Kevin, picking up 2 shots. Gareth and Kevin responded with another 2. In the next two ends they traded them with singles. 

8th -10th End

Kevin dropped to single shots in the 8th and 9th end but recouped the damage by picking up two in the last end. Kevin and Gareth seem to be gelling extremely well as a backend combination.

Gerry picked up 3 shots to go 15-4 up but surprisingly dropped a 5 and 2 in the last 2 ends to only win 15-11. The last two ends should not take away from a sensational win once again.

John won the 8th end to take a 9-5 lead with ends to spare but the match was conceded. Whiles John's rink didn’t click as they have done over the previous matches, they again turned out a winning performance

Final Score: Oriel 78-34 South Down

 

Summary

Not much can be taken from this match as Oriel were never under any pressure in this match as the South Down team missing two of their best players were no match for our team. However a much stiffer opposition is now in our sights as we play our finalists from 2005 Mid Tyrone. There were many class performances on the day with Jason, Philip and Stephen the stand-out players of the 1st half but my vote this time goes to a 3rd on the 2nd half Paddy Hanlon.